March 2008
Table of Contents
Featured Interview: Ashley Schaumburg - Doba MerchandiserInterview By Jake Sabey - Education Specialist This month's featured interview is with Doba Merchandiser Ashley Schaumburg. Just like last month, I recorded the informal interview for note taking purposes, and have made it available for your listening pleasure by clicking here. I would like to thank Ashley for fitting this interview in her busy schedule and overall willingness to be interviewed—Thanks Ashley!
Ashley Schaumburg - Doba Merchandiser Ashley is a Merchandiser in the Marketplace Department for Doba. Her communication and managing skills assist in establishing relationships with and acquiring new suppliers for the Doba Product Catalog. Before coming to Doba, Ashley was the Marketing Director for the Valhalla Salon and Spa. Ashley earned a Bachelors degree in Business from Utah State University with an emphasis in Retailer Sales. In her spare time she enjoys skiing, hiking, walking her dog Socko, and reading. Jake Sabey: Define your title as a Doba Merchandiser Ashley Schaumburg: I am responsible for promoting suppliers and their products. This includes finding new strategic suppliers to add to the Doba Product Catalog and maintain the relationships with current suppliers to ensure the retailers are receiving the same standard level of treatment that any other major organizations would receive. JS: In promoting suppliers and their products to retailers, how much interaction do you have with each? Is there more interaction with one than the other? AS: The main interaction I have with retailers is through receiving feedback comments they place on the product page. JS: What's the purpose of leaving a feedback comment? AS: Retailers use the feedback feature to communicate to Doba and the suppliers about any particular product. Every feedback comment that is submitted I read and review. Even though I am not responsible for responding directly back to retailers, I go through all the feedbacks daily to ensure that suppliers are aware of the specific questions or to help improve the supplier's listings. But primarily my job entails sustaining relationships with suppliers and assisting them in integrating and exposing themselves more into Doba's Catalog. JS: With the feedback feature being on the product page itself, I am assuming the comments are regarding the product information, images, requests for additional products, and categories, is that correct? AS: Yes that is correct, Doba is always looking for more products, categories, and suppliers. One way of doing this is by attending Trade Shows. JS: How do you prepare for Trade Shows? AS: Before attending a Trade Show, I spend a lot of time researching what retailers are looking for, whether it is a specific company or product. I then plan out exactly what suppliers/manufactures I would like to meet with and make appointments accordingly. Trade shows are a great way to have direct communication and establish relationships with suppliers and manufacturers. Once I return, all details are worked out and new suppliers and products are shortly added to the Doba Product Catalog. JS: Besides attending Trade Shows (or as I like to call it, "Vacationing on Doba's dime") and acquiring suppliers, what other hats do you wear as a merchandiser? AS: Another primary role I have is creating merchandising emails and weekly promotions. This is a great way to give retailers exclusive promotions and special deals on products. I highly recommend all Doba members to pay attention to these emails and participate in these promotions. All emails, newsletters, deals of the week, and rebates are easy to pass on to the end consumer and can easily give a retailer a competitive edge. JS: Retailers can take advantage of these emails you help create and essentially mirror them by passing them onto their end consumers after adding their own business creativity and specifics through edits. JS: With the many different responsibilities and roles you cover as a Doba Merchandiser, what part of the job do you enjoy the best? AS: Besides gossiping with Jill, the best part of my job is working with the suppliers. A lot of the aspects I work on with a supplier are completely unique to Doba, meaning that most retailers that work directly with the suppliers (outside/without Doba) are not getting the same treatment that they are willing to give Doba's retailers. It is really rewarding knowing that this makes an immediate impact on the Doba Catalog and hopefully directly impacting the end consumer. If you would like to listen to the recorded interview with Ashley Schaumburg, click here. For more information on topics brought up during this interview or additional topics of interest, you can search Doba's Knowledgebase by keyword. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
Tune into future issues of the Doba eNewsletter and Elite Seller Report for more featured interviews and reference material. About the Interviewer:
Jake Sabey is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Education Specialist for Doba. Jake's educational strategies and methodologies help online retailers meet and exceed their business-related goals. Prior to working for Doba, Jake was a team leader, supervisor, and trainer for Toys R Us, Sinclair Oil, SBC, and AT&T. Doba News: What's New with Doba?Doba has been busy making improvements with success for our members in mind. In an effort to help you achieve greater success, we've made some changes to the Doba membership packages. Here is what Doba has been up to lately: Dynamic and Static Watch Lists - All Doba Members
Access the Watch List page by clicking the link from your Doba Dashboard. Push to Marketplace Tool - Start Up Members Data Export Tool - Advanced Members Partner Highlight
eBay Marketplace Spotlight Part I: Exciting Changes in Computer and Laptop CategoryBy Jeff Knight, Vice President of Marketplace Normally, I use the Marketplace Spotlight to discuss strategy and answer
questions from retailers. However, this month is going to be a bit different.
