Adam is a very "rational" clothing seller. From entering cross-border e-commerce five years ago to opening his own store two years ago, almost every decision he made was based on data feedback, risk control, cost matching, and probability deduction.

Now, Adam's store has a stable annual sales growth, a high proportion of natural traffic, and his advertising ACOS is controlled within 20%. The core product price has steadily increased from $23 to $39.99, and he can still maintain more than 60 orders per day. He has found his own way in the clothing category with the approach of "slower and more stable".

Adam entered the cross-border e-commerce industry in 2018 and worked in two companies successively, one mainly engaged in clothing and the other in toys. The non-standard attributes of clothing and the standardized logic of toys both made him "step into many pits" and also accumulated a large amount of practical data.

But what really prompted him to start his own business was a sense of "powerlessness towards empiricism".

In his second company, he once found that the conversion rate of a certain clothing item kept declining. Based on multi-dimensional data, he judged that it was caused by price factors. He suggested reducing the price to improve efficiency, but was firmly vetoed by the supervisor: "Others sell for $40, and we can't be lower either."

Adam:

"I presented the complete data chain, but they didn't believe in data, only in experience."

He described such bosses as "pigs that can fly with the wind" - the experience accumulated by relying on the trend has long been invalid in the context of the current peak of traffic dividends and the differentiation of user preferences.

Adam:

"I can no longer make rational judgments under someone who is unwilling to face reality."

At the end of 2023, he launched his own clothing brand.

Adam is very clear about the cruelty of the clothing category.

In the interview, he frankly said, "I have two products this year that have been copied exactly in terms of the main picture, size, color, and even pricing."

Among them, a best-selling item for spring and summer suits entered the top ten thousand in the big category in February, and in April, two competing products appeared: using almost identical main picture styles, the price dropped from $39.99 to $34.99, and even the comment content had similar copywriting.

Adam:

"They not only grab keywords, but also suppress CPC and follow me to run big keywords in advertising."

In the face of such "head-on" imitation attacks, Adam did not choose to lower prices, but adopted a combination strategy:

(1) Pause the investment in general keywords and switch to defensive long-tail keywords, increase the budget for words with stronger conversion, and control the overall advertising structure not to be controlled by competitors;

(2) Update the main picture and A+ module, introduce life scene pictures, strengthen the sense of brand exclusivity, and let the visual experience "create a gap";

(3) Supplement anti-counterfeiting details, such as brand labels on inner hang tags, watermarks on size instruction papers, to improve the trust of repeat customers;

Eventually, although the short-term sales volume of this product declined, it returned to more than 60 orders per day within two weeks, and brought stronger profit support by stabilizing the high average price.

In the clothing category where inventory pressure is severe, Adam did not avoid "heavy assets", but established a set of exquisite inventory placement logic.

His core principle is: not to pursue profit maximization, but to pursue stable profits under inventory safety.

He will estimate inventory based on sales data in the past 60 days (including daily sales volume, return rate, advertising conversion), without increasing the multiple or betting on quarters. Even if daily sales reach 80 orders, he only purchases in 30-45 day cycles and does not bet on large orders for three or four months.

And once the inventory is tight, his method is not to clear inventory, but to raise prices.

Adam:

"I joked with my friends that this product of mine is a financial management product."

There is a women's clothing suit product that increased from $23 to $34, and then to $39.99, and the sales volume did not fall but rose instead, finally stabilizing orders in the high-price range. He completed the active adjustment of inventory through this method of "increasing prices to slow down and replenishing inventory simultaneously".

He will not press inventory for sales volume, nor will he blindly chase volume to rank. The balance between inventory and profit is his biggest insistence on risk control.

Unlike most clothing sellers driven by explosive products, Adam is a "defensive" operator.

(1) Advertising structure: Big words and long-tail words go hand in hand, automatic advertising testing + manual advertising iteration, ACOS controlled within 20%;

(2) Data link: All operations are based on daily feedback tables, including keyword effects, daily sales performance, advertising returns, etc., forming a "data instruction → operation execution" closed loop;

(3) User portrait: Analyze the age group and style preferences of the purchasing population through backend tools, mainly targeting women aged 30-50, and focusing on keywords such as "comfort and daily use";

(4) Brand awareness: Although there is no large-scale investment, the brand has been registered, A+ pages have been built, and the style has been unified to build user awareness.

Unlike most clothing sellers driven by explosive products, Adam is a "defensive" operator.

Adam:

"I believe that even the smallest brand must have its own rhythm."

Currently, Adam's main site is still the United States. But when considering the next step of expansion, his first choice is Australia.

There are three reasons:

(1) User preferences are closer to Europe and America, and the product style, listing logic, and selection structure can be connected with the US site;

(2) Seasonal inversion advantage: Australia is opposite to China in seasons, and his spring and summer light clothing can be sold all year round. Just staggered placement and balanced rhythm are required, without frequent model changes;

(3) Stable rhythm and easy to test products: Although the market is small, the structure is clear, which is very suitable as the first test site for new sites.

In addition, the advertising cost of the Australian site is currently controllable, the traffic structure is clear, and it has a very suitable environment for fine play. He plans to land in Australia as the first target site after the team size allows.

He also mentioned that he currently does not engage in the autumn and winter categories, which is based on risk control considerations:

Adam:

"Although the average price of autumn and winter is high, the competition is extremely fierce, the inventory is heavy, the preparation cycle is long, and the risk is uncontrollable. My current rhythm is not suitable."