On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Joseph Heller, Founder & CEO of The/Studio and Supplied, California-based platforms offering on-demand product creation/manufacturing and all-in-one wholesale solutions to small businesses.

We all know either heard of or even come across Live selling on social media. More and more businesses are leveraging the rising popularity of social selling. While it may not be huge in the US just yet, it’s already super popular in many other parts of the world.

Setting up an online store is easy, but finding the best products at the right price is easier said than done. Even once you have found a suitable product for your niche, getting it directly from manufacturers is extremely difficult. You have to do due diligence, face minimum order quantities and handle shipping/customs. While big businesses have entire teams to work through these challenges, the smaller businesses get left behind.

In this episode, Kunle and Joseph talk about how small businesses can easily source products in smaller quantities from China. You will also get to hear about why Social Selling on Facebook Live could be the next big thing in eCommerce . This is a great episode for marketers and business owners.

Here is a summary of some of the most important points made,

• • Facebook Live is more suited for ecommerce selling
  • Small businesses can’t afford to place large orders from manufacturers
  • Working with factories is still a very opaque process
  • Social selling is more advanced outside the US
  • There are going to be big shortages this holiday season

Covered Topics:

On today’s interview Kunle and Joseph discuss,

• Joseph’s Backstory
• The Ethos of The Studio and Supplied
• Supplier and Customer base
• Social Selling 101
• Why Facebook Live?
• Ideal set up for Facebook Live
• Impact of Delta variant and supply chain issues

Timestamp:

• 10:30 – Joseph’s backstory:
  • Always been an entrepreneur
  • Spend time in China after college
  • Started a business while in China
  • Started the Studio 7 years ago
  • Diversified into supply chain during Covid
• 14:00 – The Ethos of The Studio and Supplied:
  • “Small businesses can’t afford to place large orders from manufacturers”
  • It provides an ecom experience for buying from manufacturers
  • “Working with factories is still a very opaque process”
  • The Studio is mainly built for custom manufacturing
• 19:00 – Supplier and Customer base:
  • Partnering with close to 10000 factories offering over a million products
• 20:00 – How are sellers leveraging Supplied:
  • Typical sellers have a brick-and-mortar location and also selling online
  • Businesses using an omnichannel approach are best suited
• 22:25 – Leveraging Social Media
• 23:45 – Why Facebook Live?
  • Live selling is very popular in China
  • Social selling is more advanced outside the US
  • Facebook live has a large but untapped audience
• 29:20 – Ideal set up for Facebook Live:
  • Barrier to entry is very low
  • Have a good webcam and microphone
  • Your background should ideally look like a cool retail store
  • $300-500 is enough to make a good set up
• 34:15 – Why Facebook Live has an edge over IG Live
  • Most FB Live users are on their computers, so are looking at products on bigger screens
  • FB allows sharing links to pages/sites
• 36:30 – Impact of Delta variant on upcoming quarters
  • “To be a successful ecom business, you have to embrace omnichannel”
• 38:30 – Impact of supply chain issues:
  • There are going to be big shortages
  • Diversify how you think about getting products

Takeaways:

• $300-500 is enough to make a good Facebook Live set up
• Facebook live has a large but untapped audience
• Sellers need to start considering using air courier despite the higher costs

Links & Resources

• Joseph on LinkedIn

Tweetable Quotes:

“Working with factories is still a very opaque process.”

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