Happy Thursday friends.

We’re just one day away from the weekend and for most of you that means shutting down and not thinking about work, stressors, or that damn co-worker that you secretly hate.

By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be on a flight to Las Vegas to check off a bucket list concert for me - I’m seeing System of a Down and Slipknot in concert this weekend. For those that are unfamiliar, they are rock/metal legends and now only play a handful of shows every year.

I’m heading out there with my friend Trent who I met at our Founders Club event in Atlanta. He runs a dope company called Jesus Loves You that’s absolutely crushing it, you should check it out.

As you read this week’s version of this newsletter you’ll notice two things:

1. Your boy got some sick graphics for the newsletter finally

2. Walmart.com sponsored this newsletter and if you know me that means legit the world. If you’re running a Shopify brand and not on Walmart.com you’re missing out, big time.

By this time next week CROSSNET should be starting to work its way into stores nationwide in Costco Canada. If you’re up there please make sure to show the displays some extra love and consider making a purchase. I promise it’s a ton of fun and the best way to disconnect with friends and family.

This week we’re doing a full on sprint on content creation and stripping things back to the basics. No more highly produced videos. No expensive Instagram influencers. Just using texts like the one above and testimonials from our customers to make some badass content that is real and stands out.

We are meeting weekly with our media buyer and increasing budgets nearly 20% every few days as long as we continue to break off healthy contribution margin or break even. Not every day is going to be sexy, but the most important thing is to not overreact and pull things back overly aggressive. For example, yesterday was trash for us, but today is already making up for yesterday’s downfall. We look at things in a seven day window.

We’re building a business for the long haul. Don’t panic about one day.

As I write this newsletter each week I'm finding that providing insight into what I'm actually doing throughout the week resonates the most. So here are some of the best things we did or are working on this week to prepare for crushing the summer.

1) Create a Unified Sales Calendar Between Sales & Marketing

• This needs to include your in store retail promotions, Amazon markdowns, sales promotions with online retailers, and your DTC strategy

• The goal is to make sure the marketing team is 100% aware of all the shit that's coming up at all times and they never wake up to a nasty email saying "where is this?" and "this massive event is in 3 days, how haven't you prepared for this?"

• Forces us to be productive. If I see massive gaps where we aren't doing anything I can easily point them out and figure out ways to add revenue or grow the brand

2) Ensure our Brand Standards are Being Upheld

• Review all retailer’s online listings and ensure that the most up-to-date product photos, product descriptions, bullet points, videos, and call to actions are being used

• Review all the landing pages we've been building with Replo are on brand, use enough photos to hit different audiences, and create a desire to purchase immediately

3) Use the Insights we get from Triple Whale and our Media Buyer to Develop Better Content

• We learned that ads with the packaging included perform 100% better. So guess what? We're taking all of our top performing display photos for every SKU and photoshopping a retail package into them. This will help customers identify us at stores and also separate us from the terrible knock offs.

Speaking of building a business for the long haul I saw this epic tweet yesterday that I needed to share here. Sadly I forgot who put it out into the world, but if you’re reading this I appreciate you <3

Save Money On Shipping:

1) Send an RFP to both UPS, FedEx and whoever else you ship with. If you don’t know what an RFP is, read this. Neither of them will take you too seriously tho until you stop using their services.

2) Use something like ShipHaven or ShipStation to beat your current rates you are using.

3) Hiring a part-time order fulfillment person to ensure you are selecting the most affordable rates between UPS, FedEx and USPS will probably pay for itself.

4) Utilize small semi-local/regional carriers to save money wherever you can

You’re Missing Out on Millions of Customers…

Twenty one year old Chris is having a complete pinch-me moment thinking about the fact that Walmart Marketplace is back to sponsor CROSSED Commerce again for this week’s edition. I’ll always remember how happy I was the day we officially got our product into Walmart’s stores. It’s even cooler to see that all my friends using Walmart.com to sell their products.

Lets face it. Shopping on your brand’s website is annoying. I don’t want to make an account. Go through 15 steps. Type in my billing & credit card information and then hope and pray I actually get my product from this random company I saw a Facebook ad for.

Walmart Marketplace alleviates all of those pain points and brings major trust.

Rather than spending more money on ads to reach more buyers, why not join a marketplace that already has a built-in audience of millions of shoppers who are looking for products like yours? Meet the Walmart Marketplace. 

As one of the fastest growing eCommerce platforms in the world, Walmart Marketplace makes scaling any eCommerce business simple with: 

• Zero monthly or set up fees 

• Competitive commission structures 

• Flexible solutions for fulfillment, advertisement, pricing, and more 

CROSSNET is spending a ton of time internally working on its Walmart.com strategy this year, where we expect to easily double our 2023 revenue with just a little added focus. This week, sellers who join Walmart Marketplace can maximize their success on the platform with New-Seller Savings, a limited-time offer, that allows new sellers to save up to 50% on referral and fulfillment fees.* 

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition. If I can leave you some lasting advice about scaling your startup, I saw an incredible post on LinkedIn yesterday about Jesse Itzler, the co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks and a million other incredible business ventures. He was asked for advice as somebody was trying to sell their business. His quote stuck with me days later, "We can live with trading a player too early, not too late.”

Sell on the way up people.

In the interim, sell on Walmart.com.