In this episode of the Ecommerce Podcast, host Matt Edmundson interviews Friedrich Schwandt, founder of ECDB, about leveraging ecommerce data for business success. They discuss the importance of data analysis in ecommerce, surprising market trends, and strategies for building profitable online businesses. Friedrich shares insights on international expansion, the rise of social shopping platforms like TikTok, and the challenges of relying on marketplaces for sustainable growth.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

7:48 The power of numbers in communication

13:14 Gathering and analysing ecommerce data

18:49 Starting an ecommerce business in beauty

23:07 Surprising trends in global ecommerce markets

27:55 TikTok Shop's potential for early adopters

31:35 Building brand loyalty for long-term profitability

37:01 International expansion opportunities for ecommerce businesses

41:01 Connecting with Friedrich and ECDB

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Key Takeaways:

1. Focus on Profitability Over Growth:

Friedrich emphasises the importance of prioritising profitability rather than just growth. He states, "You really do it only for the profitability. And if that is true, again, that means basically all your actions should be questioned by do I believe... I can really develop a profitable business?"

2. Be Cautious with Marketplaces:

He advises against relying heavily on marketplaces for day-to-day business due to intense price competition and diminishing margins. Friedrich mentions, "If a marketplace is basically the channel for new customer acquisition, I agree. And then work on it. But if it's basically for your day-to-day business, I don't think it will work."

3. Consider International Expansion:

Friedrich highlights the benefits of exploring international markets once a niche is established. He shares, "Once you found your niche, and you are absolutely sure, [international expansion] is something which I would always recommend to others."

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Friedrich Schwandt [2:22 - 2:30]: Absolutely fine. Looking outside, I'm here from Hamburg. We have rainy weather, as we always have. Great.

Matt Edmundson [2:32 - 2:50]: As we always have. In Hamburg. The weather is, you know, I feel your pain, Friedrich, because I live in Liverpool and Liverpool, I think, is an ancient Greek word for rain. It even has the word pool in its name. So it should be a bit of a clue.

Friedrich Schwandt [2:50 - 2:51]: But you had a very good coach.

Matt Edmundson [2:52 - 3:15]: Some time ago, Mr. Jurgen Klopp. Yes, absolutely. He was, he was phenomenal for the football club. We probably shouldn't talk about Jurgen too much, but he was a genius. I wish I could get him on the E Commerce podcast. Not because I think we would talk about anything to do with E commerce, but I would love to talk to him about his man management skills because he knew how to manage people.

Friedrich Schwandt [3:16 - 3:35]: Absolutely. And I think he's extremely intelligent in picking the right club and then promoted and that is. And he's now back in Germany and we all wait that he will become of course our national coach. Right. And you have to at some point when Germany's playing against England, you have two coaches which are actually very close friends.

Matt Edmundson [3:35 - 4:10]: Oh, okay. Yeah, it'd be interesting, won't it? And I, I really, I really enjoyed. I'm really grateful to Mr. Jurgen Klopp for his time at Liverpool. He obviously did something quite extraordinary. But actually there is a bit of a link here, isn't there between Liverpool and what you do? Because one of the things that transformed Liverpool Football Club was their use of statistical data and analysis when choosing players. And if you've never seen, I don't know if you've seen it, Friedrich, the movie Moneyball though I think Brad Pitt is in it.

Friedrich Schwandt [4:10 - 4:38]: One of the greatest movies. One of the greatest movies. And so, so well played by the way. It's difficult from Liverpool to get to statistics. But 100, if you remember the. Basically the second actor, not Brad Pitt but basically his, his assistant, I get his name in a second. He studied economics and basically from there learned how to play money, how to develop Moneyball. And it's one of the best movies.

Matt Edmundson [4:39 - 5:30]: Yeah, it's a fascinating film and if you've not seen it, do watch it because like you say he uses the data to analyse players. But this I think was in the baseball leagues. Wasn't it over in the States that they started to do this? Yeah. And the link here is in the film is the character John Henry, who owns the Boston Red Sox, who tried to get the data analysis into the Boston Red Sox because it was working so well. John Henry of course owns Liverpool. And so that was the very tenuous link between Liverpool and statistics. It made sense in my head. So I'm curious for you, how did you get started in the numbers game? I mean, was that you did economics at university or was there a different route?

Matt Edmundson [7:13 - 7:47]: The right direction thanks to Google, so many businesses will have the same statement. Thanks to Google, we actually started to get found, which is a beautiful thing. So what is it about data, what is it about numbers that really drives you? Because there aren't many people that I've met that get excited by numbers. We all know we need the right numbers, we all know we need metrics, but there aren't many people that get excited about them. So I'm curious why you do.

Friedrich Schwandt [7:48 - 8:16]: Matt, I think you're wrong. Sorry, I wouldn't say that. But I do believe if you think about, think about an article, you read any kind of newspaper article, when you start, maybe after the second or third sentence, you heard it all know where it's going and then you see there some charts in there and you quite often will end up with the charts because they say basically with two numbers, what this whole article will tell you.

Matt Edmundson [8:16 - 8:17]: Yep.