Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at EcomBalance. At EcomBalance, we’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Alina Vlaic from AZRank. AZRank provide and execute strategies for crushing it on multiple marketplaces in the USA, Canada and in several European countries.
Alina Vlaic, from Sibiu, Romania is an entrepreneur who started her Amazon journey as a seller on the EU marketplace and then made her way to North America where the launch of the first 3PL brand was about to change her entire life.
As an Amazon seller herself, Alina knows the challenges (and the satisfaction) of what it’s like when things go according to plan. Which did not happen in our story, so that’s when everything changed and turned into the learning and evolving experience of her life. This is when AZ Rank was born, a company dedicated to helping Amazon sellers on every stage of their business with customized ranking, launching services and more.
She the established herself at the forefront of Amazon strategic thinking (people say…:) ). Ran thousands of product launches over the last 3 years and helped thousands of sellers do better on Amazon, Walmart and not only.
She loves travelling and she’s a fighter. Determined to do her best in every situation and for every client.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an eCommerce business owner.
Connor: Hey Alina, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of AZRank and how it got started?
Alina: Hey Connor, thank you so much for having me. I would start by saying that I am also a seller. Me and my husband, who is also my business partner, started this journey a few years ago. We started selling in Europe , thought we’d get our feet wet and learn about what Amazon really is first, with a type of wholesale model (not entirely wholesale, since we were also creating the listings from scratch for the products we sold, since they were not at all present on the marketplace, however the brands were sort of present). Anyway, after that we jumped across the ocean and launched our first PL Brand on amazon.com, in the baby category. Total failure. Big money failure. But that was our main trigger for where we are now. That failure made us who we are today, 7 figure sellers and owners of AZ Rank. I created AZ Rank during those days, because I realized that there was a need for a different way of doing the old fashioned SearchFindBuy Launches. And the different way was that each launch was looked at differently, also from a seller perspective, not only a service provider angle.
Connor: That’s awesome! Can you dive a bit more into the services you offer to help improve ecommerce store or product ranking? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.
Alina: Our core service is Product Launches and Product ranking, not only on amazon.com but also on all 5 European amazon marketplaces, Walmart, Ebay, Chewy, Iherb and many more. We can also help sellers with listing creation, PPC and several other services through our partners whom we trust to recommend.
Oh, and also, we’ve just launched Fotolive which is 100 % real UGC from real people. Photos and videos with products in use that can be used anywhere , from amazon listing to social media posts, to TikTok and so on. www.azrank.com/fotolive
Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that AZRank solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?
Alina: The biggest problem we address is getting your product in front of people’s eyes without costing you an arm and a leg. And from there on, the path to success can be way easier.
Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?
Alina: Definitely. We will be opening new marketplaces and also perfecting our current services. We are working on developing a really cool survey service that can tell you which main photo people would choose and why from any page 1 results generated by any search term. This would be extremely helpful for sellers , so that they know what people actually like to click on and why, and not only focus on what everybody else has.
Also, our main service launch for this year is PressX. This is currently in beta and I won’t be able to talk much about it until officially launched in September. But you can find some details on the website here www.pressx.live and also subscribe to our newsletter to find out when it will be open for public. This combo of having your product presented in a famous publication and people clicking back to your amazon listing or website from that article has proved to have amazing results. Can’t wait to be able to bring more test studies to you all.
Connor: And how specifically would you say that AZRank and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?
Alina: I think the first sentence in this interview answers this question best. We are sellers, so we know both parts of the game. And we’ve been in that place where you barely see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Also, our results speak for themselves. We are not aggressive with advertising for ourselves in the space but most people have heard about us. And that is what matters at the end of the day, right?
Connor: What made you decide to get involved in the ecommerce agency space? What’s your starting eCommerce story? From what we’ve found, a lot of business owners in the space have fun stories of how they first started…
Alina: Our eCommerce story started here in Romania, we have a business started 17 years ago by my husband and we continue to have it today. Many ups and downs on the road, of course, but the main thing is that we were one of the first companies involved in online selling many years ago. That’s how we started and got the taste for it. That’s how we later on got to sell on Amazon and expand our horizons.
Connor: Love it! Talking more about the eCommerce industry, where do you see it going in the next 1-2 years? Any unique predictions that you could share?
Alina: I believe the trend will be one going up, but at the same time will suffer some changes. Kind of the ones we see in the retail space. Meaning big retailers are decreasing in power and specialized very niche dedicated shops or businesses start to appear more and more. Young people have the courage to follow their dreams and passions and start their own business . That is something that we’ll see in the online space soon enough, in my personal opinion and big players like Amazon, Walmart and others will have more competition to fight . Which is not a bad thing. Competition is the heart of every healthy economy.
Connor: Giving you an open mic for a minute, what is something you’d want the EcomBalance audience to hear?
Alina: Spend your money as wisely as humanly possible and don’t be afraid to spend money in order to make money.
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Alina: Even though I have a masters degree in International Business, I have never been friends with bookkeeping and accounting, everything related to that is a pain point for me. So I strongly advise all sellers to hire people for their books and taxes. Meaning you guys, of course 🙂
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Alina: You can find me on every social media channel (FB, IG, Linkedin) with my name Alina Vlaic. Our company website is www.azrank.com and there is a small contact form there which we recommend you to fill in, we answer all emails in 24 hours tops. The new service I spoke about can be found on www.pressx.live , also with a contact form. And yes, everyone coming from EcomBalance audience , just mention EcomBal15 and you’ll get a 15% off o your first order with us (in fees, of course). Thank you!