I want to highlight Supplier
Diamond and promote them as a solid sourcing choice for retailers
looking to expand their computer, consumer electronics or house ware/appliance
selection. Supplier Diamond works diligently to provide retailers using
Doba’s platform with the very best service and selection. Supplier Diamond recognizes Doba’s integration as being an invaluable
channel that allows them to better service independent retailers. Retailers
that may normally fall through the crack or that couldn’t demand
account management like the big chain/box stores – are easily
managed through Doba. When you combine Doba’s suite of automation
and fulfillment features, with Tier 1 pricing – retailers on Doba’s
platform, in many ways, have advantages over even the biggest of the
e-tail giants Supplier Diamond works with.
For purposes of disclosure, I am promoting Supplier Diamond without any incentive from them. About the Author:
As the Vice President of Marketplace, Jeff Knight is responsible for all aspects of the merchandising strategy, supplier acquisition, and vertical category management and fulfillment operations of Doba's marketplace. Prior to Doba, Jeff was Director of Merchandising for Overstock.com where he developed the growth and management of the Computer and Home Office category. Jeff's background includes merchandising and technology leadership roles at DealDeal.com and BCI International. He earned Bachelor and Masters of Arts degrees in Communication from the University of Wyoming. Partner Highlight
eBay
Stores Marketplace Spotlight Part II: "Why are some products priced the same as retail or higher than MSRP?"By Jeff Knight, Vice President of Marketplace My staff and I review every feedback email that comes through the site. The feedback links are located on every product and in various places on non-merchandise pages. The product specific feedback is sent directly to the supplier for their review. In order for the marketplace department to better serve our retailers and suppliers; we review the feedback and look at the trends. While we have millions of products in the catalog, there are a small few that get more than their share of attention. The products are iPods and gaming consoles (Xbox, Wii, Playstation, PSP, etc), or variations and accessories for these products. The feedback is always the same: “The price on this item is the same as retail or even higher then MSRP”. The sentence is usually followed by a statement of disbelief, a number of ‘!’ marks or a disparaging explicative in a lot of cases. There are a variety of reasons why there may be very little difference between consumer pricing and wholesale including consumer demand, competitive pressure for other products/brands and manufactured channel control. While I will save the full, lengthy discussion on how these reasons affect wholesale pricing for another month; I will address them briefly and more importantly, address why Doba chooses to display these products. Certain brands, such as Apple and Sony, enjoy extremely high consumer loyalty and as such, can demand a premium for their products. In fairness, these brands generally create products that are ‘best-of-class’ and incorporate the very best design and newest technology. Products, such as the iPod, are in very high demand and through tight control of wholesale price and which retail channels can carry the items; Apple enjoys a very comfortable position in the MP3 market and consumers see very little difference in retail pricing. Other examples are the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Like the iPod, the wholesale pricing is regulated with very little differentiation between retail and wholesale. In this case, however, the competitiveness of the market, i.e. which console the consumer chooses, and which company has the greatest market share, has implications greater then the resale of the console. In this case, the console is largely subsidized, to increase the market share of the platform. The console is a vehicle for generating future revenues from games, accessories, movies, services, etc that dwarfs the sale of the console itself. The distributors who carry these types of products are in a bind. At times, distributors are forced to carry products that have little to no margin simply because their retail clients demand it of them. The retailer demands the distributor carry the products because the consumer