EP252 - Amazon FBA Roll-ups w Chris Bell CEO of Perch  [NOTE: The audio quality of this episode is not up to our usual standards due to some internet challenges. But we felt the content was valuable enough to publish the episode anyway.] A number of firms are acquiring, or some would say rolling up, brands that primarily distribute their products on Amazon using Fulfillment by Amazon. By some accounts, these firms have cumulatively raised over $1B in capitol, and are rapidly acquiring brands. This week we explore this trend, with the founder of one of these firms, Chris Bell, CEO of Perch. Chris sees Perch as a next generation CPG conglomerate leveraging the Amazon marketplace. While traditional CPGs may review their pricing quarterly, and set marketing strategies annual, Perch adjusts pricing strategy hourly, and advertising strategies daily. “Amazon marketplace is 2x any CPG and growing faster.” CHRIS BELL, CEO OF PERCH In this interview we cover: Overall trend, and how Chris sees the marketplace Perch criteria for acquisitions Synergies for brands in the roll-up model Off Amazon strategy Potential risks of this model, including from Amazon What the potential future of this market looks like If you’re interested in selling your FBA business to Perch, you can reach them at info@perchhq.com. Episode 252 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded live on Wednesday, January 27th, 2021. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 252 being recorded on Wednesday January 27th, 20:21 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:41] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners. In this week’s episode we are going to do a deep dive into a trend that I’ve been really fascinated by and we’ve touched on it on the show a little bit last year. That trend is that there are a number of firms that are acquiring or some would say rolling up Amazon FBA based businesses. Sometimes I’ve heard these called Amazon Roll-Ups FBA roll-ups, what have you and cumulatively if I’m doing my math right these firms have raised about a billion dollars now with this strategy, globally there are several in the US and there’s some rowing across Europe and other areas so it’s really interesting and I can get a lot of questions because one of the founders of Channel advisor I get a lot of questions from Amazon FBA Sellers hey Scot what you think about this and how do I sell my business for a crazy high valuation so we’re going to dig into that in this week’s episode and to walk just do it we’re really excited to have one of the CEOs of one of these companies we have Chris Bell and he is the CEO of perch Chris welcome to the show. Chris: [1:49] Scot nice be here. Jason: [1:52] Chris we are thrilled to have you here because one of Scott’s favorite topics is to talk about Amazon so if we don’t have enough Amazon shows he starts to get antsy so I totally appreciate you. Accommodating us but before we jump in the Amazon we always like to get a little bit of background about our guests and you you came to purchasing a pretty cool e-commerce e way so can you tell us a little bit about. What you did prior to perch. Chris: [2:17] Definitely yeah so I started my career early on I was a computer engineer actually and I my first job was at General Electric Milwaukee designing and implementing software. I did that for a bit and then actually went into sales I wanted to go get a bit more touch with the customer so I’ve told viewers and software for a couple of years which wouldn’t. But eventually wanted to do something a little bit more thought provoking so when the business school at Carnegie Mellon after t