#738 - From Textile Factory To $1.5M on Amazon

#738 - From Textile Factory To $1.5M on Amazon Speaker 1: Today, we talked to a newer seller but has already hit the seven-figure mark thanks to using Helium 10 and his top two product testers, his baby daughter and his dog. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that's a completely BS-free, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Do you know that in seconds you can find all the keywords any product on Amazon was ranking for in the last couple of years? Or find out where any product got sales from, from brand analytics data from the last five years. Or get exclusive private trainings that used to cost $400 a month. All of these plus more is available now on the Helium 10 Diamond Plan. Upgrade with this special 20% off coupon code SSP20. No contract. You can cancel at any time. Once again, use code SSP20 to get the Helium 10 Diamond Plan that helps brands so much, it practically pays for itself. We've got somebody who has never been on the show before. Can you go ahead and introduce yourself to the audience real quick here? Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Isa. I was born and raised in Germany. I live in Turkey for 40 years now. I started with the brand about two years ago. The first time I found anybody on the space was Helium 10 and you guys. Kevin, Bradley, Shivali, Kerry and so that's how I came into the space now for two years. Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. You don't have a German nor Turkish accent with your English. Did you go to international schools? Speaker 2: No, actually I've been in the business since I was very young and I'm traveling a lot all around the world and now next week I'm in the U.S. again for a show in Las Vegas. And so that's how I'm multilingual language. I know lots of languages. What do you speak? I speak German is my like my mother tongue, Turkish, French, German. Spanish, I was. Fluent in Spanish? Speaker 1: Hablas español entonces? Speaker 2: Si, he perdido la lengua. I studied ancient Greek literature and language. I'm an archaeologist, but I'm in the business now for over 30 years. Speaker 1: Before e-commerce, what did you do for employment? Speaker 2: I'm actually still a manufacturer of textiles. I'm a product developer. I have my PhD degree in textile and fashion design, so I'm actually designing and producing sustainable products, which is actually the niche in the market, which we found out recently. Since I got acquainted with Helium 10, I found out that's a big gap in sustainable manufacturing products in these marketplaces. Speaker 1: Is that what moved you to Turkey? I know Turkey is very strong with textiles. Speaker 2: Yeah, well actually there's a big advantage of Turkey because everything is registered, everything has a certification, and everything is produced ethically, in-house, locally, so that gives us the possibility to make design sustainable products. And the big advantage of Amazon space is actually that you can prove your certification and it was verified. So that gave us, for Turkish manufacturers, a big advantage among the competition like the, I don't want to name all the countries. Speaker 1: Interesting. At what point did you discover the Amazon opportunity? What year are we talking about? What were you doing at the time? What made you think about selling on Amazon? Speaker 2: I've actually started very early in my life, 2009 with some local marketplaces, which was quite premature. Then in 2015, I tried Amazon out of Turkey and FBA hasn't been really established at that time, so we couldn't get any further. During the pandemic, I was manufacturing actually for Amazon sellers, especially in the U.S. and also in Europe. And then after the pandemic, actually manufacturing, brand and everything shifted. I mean, the world got upside down. And as a manufacturer and brand builder, there was a big, I saw a big opportunity as I was in 2023 when I got, when I got know Helium 10. I saw the opportunity especially as I said for sustainable products. This is how I come into the space and it's not really a choice. It's a necessity at the moment to go into the Amazon space or any other marketplaces as it's a huge catalog and it's a big opportunity actually for smaller brands to get accredited worldwide. Now I'm selling not just in the US, I'm selling EU worldwide. Now in Dubai, I'm setting up an entity and so on. So it's a whole big opportunity all over. Speaker 1: So what is your brand called and what kind of products do you sell? Speaker 2: I have actually five brands, but I focus on two brands. One is Little Daddy. It's named after my two girls. One is three years old, the other is 30. How do you spell it? D-E-D-I. Speaker 1: Little D-E-D-I. Speaker 2: What kind of products is that? It's baby products, sustainable organic cotton baby products. I'm made from 100% organic cotton or from sustainable wood sources. We do mainly blankets, baby blankets, giftable blankets in very pretty packaging. Then we have an adult brand which is called Dalisa. It's after my name. It was built about 30 years ago. We sell organic cotton adult blankets. A niche that we also found is about pet blankets. There's nobody in the marketplaces selling organic cotton certified dog cat blankets and there we are really the number one in the market now at the moment and we have top five top sellers, five products in the top 100 in Germany and now almost getting to top 50 in the U.S. Speaker 1: Awesome. Awesome. So, you know, we finished a couple of months ago 2025 across all of your online platforms. What would you say estimate your gross sales was? Speaker 2: Well, last year it was around 1.5 million US all around across Europe and the US. I just started PEN EU actually, which will help our growth. This year for 26, it's planned to be like 3 million. It's