demands that the retailer carry the product. Strategies for accounting for the zero/low margin product range from back-end manufacturer incentives (rebates, spiffs, advertising dollars, etc) to ‘lost-leader’ customer acquisition to accessorizing, bundling and increasing basket size (game console plus games, controllers, batteries, faceplates, carrying cases, etc). Why does Doba show these products in the catalog? Simply, we believe in transparency. In other words, it is not Doba’s place to filter out or hide products but rather to provide tools and information for the retailer to make informed decisions. Doba doesn’t set the price; we merely provide visibility to the supplier’s products and facilitate the transaction. The decision of what and how to sell an item is the specialty of the retailer. Doba works to give the retailer that best set of tools and information to work with. Believe me, not a month goes by where I do not consider having products filtered before the retailer sees them – I always come back to the philosophy that the retailer needs transparency and visibility, whether or not the information is what they want to see. Doba realizes that we may lose a few customers because of the decision to provide transparency, but we know that any other decision would be a disservice to the marketplace. About the Author:
As the Vice President of Marketplace, Jeff Knight is responsible for all aspects of the merchandising strategy, supplier acquisition, and vertical category management and fulfillment operations of Doba's marketplace. Prior to Doba, Jeff was Director of Merchandising for Overstock.com where he developed the growth and management of the Computer and Home Office category. Jeff's background includes merchandising and technology leadership roles at DealDeal.com and BCI International. He earned Bachelor and Masters of Arts degrees in Communication from the University of Wyoming. Member Q&A: "Why is a Seller's Permit necessary to access certain Doba Suppliers?"By Rick Limon, Doba Account Manager For access to certain manufacturers and suppliers in the Doba Product Catalog, a Seller’s Permit is required to ensure retailers are buying for resale purposes and not for personal use. These manufacturers and suppliers want to be certain they are selling to resellers. What is the purpose of the Seller Permit? The permit allows you to buy at wholesale for the purpose of reselling—without having to pay tax on the wholesale purchase. A seller’s permit, depending on the state or county where you do business, is also known as:
Seller’s permits are issued on a state level and the process for obtaining the permit varies from state to state. For more information on obtaining a seller’s permit, contact your local Chamber of Commerce or visit the Chamber of Commerce website. We Want to Hear from You! Want to see your question featured in the eNewsletter Member Q&A? Well we want to hear from you! Please email education@doba.com if you have any non-account related questions or topics you would like us to write about. If you have questions concerning your Doba account, such as billing, product or order questions, please search our knowledgebase site content or contact our Customer Support. About the Author:
Rick Limon is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Account Manager for Doba. Working directly with new online retailers, Rick assists retailers in meeting their business specific goals by helping them take full advantage of the resources and services Doba offers. Rick holds experience as a Behavior Specialist and Mental Health Worker with Lackland ISD, Southwest Mental Health Center, and Parent Child Incorporated. Partner Highlight
ProStores Supplier Information: New Suppliers Added to the Doba Product CatalogStarting an online business is relatively easy. Making it a success takes hard work and the right mix of products. To help you achieve your business-related goals, we recently added 4 new wholesale suppliers and manufacturers to the Doba Catalog (bringing the total number of Doba suppliers to 118), including: Elm - Manufacture of InvisiPlate pre-primed and ready to paint switch plate and outlet covers. Halite - Distributor of consumer electronics. Rembrant - Manufacture of hand painted children furniture. Rosewood - Importer or dinning room furniture, parson chairs, and parson barstools.
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