Clear the Shelf with Chris & Chris

Retail arbitrage on Amazon has allowed Kim and Perry Coghlan to sell over 8 figures in a single year selling shoes and clothing They manage a team of about 20 people across two cities while raising 13 kids. In this deep-dive interview, they reveal the exact systems, processes, and management philosophies that make it all work.CONNECT WITH KIM AND PERRY – Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EcomToolbox – Free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecomtoolbox – Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ecomtoolbox1 – Skool: https://www.skool.com/ecomtoolbox/about?ref=4adcf73740e949279874c4793504807c – Twitter: https://x.com/Pcoghlan, https://x.com/kimcoghlan4, https://x.com/ecom_toolbox RECOMMENDED TOOLS – SellerAmp SAS (14-day free trial): https://www.selleramp.com/oachallenge Use code OAC50 to save 50% off your first month. – Keepa Academy: https://www.oachallenge.com/keepa-academy – Boxem (14-day free trial): https://www.oachallenge.com/boxemTIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Introduction and episode overview 2:15 - Kim and Perry's business overview (10 years, 8 figures, 20 employees) 4:30 - Shifting focus from top line revenue to bottom line profit 6:00 - Why employees wanted data and metrics 8:00 - Ecom Toolbox community and podcast launch 11:00 - Helping intermediate sellers scale sustainably 12:00 - The retail arbitrage renaissance 14:30 - Know your numbers: why financial foundations matter first 16:30 - Top metrics every Amazon seller should track 17:30 - Velocity and cash flow management 20:00 - Tracking stale inventory and learning from bad buys 23:00 - The business scorecard explained (EOS framework) 26:00 - Scorecard metrics: sales, spend, inventory value, margin 28:00 - Returns tracking and seasonal variations 31:00 - Finding the right tempo for tracking your numbers 33:00 - Using AI in their Amazon business 36:00 - Lean operations and spaghetti mapping explained 39:00 - Real examples of process improvement 41:00 - Bringing in a lean consultant for company-wide training 43:00 - The eight wastes and eliminating extra processing 44:00 - Mindset shift: accepting your process is wrong 47:00 - Being the boss you never had 49:00 - Elon Musk, staying in the weeds, and the Gemba 51:00 - Book recommendations (Walter Isaacson, Ron Chernow) 52:00 - Building systems through crisis response, not planning 55:00 - Complete hiring process and personality testing 59:00 - Phone screening, core values introduction, and filtering 1:01:00 - Shopper training program overview 1:04:00 - Warehouse training before field work 1:07:00 - What makes a shopper field-ready 1:09:00 - Compensation structure: item count vs percentage of spend 1:11:00 - Bonus structure and incentivizing profitable behavior 1:12:30 - Buying criteria for shoes and clothing (minimums, ROI) 1:15:00 - Subcategories to avoid (dress shoes, small sizes) 1:16:00 - Repricing strategy: buy box anchoring, not ROI-based 1:18:00 - The rodeo jeans revelation: market doesn't care what you paid 1:19:00 - Aging inventory repricing (30-day and 90-day rules) 1:22:00 - Using ScanPower Mobile for pricing decisions 1:23:30 - Holding inventory strategy and merchant fulfilled hack 1:26:00 - Supplier profitability report as backbone of shopper metrics 1:28:00 - Cross-collaboration and company averages 1:30:00 - Honey holes and competitive bonuses 1:31:00 - The four core values (TACO framework) 1:34:00 - Quarterly conversations and the people analyzer 1:36:00 - Embedding core values through repetition 1:37:00 - Importance of outside perspectives and continuous learning 1:39:00 - How lean and EOS clicked for them 1:40:00 - EOS as the administrative equivalent of lean 1:43:00 - Ecom Toolbox elevator pitch and who it's for 1:44:00 - Where to find Kim and Perry 1:45:30 - Time travel question: advice to their younger selves 1:48:00 - Setting boundaries and not letting the business consume you 1:48:30 - Recent impactful learning (Musk biography, learning to play)