Supply Chain Management with Forceget's Burak Yolga
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sometimes they implement things way too fast before even the sellers understand that. And then that's kind of scary. And the revenues are lower compared to previous years because the sales demand is lower and then the profit. So it's not really sustainable. It's not consistent to run a business without profit. So understanding those fees are very hard right now. Tell us what your name is and what you do in this crazy world of e-commerce. Barak Yalga. I'm the founder of Forsket International Logistics and Shipping.

And, you know, with international logistics, fulfillment, returns, all sorts of things like helping brands to expand globally, different marketplaces, different markets such as Canada, UK, Europe. We help them to set up the companies, create the, you know, helping with them the compliance as customers, basically a free supply chain solution. What do you think the biggest struggle Amazon sellers are going to have in the next 12 months?

Fees, you know, we've been talking about the FBA fees, low level inventory fees. If you're talking about the US marketplace and then, you know, the lending costs. Amazon changing things and I was talking to a seller and he's like, I send my shipments to AWD, you know, Amazon Warehouse Distribution. Then Amazon distributes that to the other fulfillment centers. And he's like, I don't even know my cost.

I think that's one thing. We work with Amazon directly. I love Amazon, but I think sometimes they implement things way too fast before even the sellers understand that. And then that's kind of scary. So that's why a lot of companies are looking for other options like

how can I reduce my cost? Because, you know, the shipping costs again increased, sourcing costs increased. A lot of companies are now still afraid that the new import tax will again can come to the United States. So they're looking at other marketplaces, source India, this and that. But it's not that easy. And the most common market to source is China. So there are a few, few,

complexity, in my opinion, is on the table. And one of the things is that the understanding the cost of landing, because most of the companies, they went bankrupt, like all the aggregators, some big, small sellers, because they don't understand their cost landing. And the revenues are lower compared to previous years because the sales demand is lower and then the profit. So it's not really sustainable. It's not consistent to run a business without profit. So understanding those fees are very hard right now.

If you could go back to the time that you started your business, what would you tell yourself now that you wish you knew back then? The one piece of advice that you could go in a time machine and tell yourself. Now we understand like data is really important.

and software is very important. Carbon 6 is an incredible company with bringing the best tools together for the sellers. And we just launched our own seller central connection in our software. We are the only international logistic company in the Amazon space that offering free tracking for brands to see their trash at times because every two to three months there's a new challenge in the world when it comes to the supply chain.

And I think four or five years ago when I started my company back in China, when I lived there, no one really worried about how long it takes to deliver to Amazon, what is the checking times. Everything was very smooth. Nobody really worried about it. Nobody really talked about it. Everybody was talking about how can I make more sales. Nobody really worried about too much the landing cost. I think now,

I'm actually happy that we were the first one mentioned in digital freight. Now I think the important thing is the data and if I knew it, this is going to be this important, I think I might have started that earlier email. If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you be doing?

Does it have to be the Amazon space or can be outside of Amazon? Let's say you never got into Amazon, what would you be doing right now? You know, I think 2018 I moved out of China. I was actually thinking to stay in Asia, which actually I'm happy that I didn't, you know, go ahead. So I was actually thinking to move to Bali and start a small business there. But then I decided to move to US. So probably I would do something still related to trade.

But you know, my dream is actually to create a small farm, like an organic farm. Wow. Yeah, with like some animals and, you know, growing some interesting fruits and stuff. That's been one of the funnest questions I've asked people. I've gotten some strange answers. What is the strangest one?

You'll have to watch and see. I will subscribe to the podcast for sure. Can you give a specific example of how community has impacted your business or your ability to serve e-commerce sellers? You know, if I'm going back to the question that you asked, like what would I wish that I'd known before? I think being part of community.

they're great men like they're great clubs they're great networks that you know we were in the event two days ago one of the events um i think it's really the key thing to understand in here because every day we face i'm sure you and your team face so many like unique situation that

you're like, how did this even happen in the Amazon space or e-commerce space? And it's very hard to understand, solve this by yourself, or it takes a lot of time, a lot of money. So if you're a part of a community, if you have someone that you can ask, or you ask through a group chat and you're like,

oh, anyone has this or anyone has a solution provider partner for this? And then you get an answer like really fast. And I think that's what I like. And that's why I like to stay in the Amazon community that everybody really helps each other. And if you're a genie and if you know what you're doing, people respect that. So let's imagine you're standing on a stage and every Amazon seller is listening to you right now.

you can give one piece of advice, one tip, one tactic to help them this year, what would that piece of advice be? That people should be very careful about their cash flows. We have seen some challenges, 2022, 2023, but I think this year is going to be even more important.

