Amazon Aggregators

In this post, I’ll explain everything you need to know about Amazon Aggregators and the process of selling your FBA or Shopify business to one.

I’ll summarise our 100+ hours of research into the space (in less than 5 minutes), and share our personal experience of how Richard and I sold to separate Amazon Aggregator companies in late 2021.

Finally, I’ll reveal our list of the top 10 Amazon Aggregators, rated by our friends in the FBA community – including over 50 sellers who have already exited their business.

Let’s dive right in:

Contents

What Are Amazon Aggregators?
How We Sold Our FBA Businesses
Who Gives The Best Valuations?
Assets Deals Versus Share Deals
The Step by Step Sales Process
5 Ways To Prepare For A Sale
How To Maximize Your Valuation
Top 10 Amazon Aggregators

What Are Amazon Aggregators?

Amazon Aggregators are businesses that acquire and consolidate small private label brands selling on Amazon. Their goal is to scale and integrate each brand into their larger organization.

FBA Aggregators trade almost exclusively online and own a vast array of products in different niches and geographical markets.

Think of them a bit like Proctor and Gamble.

Only an online version.

Aggregator acquisitions

Most small FBA brands are bought by Aggregators for a 3-6 times multiple of their annual pre-tax profits.

But consider this:

Once operations have been consolidated and refined, FBA Aggregators can achieve a 20+ times multiple by selling the combined (or aggregated) brands to a larger company or by seeking an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Pretty lucrative, huh?

Yes, but here’s the brutal truth:

There are way too many people in our industry that underestimate the job of scaling multiple brands, particularly when you’re predominately selling through Amazon FBA.

Certain established (and hugely successful) Amazon sellers we know have tried more than once – and failed miserably.

Amazon FBA Aggregators are experts in the complex field of brand consolidation and, as far as we’re concerned, deserve every single cent of profit should they opt for an exit or IPO.

Bottom line:

For Richard, myself, and the many other post-exit sellers we have spoken to, a 3-6 times multiple was more than enough to exit the Amazon game for the time being, and enjoy a bit of much-needed downtime.

That being said.

If your business is booming you can, incidentally, achieve a much higher multiple than the 3-6 times average.

But more about that later.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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How We Sold Our FBA Businesses

When people hear that we sold our Amazon businesses in less than 2 months, they inevitably want to know more.

Simply put:

No matter what you read in the mainstream media, Amazon sellers have never been more motivated to exit their business.

We know this first hand based on our hundreds of conversations with sellers, as well as our recent survey on the topic.

The question is:

How do YOU start the process of exiting your business without losing focus on the things that made it profitable in the first place?

As white-label sellers with a small number of skeleton staff, this is something that Richard and I both thought that we would struggle with.

The good news for you, however, is that we have covered this question – and many others – in our faq section.

And the best part?

Despite our reservations, the process of selling to an Amazon Aggregator was quick, simple, and on the whole, painless.

It starts, of course, with a simple willingness to dedicate some time to prepare your business, get your financials in place, and – most importantly – engage the right advice.

You can read all about our experience here.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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Who Gives The Best Valuations?

“Multiple” is the most-used buzzword in the world of Amazon exits.

It’s a term used to derive the value of a business based on a multiplication (or multiple) of your annual profits.

And for 90% of the Amazon sellers we talk to, it’s the number one thing they obsess over.

But here’s the kicker:

The multiple you receive for your business is ultimately irrelevant.

Why?

Because the annual profit figure used in a ‘multiple’ calculation can be any one of several different line items in your P&L.

To put that another way:

Whilst some FBA Aggregators might use (say) annual gross profit to calculate your multiple, others might prefer net profit, SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings), EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), or a combination of each.

Focus 100% on this

In short:

What really matters is the total (or absolute) valuation in dollar terms, not what formula has been applied to your numbers to arrive at an offer.

With this in mind, our two most commonly asked questions are:

1. 1. When is the best time to sell?
   2. Which Aggregators give the best valuations?

Let’s hand over to Richard, who covers both in this short-and-sweet video:

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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Assets Deals Versus Share Deals

Fact:

The single biggest decision you will need to make when selling your business is whether you sign an ‘asset’ or ‘share’ deal.

You don’t know the difference?

Let me explain:

An asset deal effectively involves selling the core assets of your business, but not the legal entity itself.

A share deal, in comparison, involves selling the shares (or the entire ownership) of your business.

We go into the complexities of both deals, including the pros and cons for both buyer and seller in this post.

Why is this so important?

Because the difference in net take-home (after all taxes have been paid) can be as much as 20%, depending on which country you are based.

And when you’re talking about a potentially multi-million dollar exit, that 20% difference can add up to a fair chunk of change.

Our best advice

When you have an offer on the table, we strongly recommend doing two things:

1. 1. Talk to your accountant to figure out the total taxes payable on the deal
   2. Discuss the offer with a lawyer BEFORE signing a Letter of Intent (LOI)

The latter is particularly important, as you will need to understand precisely how the deal will be structured, legally, before proceeding with due diligence.

In a nutshell:

Read this post, talk to the professionals, and give us a shout if you want a second opinion on the deal you have been offered.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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The Step by Step Sales Process

News flash:

Most people think that selling an Amazon business is complicated.

