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 Carina Mcleod from eCommerce Nurse, she is passionate about helping retail brands succeed in the online world. With 20 years of experience in retail and 18 years working with Amazon, Carina now leads an Amazon-focused agency, eCommerce Nurse, which supports sellers and vendors in growing their businesses in Europe and North America. Carina loves seeing how online shopping dynamics have changed over the past two decades. A subject she could talk about for hours!
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an eCommerce business owner.
Connor: Hey Carina, 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 eCommerce Nurse and how it got started?
Carina: I started in the Amazon space in 2004, I was employed by amazon.co.uk as a Vendor Manager. After climbing the ranks and managing a multitude of product categories, I left in 2011 to take some time out to travel. Shortly into my trip I continued my Amazon journey but, now on the other side, as a consultant helping brands understand and grow on Amazon.
Amazon can be tricky to navigate and the support I was offering soon led to an influx of clients. In 2017 I officially launched eCommerce Nurse, enabling the business to grow and reach more brands with a unique service aided by a now growing team of Amazon experts and specialists.
Connor: That’s awesome! Can you dive a bit more into the products and services that you offer in terms of strategic marketing, advertising & account management in the Amazon space? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.
Carina: I firmly believe in the power of great online marketing and advertising to grow brands. That it should be easy for brands to sell online and navigate platforms like Amazon. As a trusted team of ex-Amazonians and online experts, we’re here to guide brands through the jungle and jargon.
At eCommerce Nurse we offer 3 core services:
Account management which is great for brands that want to collaborate and let the experts grow their Amazon account and take it to the next level.
Amazon Advertising management which helps brands attract customers both on and off Amazon to drive awareness, and increase traffic to their product pages. We build a unique strategy tailored to their goals and budget.
Both Amazon Account Management and Amazon Advertising clients get access to our marketing experts who are on-hand to optimise listings from copy, photography, A+ content and infographics to store fronts.
Lastly we offer Strategic Consulting, where brands can work directly with our retail experts, together we’ll craft and execute an optimal brand strategy on Amazon.
Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Ecommerce Nurse solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?
Carina: Our experience is working with brands helping them establish themselves online to build a long term sustainable business on Amazon and beyond. We work with brands that are either going through digital transformation, they may be well known in the major brick and mortar stores but still mastering online, or upcoming brands trying to position themselves and gain market share in their category.
Our main super power is leading brands along an easy-to-follow path of success in the UK, Europe and North America. We cut through the jargon and help simplify the Amazon journey as an extension to a brand’s in-house team.
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?
Carina: We are expanding beyond Amazon and will be offering our account management and marketing services to brands selling on Walmart.com. We will also continue to support brands at an international level on Amazon. We will also continue to support our clients on any new tools or processes that Amazon implements.
Connor: And how specifically would you say that eCommerce Nurse and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?
Carina: We simplify what we do for our clients to help them understand and learn. We want to educate our clients, and not confuse them with overcomplicated jargon. We are passionate about what we do and collaboration is key to a successful partnership with our clients.
We have a really strong marketing team to support our clients, even for an Advertising Management only client. They still get access to our marketing team to make sure that they have strong building blocks in place to convert and retain customers. The quality of the work our marketing team produces blows me away.
Connor: What made you decide to get involved in the brand marketing space? What’s your starting eCommerce story? From what we’ve found, a lot of business owners in the Amazon service space have fun stories of how they first started…
Carina: I started off as an Assistant Buyer working for a hardware retailer. A job came up at Amazon for a similar role working in the Kitchen and Home category and everyone thought I was crazy to go and work for them. I was told it was a huge risk and could be damaging to my buying career, but my gut told me otherwise. It was 2004, Amazon UK had been going for less that 6 years, few people had heard of Amazon but nobody knew they could buy a coffee machine online back then! Little did they know…..
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?
Carina: As a result of the constant use of our phones and tablets along with social media, we have adopted an impatient, scan and scroll culture when browsing and shopping online. Always wanting instant gratification.
Attracting and engaging consumers in a noisy and busy environment is going to be key and this will be done through video content on product pages, social media and streaming ads. Our expectations are also very high when it comes to delivery, quick commerce is starting to take leaps and will continue to do so in the FMCG categories and beyond. Exciting times ahead…
Connor: Giving you an open mic for a minute, what is something you’d want the EcomBalance audience to hear?
Carina: eCommerce Nurse is also unique as we also own an Amazon support platform called Vendor Society. Vendor Society was born to create a community for vendors to share and receive free, easy-to-access support with their Amazon business through the networking of peers and experts. We offer a variety of solutions, depending on what level of support vendors need and what they have time for. From coffee break-ready interviews and quick-read blog posts on vendor-specific topics, to regular e-newsletter updates and joining peers in small roundtable discussions led by the team at eCommerce Nurse; there is a wealth of opportunities for vendors to learn, connect, and grow.
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.
Carina: I’ll call out two of the biggest pain points we have seen in the eCommerce space.
Firstly, having to deal with accounting across multiple channels, all with their own nuances. For example, some businesses are selling across Amazon Seller, Amazon Vendor, and Walmart, having to keep track of all income and expenses across all platforms is not an easy task.
Secondly, with many businesses using Amazon FBA and other similar fulfillment models, this becomes a challenge when it comes to tracking inventory ownership as well as the reconciliation aspect when stock goes missing. Not to mention when Amazon deducts payments from your account you were unaware of.
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?
Carina: Our website ecommercenurse.com is the best place to go to learn all about the services we offer to brands and to ‘meet the team’. You’ll find an easy to fill in ‘contact us’ form after which a member of the team will reach out and advise how best we can support you to achieve your business goals. Follow us on LinkedIn for all Amazon related updates and you can also follow us on YouTube plus we’ll be launching more socials in the new year, so watch this space.
