The Garlic Press, Issue 14: Domain-as-Brand, Gembah, TikTok
and more...
Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Garlic Press. Last week I wrote why this newsletter is back: to distill a mountain of Amazon seller content into clear, usable ideas.
This week brings a fresh batch of insights.
I am testing this format in public for a few months, and your feedback via a comment or an email is greatly welcome, especially if it is negative.
Anyway, here are this week's top finds:
🌐 Domain-as-Brand Naming
🚀 Fast Track New Product Development with Gembah.com
📱 TikTok Product Idea Search Hack
💸 60-Day New ASIN Sniper PPC Targeting
☯️ Dao-Fa-Shu-Qi Forecast Framework
🌐 Domain-as-Brand Naming
What it is and why it matters:
Make the domain your product brand name, for example “TidyTech.io”, dot included. Each time someone prints, says, or shares the name it shows as a live link. That will earn you free direct traffic while staying within Amazon Terms of Service. It will also boost brand recognition and help you rank for the exact term. New extensions (.io, .app, .store) open great options long ago lost in .com.
SOP
✅ List short words that match the offer.
✅ Check open domains across key extensions.
✅ Screen trademarks and social handles.
✅ Register the winning domain.
✅ Embed the domain in logo, packaging, email signature and Amazon images and A+.
More Data:
Complexity: 2/5 (simple once, minimal upkeep)
Tags: branding_strategy, marketing_hack
🚀 Fast Track New Product Development with Gembah.com
Developing new product for eCommerce can take months, if not years. Gembah.com can be an option to speed things up. You send them a hand-made or 3D-printed prototype with a feature wish list, and their industrial designers return a production-ready “golden master” in roughly five weeks.
This way you skip cold emails to factories, align design with all the necessary compliance, potentially save money on DIY development costs such as samples production and delivery, not to mention time.
SOP:
✅ Ship the rough sample plus clear feature notes to Gembah.
✅ Kick off with a call; lock target price, materials, and safety rules.
✅ Review first CAD files within seven days, request edits.
✅ Approve final CAD and bill of materials; green-light compliance review.
✅ Let Gembah sourcing shortlist two or three qualified factories and quotes.
✅ Authorise a pilot run of twenty units; test on arrival.
✅ Finalise the packaging, then move to full production.
✅ Schedule a third-party audit before the first mass batch ships.
More Data:
Complexity: 4/5 (solid product idea needed)
Tags: product_development, sourcing, speed_to_market
📱 TikTok Product Idea Search Hack
What it is and why it matters:
To streamline discovery of new product ideas for TikTok, you can do the following. Create a fresh account and engage only with ads for physical products. Within days your For You feed shows only what other brands push on TikTok.
Add daily hashtag searches (#AmazonFinds, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, #Unboxing etc.) and scan comments to spot complaints and wishes. Follow “product-find” creators who post new gadgets each day.
The feed soon becomes a steady stream of new products. It costs nothing and surfaces ideas before mainstream tools flag them.
SOP
✅ Register a new TikTok profile; set age 25+ to receive shopping ads.
✅ Like, comment, and tap only videos that show product ads; ignore everything else.
✅ Search leading retail hashtags; sort results by “this week”.
✅ Save standout clips to a spreadsheet.
✅ Group saved videos into boards: problem, solution, wow factor, viral hook.
✅ Follow creators who post at least one “find” thread a day.
✅ Shortlist ideas that beat your margin and compliance gates.
✅ Mute entertainment niches to keep the feed signal high and distraction low.
✅ Data sharpens the longer you train.
More Data:
Complexity: 2/5 (daily habit, low tech)
Tags: product_research, tiktok
💸 60-Day New ASIN Sniper PPC Targeting
What it is and why it matters:
Very often, new competitor launches on Amazon come with heavy ad spend within their first months to gain rank. They bid high, draw clicks, yet hold few reviews.
By placing Sponsored Products product-target ads on these fresh ASINs you meet ready shoppers at the moment of doubt. Your ad might convert better than usual because your product has lots of reviews while theirs does not.
Use SellerSprite to set up automatic email notifications as soon as your competitor begins a new launch, and act on it.
SOP
✅ Filter rivals in Helium 10, JungleScout Or SellerSprite: launch date < 60 days, similar price, same sub-category.
✅ Create one Sponsored Products product-targeting campaign per ASIN.
✅ Bid 20 % above the suggested product-target bid to win early impressions.
✅ Review search term reports on day 7; pause targets with ACOS above goal.
✅ Stop campaigns with ROAS < target after 14 days; move winners to a “steady” portfolio.
✅ Refresh the target list weekly to replace aged-out ASINs.
More Data:
Complexity: 3/5 (needs weekly management)
Tags: ppc
☯️ Dao-Fa-Shu-Qi Forecast Framework
What it is and why it matters:
Dao-Fa-Shu-Qi is a business framework that I picked up in one of my Chinese content sources. It can apply to different areas of life and business, but lets look at product forecasting as an example:
Dao asks about the goal of product demand forecasting: lets say you want to balance supply and demand while saving cash.
Fa defines rules: how often you forecast, how you smooth deals and promotions, and when you override the model.
Shu selects the method, such as moving average for flat sales, exponential smoothing for gentle trends, ARIMA model for seasonal demand forecasting.
Qi picks the tool that matches your company, from Excel to Python.
A clear split of principle, rule, technique, and tools helps bring structured approach to product demand forecasting.
SOP
✅ Draft Dao: write one paragraph on forecast goals, service level, and cash limits.
✅ Frame Fa: frequency, acceptable error range, manual override cases.
✅ Choose Shu: map each SKU to pattern type; assign the right model class.
✅ Set Qi: pick software that suits the product selection and the team.
More Data:
Complexity: 4/5 (needs a tight team to execute)
Tags: forecasting, supply_chain
This is it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it!
Max Burdilov
The one I’m excited to try is definitely the TikTok feed cleanup. Scrolling for just 10 minutes a day feels way more grounded than using 10 different product research tools. Will you be posting a real-life case study of it soon?