planned because out of the figures, we can predict that it will get to 3 million. And about the next two, three years, the aim is 5 million. And so it will go on like this, but we will just keep that at that limit because our production capabilities and our design, we will just want to stay as a good, luxurious brand. Speaker 1: Are you selling on any non-Amazon marketplaces? Speaker 2: Yes, I just started, launched. In Germany, it's Otto & Kaufland. And in the US, it's Walmart and Wayfair and eBay now, but it's Wayfair or Walmart will be our next marketplaces. We already registered there and launched products. Speaker 1: How are you fulfilling those orders, 3PL or through Amazon? Speaker 2: It will probably mainly fulfill through Amazon because their infrastructure, AWD infrastructure is amazing. I don't know how these guys are managing all these but FBA and AWD is such an amazing tool and I really appreciate that. We have access as a smaller brand in a small country and that is a big opportunity really. Speaker 1: What year did you start Helium 10? Speaker 2: It was 2023. Actually, there I decided as the market shifted, I was making private label manufacturing B2B and in 2023 when the market went upside down after the pandemic, I had to find a way out. Then I came across on YouTube with your guys and then I saw Helium 10 and I sold all the other places but what appealed to me was Helium 10 and I went all in. I went to the diamond plant and then I sold. Speaker 1: I haven't had a company even in the U.S., any entity. Speaker 2: It was out of survival mode, so I had to find something. And then I saw really the only way to learn and to make a good product analysis was to subscribe to the top. And then it was not enough, then I went to Elite, which was fantastic. I mean, just for a small premium, getting Elite. Having an appointment with you guys one-on-one and having all the weekly calls was fantastic. It was a great experience and adventure for me. Then I started my own company, The Entity, and then I decided what to launch and where to launch. Speaker 1: That was my next question actually because at the time in 2023 before you started, you didn't have these blankets necessarily. You had the manufacturing capability but you're like, all right, what am I going to use my machinery to produce? Did Helium 10 play a role in choosing the direction or did you have a passion for this? You named it after your family and things. How did you decide on this blanket and other product journey that you're on now? Speaker 2: It was completely data-driven, actually. All the data that I have collected from Helium 10, and thanks to the calls especially, which helped me, guided me through all the tools, I found out that my core manufacturing was actually not blankets. It's been towels and bathrobes and stuff, which I was exporting to the U.S. for the past 20, 30 years. And I found out there is no opportunity in that niche, actually, despite it was my core. I found out after all the data analysis that there is a big gap. It was a little bit risky, but with the sustainable concept that I had, all the certifications, I said that's the big opportunity that I have to launch now. I'm probably still one of the only ones. There are only one or two other players, but I have a big advantage. As a brand and as a sustainable certified factory, so that comes all from the data that I have from Black Box, from Cerebro and then I acquired all the magnets and then I made the analysis, the volume of the business that I can drive and then that's how I started. Speaker 1: Some people, they already have products and then my question is, how has Helium 10 helped you? And it's like, oh yeah, it's given me 10% extra sales or I found some keywords. But for you, it almost, without Helium 10, maybe who knows what You're saying it was Helium 10 that actually had you find the niche that you're currently doing. Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think it's not finding the keywords or whatever. For me, it's been finding really the right product on the long term. I'm not a dropshipper or whatever. I'm a private label and it needs to be consistent. I need data going back three or five years and I need to look further for the next five years. When I plan anything, any launch, any products, I plan it for five years. So, that's the data that I can get out of Helium 10 with all the tools and plus, of course, the diamond subscription and the elite talks. That gave me really a wide vision of how I will position my brand. Speaker 1: How many is on your team that manages e-commerce for you? I assume it's not just you or do you have partners in your family, VAs, employees? What do you have? Speaker 2: I had everything. Then I found out that trying to manage an account and managing also the people has been really very complicated and I couldn't get any further with that. I know I currently work with an agency. I don't call them agents, they are partners for me. I work with other agencies as well, but these are partners, friends, which I have. They're also here at WorldEF and I came to see them and then I saw your name, so I said it's worth it now, short notice, in two days I came over. I currently work with those partners and they provide end-to-end services for me and I'm very much happy with them. Speaker 1: For you and your team, what are your favorite Helium 10 tools and functions that you need for your business? Speaker 2: I must say I use everything there, everything out. Speaker 1: Let's talk about your top five favorite ones. Speaker 2: Well, let's start of course with Cerebral, Black Box, then Magnet. Magnet is not just finding keywords, it's just finding out the trends. On the product research, I found out which is the most relevant to me and where the trends are. I can find about the trends. It's not just on Seller Central, but Helium 10 gives me more precise and I can jump from one tool to the other, which is not very easy on Seller Central. And so now with all your AI tools, insights that you have given, it became more sophisticated. Speaker 1: Have you used the historical trends? Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. I use the historical. I go back a year. Speaker 1: Under what circumstance would you use that? Tell me one of the scenarios where that's coming. Is it for a new product launch and you're looking at what a competitor was doing before or you're looking at your own products? How do you use it? Speaker 2: Well, if I wanted to launch new products, and of course, as I like data, I always go back and look at the same numbers again and again. So then at the end of the day, you build up an opinion that guides you through in the future. There on the data that I have and going on to historical, I can analyze the periods of time like how it was in Q4 last year or on the Valentine's Day and so to change the ad campaign. Actually, my friends, the agencies are doing it for me but I'm always guiding them through. I try to be ahead of them what they're doing because I keep them quite busy. And I try to be the innovator in this. Speaker 1: All right, so you use Blackbox, Magnet, Cerebro, any other tools you like? Speaker 2: Frankenstein. I used a lot, yeah. Speaker 1: Now called Keyword Processor, we changed the name of that. Speaker 2: I'm an old guy. Speaker 1: I like Frankenstein better. Speaker 2: Yeah, it got stuck there. And there are some other new tools which I haven't touched yet. I really enjoy them and of course, there's too much going on and I try to catch up on your podcast and Shivali all the time. I'm regularly sometimes listening twice to all your podcasts, so I would really suggest to everyone... Speaker 1: You're going to listen to yourself now, a lot of podcasts. Speaker 2: Oh, that's unbelievable, yeah. Speaker 1: Full circle now. Can you remember anything that, you know, unlike one of our diamond or elite monthly trainings or maybe the networking calls where you just overhear something and you're like, wow, I absolutely needed that. Can you, does anything stick out that you change your strategy because of something you heard? I mean, you've talked about how Helium 10 has helped you on the tools. Well, what about the education and networking side? Speaker 2: On the networking side, there were talks going on which I didn't understand. Then, a couple of months later, I said, that's what they were talking about. You were the first one talking about TikTok shops and you were one of the first having providing tools. That actually helps. of expanding and then I went back to maybe six months back later and then I revisited and listened to the podcast or to the calls again. Of course, there are really very experienced people and they share their experience and that gets you really further. If you are in the space, in the ecosystem, you have to be really inside there. I'm managing a factory but I don't leave it to anybody else because I found it really very much important to be active in this space. That's why I'm here actually. Speaker 1: What keeps you up at night? What kind of things in 2026 have you been struggling with? What are some issues that as a business owner, e-commerce brand owner, that you're struggling with? Speaker 2: I couldn't figure out in the long term the fees that Amazon had. You were warning us all the time that the fee increases and so on, but that was my biggest challenge, especially in the last year. Now my strategy for 2026 has been really very clear and I can see the profit. We're increasing and so 25 has been a big lesson and I paid for it. It's been really expensive but 26 with now the opportunities. Speaker 1: What did you change? What did you do that's helping in that regard? Speaker 2: Well, first switch early 2025 was AWD. So that's the fees that we are now I'm paying for AWD is ridiculous in comparison to FBA fees. I run a small business in Germany. I came from Poland and Czech Republic, Czechia with VAT registrations. Now my FBA fees went down but I lost a tremendous amount of money by misjudging the FBA fees in Europe especially. Now in the US I use mainly AWD but I also use 3PL. just as a reserve because AWD stores can get very congested which happened now in October this October last year and I had to move one container one 40 foot high foot container to a 3PL which cost me Lots of money, of course. Therefore, I have to be very cautious in terms in the U.S. with balancing AWD with 3PL, but still AWD is the most important and doing it on the right time. For Europe, I have to fulfill FBA very conservative and open up the Polish. That's a very good step forward, having a Polish and Czech. Speaker 1: What has been one of your biggest wins of the last couple years? We just talked about the struggles and paying fees and losing so much money, but what was something unexpected? Something positive that's happened to your business? Speaker 2: Something positive. It still warms up my heart. I entered with the brand of my daughters, with my family, to 30,000, 40,000 houses, homes in the U.S. which gave me their reviews, their five-star reviews all the time. that very grateful customers and I'm grateful for them that they have supported me and that's actually the most important award for me that I have touched so many that I have had the opportunity with my own brand to touch such a huge community and this wouldn't be possible without. Speaker 1: I think that's a very undervalued aspect that people who aren't brand owners don't realize is the feeling you get when you just sit there and think, wait a minute, There's thousands of households who have a coffin shelf that I made now in their fireplace or there's tens of thousands of parents