And I would tell them that they should track their shipments online. They should understand where the delays are happening. They should understand the form of Amazon fulfillment centers working, what's the checking time, what is the inventory? You know, SawStock is one of the greatest tools on the market.

And I think one thing that is compelling is to understand the production time. There are so many delays, the shipping times, fulfillment times, and then the full cycle of this cash flow. You know, two years ago, maybe it was like 90 to 100 days from the time you manufacture a product, you ship it, you sell it, you get your money back. Now it's almost up to 150, 180 days at some point. So I think that's one thing that I would tell people to be careful with their inventory management.

track their shipments online and understanding their cost. Great. You ship a lot of products. What is the most ridiculous, ludicrous, embarrassing or dumbest product you've ever shipped?

You know, one time we had an inspection in the US Custom and they sent me a couple of pictures and you know, I'm checking my emails and I've seen some like, you know, some weird really sex toys that I've never seen it actually in the past. And they're like, oh, this product description is not really matching with the product. What is this exactly? And I'm like, I'm not the right person to ask. I mean, I'm not using it at all.

the product doesn't belong to me, we're only shipping it, you know, when the product's with battery that they just start. So we had that issue that

the custom did a physical inspection because turns out most of them get activated during the transportation so that's why you know when they did an x-ray so they see that there's so many like actual electronics working in the container so they opened it so that's like we got the information and luckily we were not the import of record yeah so that we you know we contacted the customer and then like hey they want to know what it is they're like okay we're gonna explain so

I don't know the rest of the story. What's the most exciting moment for you in your entrepreneurial journey? You know, I've failed so many times and especially living in China. You know, I think if I started the YouTube channel back then, you know, like 2012, 2013,

it was so normal for me to live in China, like traveling in China, eating in China. Now I see 2024 people are starting YouTube channels and then they are like saying, oh, ni hao, like hi in Chinese. And then they have like a one million subscribers. I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, you know, I wish I've started earlier. So it's a challenge, but you know, I kind of go back to China to maybe stay a little bit longer to use my experience, you know, knowing this part of the world, the West part and East. And

And something very interesting happening now, most of the big brands from China, they moved to US. Especially, you know, we're talking about Shane, TeamLint, 1688. Most of these marketplaces, they're becoming like...

very popular in here. So I'm very curious what's going to happen. You know, on TikTok, we see that in the process where they have a booth first time. Yeah. And a couple of other marketplaces first time we see it. I'm curious, like how it's going to affect the sellers, whether they think that that's a short term non-conversion channel or they're like, hey, we want to invest and we want to convert in those channels. Agreed. Most important question. Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Depends what angle you're looking for. I would say yes. Can you defend that? Yeah, I would. You know, I was in Chicago and I was like, hey, what is the local food? What should we try? And they're like, hey, you have to try. And then I was like, I really liked it. But did they call it a sandwich? What do you call it? I think they call it a hot dog. I'm from Europe, so like, it could be a different one. You know, what do you call it?

I've never given my opinion. All right, I have a question back. Do you think pineapple on a pizza, acceptable or not acceptable? Completely acceptable as long as there's ham with it. It can't be pineapple and pepperoni. It's pineapple and ham. Yeah, for sure.

All right. Good. All right. And where can people find you online? They can find us on Fourscale.com and they should sign up for our new digital platform where they can connect their seller central to see all the fulfillment center movements, the checking times, a lot of data that we will start focusing on. It's going to be very crucial to make the decision. Great. All right. Appreciate it. No problem. Thanks for having me.