Sitruna - Amazon Experts

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Business Administration of a coating systems company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Professional Coating Systems

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sitruna - Amazon Experts to accomplish?

• Assist in the Start up of our company Amazon Account
• List over 300 new products onto Amazon

SOLUTION

How did you find Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

Online Search

Why did you select Sitruna - Amazon Experts over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sitruna - Amazon Experts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Sitruna were tasked with assisting our company through providing consulting when starting up our Amazon Account. Throughout the process, Sitruna have been providing us with invaluable infomation regarding how to set up our business.

Sitruna also assisted our company with undertanding how to list products onto the Amazon database and how to navigate the system. Again I would highly reccomend Sitruna for this service, especially Linh, who was always quick to respond to any qiestions which we had regarding the process & listing products.

I would highly reccomend Sitruna for their start up package

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We now have completed the onboarding process onto Amazon and have successfully navigated through KYC 

All desired products are now also on Amazon marketplace 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Sitruna were always quick to respond to our needs. 

Although our project was extended due to complication with Amazon, Sitruna were always accomadating and assured us that the difficulty which we were experiencing was normal

What was your primary form of communication with Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Thier ability to accomodate to challenges created by Amazon and navigate thorugh any complicated issues

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sitruna - Amazon Experts could have done differently?

Sitruna - Amazon Experts has been fantastic in what they have offered, Although on this occasion, we have decided not to move forward with the monthly retainer option provided. 

I would reccomend that they be more realistic with mothly fees for retainers when beginning to scale up a business. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Director of a retail company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Design and sell toys

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sitruna - Amazon Experts to accomplish?

• Optimisation
• PPC Strategies

SOLUTION

How did you find Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

Online Search

Why did you select Sitruna - Amazon Experts over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sitruna - Amazon Experts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

In December 2022, we were unsure whether we wanted to continue our business owing to difficult conditions caused by Brexit, price rises, more competition on Amazon and so on. However, after discussions with Sitruna in January 2023, we realised that one thing we hadn't explored was working with a specialised company with personal expertise and know-how that might truly make a difference. We joined up with Sitruna after a comforting sales call, with clear aims of increasing sales and profit and establishing the groundwork in time for our busy season. Unfortunately, we had no idea we'd still be conducting test campaigns in September '23. We are a small team and hiring PPC experts was the right step. 
This was not an area we had been involved before hence guidance from Sitruna was critical. We were upfront about this. We were an established player on Amazon and had been selling our range of exclusive products since 2009, however selling on Amazon was so different and assistance was required. It was explained results would be seen after 3-4 months as data gathering and laying the foundations were important. We understood this and we were patient as we thought all was in good hands and being managed by a professional and reputable company in the industry. 
We had high expectations to see improvements by partnering with Sitruna and growing it with the intention to sell. Multiple emails were sent where we raised the costs and spend and proposed to discuss on phone but answers on emails would follow with an explanation. I often felt bad for asking so many questions but I had little choice because this was not my area of expertise. This was their domain and what they were recruited to accomplish, therefore we had expected them to be in command. 
In fact, we believed that if it took this long, we should begin the process of having them to handle our EU and US accounts, so we revised our package after two months to allow for better optimisation so that everything would be in place by September. This was ALL financed by us personally and not our company with the expectation of increasing sales and profit in our busiest time of the year – September onwards. When they stated they were still testing and gathering words etc that really disappointed us and we were lost for words. What had happened in the previous 9 months? Alongside monthly fees across 5 marketplaces and advertising spend we had spent A LOT of money with Sitruna. 
We were then assigned a new team, new PPC targets and campaigns, a request for COGs and we are told we must wait and see how the situation unfolds. This calls into doubt all of the time spent on the account till that date. We felt let down and our account being mismanaged. This is NOT what we signed up for, and I believe it would have lasted for the remainder of the year if I hadn't continually asked so many questions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

It was not a success as the project ceased to continue in Q4

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Insufficiently.

What was your primary form of communication with Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

At the end we were not impressed at all.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sitruna - Amazon Experts could have done differently?

After 16 years in business, our anticipation for 2023 was high, particularly with Sitruna joining our team. Since January 23, we had diligently laid the groundwork for what we hoped would be a standout year. Unfortunately, Sitruna fell short of our expectations. Despite their tenure and purported expertise in eCommerce, we didn't witness the promised proficiency in listing optimization or PPC strategies crucial for expanding market share, outpacing competitors, and optimizing ROI on Amazon. Regrettably, our journey into 2024 hasn't unfolded as envisioned.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on Jun 27, 2024.
Firstly, thanks for sharing this feedback with us - we're very sorry to hear about your experience. We prioritise providing opportunities for client feedback (the good, the bad and the ugly!) throughout client partnerships and during the off-boarding process.

We designed the new Sitruna Profitability Dashboard last year to provide greater insight into net profits that aren't provided via Seller Central - this led to the additional data requests and fed into evolving your strategy through organic improvements and testing new ad campaigns.

As Brand Owners ourselves, we can completely empathise with the stress that ensues when things don't go as expected – 30% year-on-year growth but no drop in ad spend. We would very much appreciate the chance to have a conversation to hear some more detailed feedback on your experience/how we can improve. We'll reach out directly to arrange this.

Hope to speak with you soon

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Purplebone Consumer Dog Supplies, Dog Treats & Shampoo. Dog Grooming in Notting Hill, London. Senior Ecommerce Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

PPC Advertising on Amazon

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Upwork with follow-up Zoom meetings

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

• PPC Management.
• PPC and pricing strategy.
• Sales period strategy and implementation.
• Keyword research.
• Product page optimisation.
• Copywriting.
• Brand page build.
• Infographic creation.
• Zoom meetings.
• Weekly reporting, with weekly work round-up and future work.
• Customer support.
• European & Global expansion strategy and implementation.
• Utilising new seller features.
• Support for anything Amazon seller related.

What was the team composition?

I can work very closely with the director, our account manager and our support contact. I have various contacts within Sitruna whom I can email and expect a response within 12 hours usually less.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Sitruna utilised our budget on ad spend per sales (TACoS) highly effectively. We had not spent any PPC before hiring them, and therefore with their efforts on various advertising campaigns our PPC sales skyrocketed. Our Organic sales then grew with the effects of their other work on brand and product page development. They 5x our results in their first full year (2021) compared to our previous year without any ad efforts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicate over email almost daily. Whenever a zoom call is required they are very welcoming and would set it up for the same day if needed. It's a very effective and smooth workflow between myself and their team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a large enough team (which grows year on year), that can offer support in any Amazon niche where we would require the expertise.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Continue to keep me updated with any incoming features that our products could utilise and our sales could benefit from.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of GB Sales LTD

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell loungewear products and also herbal tea

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sitruna - Amazon Experts to accomplish?

• To run our ppc on amazon
• To sort many account issues including brand registry and listing issues
• A+ content

SOLUTION

How did you find Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

Online Search

Why did you select Sitruna - Amazon Experts over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from Sitruna - Amazon Experts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We require full management of our amazon account with everything from creating listings, running ppc, appealing suspensions, brand registry issues and much more

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Sitruna helped take our brands to the next level with every aspect of amazon.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They are always on time and give me a weekly update every tuesday. They sort out all issues quickly and manage everything very well.

What was your primary form of communication with Sitruna - Amazon Experts?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I like the fact a lot of the staff are ex amazon employees meaning their knowledge is second to none. Any questions i have, sitruna have answers.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sitruna - Amazon Experts could have done differently?

I genuinely don't have a bad word to say about them, sitruna have changed my life by rocketing our business' to new levels