who are using this blanket or this rug for their pets or their sons or daughters or something. It's kind of interesting to think about for that. So what's your plans for the future of the brand? Speaker 2: Well, I will expand the brand, of course, try to be, well, first now the next two years is to survive really, to get the brand to a level. Now we are even, we are growing very, very fast and I want to launch new sustainable products and bring more the consciousness of I'm the founder and CEO of Serious Sellers Podcast. LLM is a non-profit organization that helps consumers to go more to the sustainable because the resources in our world is so limited. Now, what I'm nearly going to introduce is more recycled products and 100% cotton organic will still be on but contributing also to the environment, to the world with less carbon print. This is our main objective. Less carbon footprints, less garbage, but more sustainable products. That's my goal for my brand. Speaker 1: If Helium 10 were to go away today, how would that affect your business? Speaker 2: I will lose all the data, I presume, the overview, the insights, if I wouldn't have Helium 10. I'm using it. I have it on my extension. I'm using it on a daily basis. The first thing when I wake up in the morning or just before going to bed, I look at the Helium 10, our rankings. That's the easiest. Of course, I always look at my competitors. I have some targeted competitors and I look at them. So, the extension is very important for me, which I can have an immediate glance on with the Chrome extension. Speaker 1: If there is another brand out there around your size, or maybe smaller, maybe bigger, they haven't used Helium 10 before, but they're already fairly successful. So, they might think, why would I need Helium 10 when I'm already a seven-figure brand? What would you tell them? Speaker 2: Well, we need to be on track all the time. We need to be aware, awake all the time. Otherwise, some days, if you're just saying, okay, I'm a brand now, everyone is loving me, I'm in the top 50, that's not enough. I mean, you need to just look forward, take the next step, because there are competitors that are going to copy you, replicate you, or try to replicate you. So the data there needs to be analyzed all the time. I'm not an engineer type of person, but I like looking at figures, at numbers, and so if they don't look at the numbers, figures, and reverse engine, and use all the tools, I think one day you can take them over easily. Speaker 1: The niches you sell in can be considered competitive. Now, one thing, one reason you have said for your success is because you have a story, a brand story behind it, you know, the sustainability, the way you manufacture. Obviously, there's customers looking for that, but that can't be the only reason of your success. Probably, there's other unique things that maybe you're doing that maybe some of the other competitors aren't. What do you think that's unique, like a strategy that you're using? It could be about Helium 10. It could be about shipping. It could be about anything. What are some of the things that set you apart that you think have contributed to being so successful in such a short time? Speaker 2: Helium 10 Yeah, it's first of all my daughter, which was born at the same time. So I grew up when she was my testing person. And once she loved the product, I said, okay, that's the right product. And then we have a small Maltese dog, our son, and he is the test person for the pet products. This is how we test it. It comes out out of experience. And my wife, she is a professor at the university. She's also a textile and fashion designer. And as a mom, she's a very conscious mom, very picky. And the first thing when I produce, look what I got. I got a new product. So and I throw in the floor and then my daughter grabs it. The little, our little fickle grabs it. And then my wife says, oh, it's fantastic. Then, okay, if we love it, then people will love it. Speaker 1: So lesson one, be a user of your own product. Absolutely. Don't just like, hey, let me just put a label on something and let me run some polls. But actually, if your own family, friends, pets love it, hey, it's a good sign. What else? What about on the Amazon strategy, something you do about your images or listings or anything else that you think might be a little bit unique? Speaker 2: Well, we also have a packaging factory, so we use our own packaging. If you have an iPhone, opening the package is an experience, so I want to really make the package to be an experience while unboxing it. So, that's how I have a very cute label. I have a ribbon around printed. It's organic cotton and then the shoe box can be reusable. So, that's a complete experience that I have fun with. When I create a new box, first of all, we need to love it and then I think then the audience and the buyers, they will love it. I try to display it on the main image. Now we just realized that the main images on Amazon which we thought is not compliant, they are compliant. You can add more to the main image by displaying. It still has to be white background but then you can add a lifestyle. A main image. So Amazon is about numbers, figures, datas and about images to sell and backhand and keywords. So I have Hizm10 on one side, then I have my own experience, my own taste and I observe the competition there as well. Speaker 1: So thank you so much for sharing your story, very inspiring and we really appreciate talking about your brand and sharing your journey and hopefully you've been inspired by people on the podcast and now hopefully you guys are inspired out there by Issa's and then we'll bring you on the podcast next time. So congratulations on all your success and we wish you the success in the future. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Thanks so much.