But guess what?

It’s really not.

In fact, here’s the brutal truth:

You can spend hours agonizing over the perceived time, stress and inconvenience of selling your FBA business, potentially missing out on the deal of your lifetime.

Or you can consider this:

Based on our connections with over 50+ sellers who have already sold to an Amazon FBA Aggregator, the average investment of YOUR time is less than 20 hours from offer to exit.

Better still

There are just 7 simple steps to follow from where you are today (curious about the prospect of selling) to receiving the cash into your bank account:

1. 1. Find a buyer
   2. Negotiate an offer
   3. Hire a lawyer
   4. Sign a Letter of Intent (LOI)
   5. Undergo due diligence
   6. Receive your payment
   7. Transfer seller account

Just think about that for a moment.

20 hours is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It’s less than the time it would take you to develop a new product, let alone launch one!

And last time we checked, selling on Amazon is not getting any easier.

So what are you waiting for?

Start here today or shoot us a message if you fancy talking through any of the above 7 steps in more detail.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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5 Ways To Prepare For A Sale

Okay:

So you just learned that selling an Amazon business is easier than you think.

If you plan on selling to an Amazon FBA Aggregator, you now know that the process is even more straightforward.

Next up?

It’s time to discuss the foundation of every successful exit:

Preparation.

But how do you know what to focus on when you’re already up against it, overseeing the day-to-day operations of your FBA business?

Let me explain in the following video:

5 things you can do right now to prepare your business for a successful exit.

I’ve skipped the introduction and jumped straight to the juicy bits:

To summarize

One: Connect sellerboard to your Amazon seller central account

Two: Get a signed agreement in place with your core suppliers

Three: Spend time updating your Amazon storefront URL

Four: Map out your entire business in a one-page document

Five: Estimate how much you think your business is worth

All in all:

If I were to sell my Amazon business all over again, these are the 5 things that I would focus on first, with the benefit of hindsight – before finding a buyer.

With that being said:

Number five is, without a doubt, the most imperative.

Why?

Because whilst it’s nice to put a figure on the value of your business, you can’t underestimate the importance of knowing your numbers.

And by calculating value, it’s almost impossible not to look at revenue, cost of sales, stock, advertising, margin etc.

Bottom line:

There’s a golden opportunity to exit your Amazon business in 2024.

Just make sure you know every minute detail of how it functions and performs before talking to potential buyers.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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How To Maximize Your Valuation

Regardless of whether you sell your business or not:

Getting its operations and finances in order can be a liberating experience.

And with the rising costs of PPC, shipping, inventory, and practically everything else you can think of, what better time could there be to pull back the curtain on your business and get into the weeds of what’s working and what’s not.

But why stop there?

In fact, by implementing just a few extra tweaks during the preparation phase, it’s possible to boost the valuation of your business even further.

Richard talks about this in the following video.

Top tip

Whilst we both recommend installing sellerboard, pay particular attention to what Richard suggests regarding the cost data when populating the software with your financials.

This one thing could make or break your valuation.

Take it away, Richard:

If you prefer to read, these are (in our experience), the 5 things that will maximize your valuation:

One: Connect sellerboard, but do not include your operating costs

Two: Renegotiate wholesale unit prices with your core suppliers

Three: Understand the pros and cons of an ‘asset’ and ‘share’ deal

Four: Decide if a business broker is going to add value or not

Five: Speak directly with the buyer’s senior decision-makers

Lets recap

So by now, you should have a decent understanding of what an Amazon Aggregator is, how the sales process works, and some of the key things that Richard and I believe you should be focusing on, with the benefit of our experience.

Now it’s your turn:

If you think you’re ready to take the next step, click the find buyers button below.

This will take you to our simple, three-step quiz – the culmination of over 100 hours of research into the Amazon FBA Aggregator space.

It will also reveal the buyers that are most likely to make you an offer and, crucially, give you the highest valuation for your business.

In the meantime, for your convenience, we have listed our top 10 Amazon Aggregators below.

These have been rated by post-exit sellers and our friends in the FBA community.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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List of Top 10 Amazon Aggregators

Heads up:

Not all Amazon FBA Aggregators are created equally.

And whilst we have thoroughly researched the market, the list below is provided for general information purposes only.

We have no control over the integrity of any third party company listed in this top 10 directory and make no representations or warranties of any kind.

With legal stuff of the way, let’s jump into the list:

The 2024 star performers:

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Still hungry for more?

We got you covered:

In fact, in addition to our top 10 performers above, we have even created a complete Amazon Aggregators list of every company in the public domain.

The full directory of Aggregators

Our work here is done 🙂

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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Thank You

So that’s it for our definitive guide to Amazon Aggregators.

Thank you for taking the time to read this page.

I hope you can see the potential of selling your FBA business this year, and just how straightforward it can be.

Richard and I are, of course, here to answer any follow-up questions to might have.

Feel free to shoot us a message anytime.

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Buyers look for different things in a business.
Click to compare 150+ Amazon Aggregators to secure your highest offer.

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The awesome images on this page are kindly provided by freepik and Vecteezy.