Doug Harding talks about Ecom Mastery .ai featuring BDSS

2026 I think it works almost the same way as it did in 2006. It's still a day in age of cold calling. Right now though, it's more about the relationships that you have not only at the retailers but also with the distributors. So the biggest mistake especially with Amazon dealers going over to retail is just not knowing that you have to have different packaging, different products. Hey Doug, how are you doing? >> I am great. It's just another great Thursday. Bright sunny day. Loving life here in Idaho. >> Oh man, I know the weather is colder in Idaho than it is here in Texas. I just wanted to call you because both of us are going to be part of this event that's coming up called ecommastery.ai AI and I wanted to dig into your topic about expanding into retail and ask you a few questions that people might want to know if they're either considering coming to this event or they just want to learn from you today. Before we get into it though, I just want to talk a little bit about the event. It is a convergence of e-commerce, all the e-commerce channels, Walmart, Tik Tok, everything including retail. you are bringing the retail element to this conference so people who are just in e-commerce looking to get into e-commerce can also understand what it can take to get their products into retail and then on the other side of this conference we have AI AI is taking over everything every corner of our world is being kind of overcome by AI and so it's very important at our e-commerce events that we include AI in the mix how excited are you for this event Doug I am pumped. You know, Kevin told me that I'm one of the only retail experts there. So, I know I'm going to be busy. That's number one. And I'm just excited, you know, not only to share my knowledge, but um also learn from everybody. This isn't the first event that I've been to that Kevin has put on. And um it's going to be, you know, just amazing. Great city, great place to be in. Great time of the year. Um excited to hopefully share some winning tips with a lot of the attendees. I love that. And we're going to have attendees that are beginners all the way to multi-million dollar sellers. So, I know that you're going to have valuable things to share with all of them. You the title of your session is how to 4X sales with retail channel expansion. I know a lot of us would love to forex sales and with all the tips that we're getting here at this event, we're going to be able to do even better than that. But retail is a big one. And it sounds incredible to do 4X, but most e-commerce sellers think that getting into retail is pretty impossible. They think, "Oh my gosh, how how do I cold call Walmart or Costco buyers? How do I even get them on the phone? Uh, what do I do?" So, how does that actually work in 2026? >> In 2026, I think it works almost the same way as it did in 2006. It's still a day in age of cold calling. Right now though, it's more about the relationships that you have not only at the retailers but also with the distributors. So, um you know, picking up the phone, being passionate about your product and having the right price point, the right product, the right uh purchasing or procurement manager, all of the things have to align. Um but one thing to always remember is 85% of consumer purchases still happen in store. So there's a huge market out there that is sometimes ignored by the ecom specialists. Um but it's, you know, it's only about 15% of the market is what they're able to hit. So I'm excited to teach people um just about the basics when it comes to uh retail and how to try to get your product into the stores if it makes sense. >> Absolutely. Yeah, it is a whole another language that you have to learn. So it's uh it's important to learn from experts just like in e-commerce we learn from experts. So, what is the biggest mistake though that you see sellers making when they try to expand into retail? And what's the one thing they should do differently? >> Um, so the biggest mistake, especially with uh Amazon uh dealers going over to retail, is just not knowing um that you have to have different packaging, different products. Going from the ecom world to the retail doesn't mean you could bring your product that was successful online into the retail store. And that's one of the biggest mistakes. People say, "I'm doing great online, so I should be good in retail." That's rarely the case. >> Yeah. I mean, people really shop with their eyes in stores. And Amazon sellers do a great job of in e-commerce overall, sellers do a great job of making sure their their pictures are amazing online and that their their product development pages, detail pages look amazing. But when it comes to retail, we need to look amazing on the shelves. So, I'm looking forward to your talk so I can understand what that looks like and how I get from here to there. You're going to be in Nashville with connections to major retail buyers. For someone in the audience who has a product that is retail ready, what could attending your session and networking at this event actually lead to? >> You know, the biggest thing it could lead to is finding out if you can actually get into retail. half of the people that we speak with um we let them know that retail maybe isn't the right place whether it's because their shipping logistics past their history um the biggest thing is it can you be successful and we can um here in Nashville we can speed that process up in our sessions um by the time people leave they'll be able to know if they can be successful profitably in retail just by visiting with us in one of our sessions so those things usually take you know a month a month and a half along with our onboarding. We're hoping to get that done in a weekend here with all the attendees and uh that way everybody leaves with a clear mind who wants to try to go into the uh big box stores. >> That would be awesome. I think just the networking alone at this event. I mean, so many events uh you can get a recording of, but the networking here is going to be really incredible. and even recordings. There's so much going on with AI that we really need to come together and understand the latest and greatest and not have something from, you know, even two months ago right now. So, I'm so excited for all of us to come together at ecommastery.ai AI and learn together, network together, understand our capabilities of our business or if we're just starting a business or wanting to start a business, understand what we could potentially do and have the network to make it happen. What are you most excited about for this event, Doug? >> I would say Nashville in itself. No, Nashville and just meeting all the entrepreneurs. Right. So, um this is uh the second or third event that I've been with with Kevin. It is it's the networking. Um the last event that we went to um we were able to network with a few brands who actually joined our uh company and uh they already have some success stories. So really um I'm interested mostly in just exactly what you said, networking, meeting great people, learning, right, and uh enjoying Nashville. >> Well, we do have a deal for anybody who's listening in on our conversation here. Uh, we have a deal. If you use code mastery at ecommastery.ai, you can save 20% on your ticket. The lowest level ticket is less than 500 bucks. So, you really I mean, everything you're going to learn there, the people you're going to meet, you're going to pay for your ticket so many times over again. And there's different levels of tickets, but most importantly for your followers to know, for all of the people who are listening right now to know is that this event will sell out. Doug and I are recording this in February. And this event is in April, April 8th through the 12th in Nashville, Tennessee. And uh it's already almost sold out. So don't wait. If you're even thinking about it, if it's something you're interested in, don't wait. Don't think about it. Come see me. Come see Doug ate ecommastery.ai in April in Nashville. Use code mastery to save 20%. Doug, thank you so much. It was great seeing you and see you soon.