Revenue and Spending Breakdown for 2019
In fact, my profit for the end of the month is $0. This is for 2 products, a Tool & Home Improvement product launched in May 2019 and another Garden, Lawn & Patio product launch in Nov 2019.
That’s counting the recouping cost of the supplier’s order for the 1st batch for both products and PPC cost. Here’s the honest breakdown of my cost for 2019 thus far.
I understand that I could have managed this much better especially with the PPC cost as that ate up majority of the profits that I had gained.
| General Expenses | |
| Monthly Amazon Pro | US$ 39.99/month |
| Company Registration | US$ 214.30 |
| Brand Website (Domain + Hosting) | US$ 172.03 |
| Brand Logo | US$ 7 |
| Brand TradeMark | US$ 472.10 |
| GS1 UPC (GS1 UK) | US$153.26/year |
| Product 1 (Category: Tool & Home Improvement) | Product 2 (Category: Garden, Lawn & patio) | |
| Factory Samples | US$79.59 | US$63.06 |
| Packaging Design | US$73.5 | US$27 |
| Product Images (Photography + 3D Renders) | US$625 (Product Photography) | US$179 (3D Renders) |
| Product Insert Design (Fiverr) | US$12 | US$17 |
| Pre-delivery Inspection | US$115 | US$115 |
| Factory Order | US$3,443 (528 Units) | US$2,715.51 (800 Units) |
| PPC Spent | May 2019 to Dec 2019 US$ 6,103.71 | Nov 2019 to Dec 2019 US$ 2,475.38 |
| Amazon Fees (FBA + Referral) | US$ 6,178.70 | US$ 2,706.60 |
| Total Revenue | US$ 20,595.65 | US$ 9,021.97 |
| PPC Spent (Dec 2019 only) | US$ 1,179.17 | US$ 1,368,46 |
| Revenue (Dec 2019 only) | US$6,537.45 | US$ 6,317.84 |
But wait… There should be profit right? Well, yes and no because it all have to go into the next product batch of reorder.
You see, those products are selling faster that I had anticipated. That’s the magic of the Q4 rush starting from Black Friday/Cyber Monday… So note to self, make sure I stay in stock for the Q4 2020.
Know Your Numbers
So at the end of the day (or year), the main lesson that I learn is that we must really know our numbers to stay in this business. Also, to anticipant the sales Q4 madness and make sure we stay in stock throughout the season! I hope to be writing more of such personal sharing in this new blog series.
What’s Ahead in 2020?
Once I get restocked with 2 of my products, I will be focusing more on getting more organic rank in the long tail keywords arena. I initially aimed to launch 2 products per year, but I now find it near impossible as I really need a lot of cashflow for that to happen.
The re-ordering and PPC cost does take a huge chuck of the profit out of the business but hey, that’s reinvesting for even bigger profits. I would probably stay with 2 products and focus on making them top sellers in the market in the meantime while I lick my wounds with the reinvestment required for 2020.
Thank you for following me for 2019 and I hope to see you more in 2020.