Knoza

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of e-commerce for a headwear company and the CEO of one of our direct-to-consumer brands. We’ve been in business for 101 years; we have our own brands and do private label work companies around the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knoza?

We were looking to transition our Amazon business from vendor central to seller central, so we could manage our store, control pricing, and make more profit. We needed an agency to help us transition SKUs and manage our Amazon store moving forward.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Knoza has helped us transition over 1000 SKUs from vendor central to seller central. They’ve helped clean up and optimize our product listings to help them rank better.

Additionally, Knoza has helped us develop new lifestyle content and videos to elevate our product listings. They’ve developed new Amazon-specific products that are essentially upgraded versions of our products. We provide the assets, and they overlay graphics highlighting certain product features that live on our product listings. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were categorized as a non-essential business. Therefore, we weren’t allowed to send products to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) for approval. Knoza helped us migrate 1000 SKUs to be able to sell Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) products and process orders from our warehouse. 

They also added us to the beta program when Amazon marketplaces launched in Canada and Mexico. They’ve organized for us to participate in Amazon organic posts, which is a new feature. 

Currently, they manage our Amazon advertising campaigns and send weekly purchasing orders to our purchasing manager for approval. This allows us to send weekly products to FBA and maintain optimal inventory levels to stay in stock while avoiding storage fees. 

Knoza helps us manage customer service requests from Amazon, and they will loop in our internal customer service team as needed. They have software that tracks our numbers for sold and shipped units and helps with Amazon recovery. They also have a reporting tool that allows us to send digestible reports to shareholders. The reports show a monthly snapshot of the business, and we’ve shared them within our company. 

What is the team composition?

We work with two account managers and the owner of Knoza. 

How did you come to work with Knoza?

One of the salespeople at Knoza reached out to partner with my previous company, so we met and discussed my transition and their services, and I liked what they had to say. We interviewed 5–6 agencies in the process and chose Knoza for two reasons.

The first was that they didn’t pressure us to sign a long-term contract, which agencies typically do. The second is that the agency owner sells his own brand on Amazon and has been doing so for 10 years. 

Many agencies don’t know what it’s like to have skin in the game since they’re managing other people’s businesses, and it was essential for us to engage a partner who knew our specific challenges and needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $200,000–$1 million in the partnership with Knoza.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Knoza in March 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Knoza has helped us immensely throughout the partnership by advising us to make business decisions that have helped increase our Amazon profit and engagement.

They enabled us to run FBM and FBA, which has been a massive win. For example, if we’re sold out of a product, we can immediately start selling it through FBM once our manufacturer sends it to our warehouse. FBA can sometimes take 2–3 weeks to show that our products are back in stock, so during that delay, we can fulfill our own orders and maximize profits. 

They’ve also helped increase our conversion rates on product listings, boosting profits. Our brand integrity has improved because we can now maintain consistent pricing. We’ve also seen significant revenue growth year-over-year (YoY) due to the transition to seller central. This year we’ve seen a 40% increase in revenue YoY. 

How did Knoza perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly meetings with the Knoza team, and I communicate with them daily via phone and email. They are very responsive and move quickly if something needs to be adjusted or updated. 

I view Knoza as an extension of our team because they’re very familiar with our business details and KPIs. They’re very diligent about hitting their monthly metrics regarding inventory, storage, and other functions. They know the ins and outs of our business and recommend an ad budget based on our monthly targets. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I am most impressed with their overall communication. I’ve worked with many agencies in the direct-to-consumer space, and Knoza’s responsiveness has been the best. I couldn’t ask for anything better in terms of communication.

Knoza is well-versed in the Amazon landscape; they continuously bring us new ideas and organize us to participate in new Amazon releases when they become available. They’re always at the forefront of new releases, which we appreciate.

They’re very reliable and believe in their work, which is why they don’t need to offer a long-term contract to lock us in. They want to make us successful and always perform to the best of their ability. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When we first started working with Knoza, their reporting wasn’t good. They’ve built that out and have significantly improved their reporting since.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about your business metrics, goals, and KPIs. If you tell Knoza your profit targets, they’ll help you achieve them by recommending how much you should spend on ads and managing your inventory. They’ll be honest if your goals are unrealistic, so you must be transparent about your numbers so they can maximize your success.