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The Power of Safety Stock in E-Commerce Success with Randy Thebeau
Manage episode 514846853 series 2792815
Ready to scale your Amazon business? Click here to book a strategy call. https://calendly.com/firingtheman/amazon
Tired of guessing your way through stockouts, overstock, and Amazon’s ever-shifting fees? We sat down with Randy Thebeau—programmer, analyst, Amazon seller, and former 3PL owner—who turned years of warehouse chaos into SKU Compass, a practical system for sellers who want clarity, not dashboards for show. Randy shares how he set a hard revenue target and deadline to quit his bank job, then learned the hard way why spreadsheets crumble under daily sales swings, multi-channel expansion, and the hidden math of bundles and kits.
We unpack the habits that protect margins: treating safety stock as non-negotiable insurance, measuring coverage in days (not just units), and setting channel-specific thresholds so FBA stays lean while sales stay steady. Randy breaks down a hybrid approach to AWD and 3PL that speeds replenishment without surrendering your P&L to auto systems, plus a simple rule to cut long-term storage by taking manual control when FBA dips below a 30-day window. We also get tactical on returns triage for higher-ticket products, supplier standards that prevent rework (barcode at the factory or walk away), and why two manufacturers per SKU can save a launch when quality slips.
If multi-channel sales have turned your inventory into a guessing game, you’ll hear how bundling can push up average order value while SKU Compass handles the tricky component math across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, WooCommerce, and ShipStation-powered channels. The throughline is simple: right-size your stock, protect cash flow, and make fewer—but sharper—decisions that compound over time. Subscribe, share with a seller who’s stuck in spreadsheet hell, and leave a review with your biggest inventory headache—we’ll queue it up for a future deep dive.
Randy Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/randy.thebeau
https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-thebeau/
SKU Compass Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566592928758
https://www.youtube.com/@SKUCompass
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sku-compass/
https://skucompass.com/
Ready to scale your Amazon business? Click here to book a strategy call. https://calendly.com/firingtheman/amazon
Chapters
1. Welcome & Why Inventory Matters (00:00:00)
2. Conferences: Amazon vs Walmart Insights (00:03:52)
3. Randy’s Journey: Analyst to 3PL Owner (00:05:25)
4. Firing the Man: The Leap Plan (00:09:37)
5. Early 3PL Chaos and System Gaps (00:12:12)
6. From Internal Tool to SKU Compass (00:15:27)
7. When Spreadsheets Break at Scale (00:17:12)
8. Safety Stock: Non‑Negotiable Insurance (00:19:27)
9. How Much Safety Stock to Start With (00:22:07)
10. Worst Practices and Manufacturer Standards (00:24:07)
11. SKU Compass: Core Calculations & Defaults (00:26:17)
12. Beating FBA Storage with Right Sizing (00:28:17)
13. AWD vs 3PL: A Hybrid Strategy (00:30:07)
14. Auto vs Manual Replenishment Risks (00:33:07)
15. Long-Term Storage: Cut, Fix, or Exit (00:35:07)
16. Returns Triage and Profitability (00:37:07)
17. Multi-Channel Reality and Bundling Power (00:39:07)
18. Pricing, Fit, and Scaling with SKU Compass (00:42:07)
19. Fire Round & Closing Connections (00:43:37)
290 episodes
Manage episode 514846853 series 2792815
Ready to scale your Amazon business? Click here to book a strategy call. https://calendly.com/firingtheman/amazon
Tired of guessing your way through stockouts, overstock, and Amazon’s ever-shifting fees? We sat down with Randy Thebeau—programmer, analyst, Amazon seller, and former 3PL owner—who turned years of warehouse chaos into SKU Compass, a practical system for sellers who want clarity, not dashboards for show. Randy shares how he set a hard revenue target and deadline to quit his bank job, then learned the hard way why spreadsheets crumble under daily sales swings, multi-channel expansion, and the hidden math of bundles and kits.
We unpack the habits that protect margins: treating safety stock as non-negotiable insurance, measuring coverage in days (not just units), and setting channel-specific thresholds so FBA stays lean while sales stay steady. Randy breaks down a hybrid approach to AWD and 3PL that speeds replenishment without surrendering your P&L to auto systems, plus a simple rule to cut long-term storage by taking manual control when FBA dips below a 30-day window. We also get tactical on returns triage for higher-ticket products, supplier standards that prevent rework (barcode at the factory or walk away), and why two manufacturers per SKU can save a launch when quality slips.
If multi-channel sales have turned your inventory into a guessing game, you’ll hear how bundling can push up average order value while SKU Compass handles the tricky component math across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, WooCommerce, and ShipStation-powered channels. The throughline is simple: right-size your stock, protect cash flow, and make fewer—but sharper—decisions that compound over time. Subscribe, share with a seller who’s stuck in spreadsheet hell, and leave a review with your biggest inventory headache—we’ll queue it up for a future deep dive.
Randy Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/randy.thebeau
https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-thebeau/
SKU Compass Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566592928758
https://www.youtube.com/@SKUCompass
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sku-compass/
https://skucompass.com/
Ready to scale your Amazon business? Click here to book a strategy call. https://calendly.com/firingtheman/amazon
Chapters
1. Welcome & Why Inventory Matters (00:00:00)
2. Conferences: Amazon vs Walmart Insights (00:03:52)
3. Randy’s Journey: Analyst to 3PL Owner (00:05:25)
4. Firing the Man: The Leap Plan (00:09:37)
5. Early 3PL Chaos and System Gaps (00:12:12)
6. From Internal Tool to SKU Compass (00:15:27)
7. When Spreadsheets Break at Scale (00:17:12)
8. Safety Stock: Non‑Negotiable Insurance (00:19:27)
9. How Much Safety Stock to Start With (00:22:07)
10. Worst Practices and Manufacturer Standards (00:24:07)
11. SKU Compass: Core Calculations & Defaults (00:26:17)
12. Beating FBA Storage with Right Sizing (00:28:17)
13. AWD vs 3PL: A Hybrid Strategy (00:30:07)
14. Auto vs Manual Replenishment Risks (00:33:07)
15. Long-Term Storage: Cut, Fix, or Exit (00:35:07)
16. Returns Triage and Profitability (00:37:07)
17. Multi-Channel Reality and Bundling Power (00:39:07)
18. Pricing, Fit, and Scaling with SKU Compass (00:42:07)
19. Fire Round & Closing Connections (00:43:37)
290 episodes
All episodes
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