Weekly sync between Mark Hope and Gilbert Barrongo covering Doodla Farms Amazon performance, Old World Popcorn pricing strategy, a margin improvement plan via bid reductions, and several critical Google Ads account issues.
Attendees: Gilbert Barrongo (gilbert.barrongo@asymmetric.pro), Mark Hope (mark.hope@asymmetric.pro)
| Decision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Doodla Farms bid reduction | Reduce all Amazon ad bids by 2.5% (not 5%) and monitor ROAS for one week before reassessing |
| Old World Popcorn price | Hold at $29.99 — dropping below ~$20 would be unprofitable; not competitive but no viable alternative |
| Capital Bank | No action — client is canceling next month; YouTube campaign inefficiency is irrelevant |
| Asymmetric Marketing PPC | Campaign created but not yet activated; Mark not ready to launch |
Revenue: November projected at $132k ($79k through Nov 18), up from $114k in October — +14% MoM growth.
Top-selling SKUs:
1. Yellow Cornmeal
2. White Popcorn
3. 5 lb Black Beans
4. Yellow Popcorn
5. 25 lb Black Beans
Inventory: New shipment in progress to prevent stockouts on top sellers.
Ads: Most campaigns performing well. Pink beans campaigns intentionally deprioritized due to low gross margin.
November projection: ~$5,800 (down from $8,000 in October).
Root cause — pricing uncompetitiveness:
| Seller | Price/oz |
|---|---|
| Old World Popcorn | $0.31 |
| Amish | $0.19 |
| Anthony's | $0.18–$0.21 |
At $29.99 for 96 oz, Old World is priced significantly above the market. Dropping to $19.99 (~$0.21/oz) would match competitors but is not profitable.
Damaged bag issue: A new production run will use different packaging to address the damaged-bag problem that has affected reviews.
Decision: Hold price at $29.99 and monitor. No coupon currently active (insufficient review count).
Current state: ~36% gross margin
Target: 40% within 1–2 weeks
Strategy: Reduce average ROAS from ~3.37 to ~3.0 by lowering Amazon ad bids.
Discussion:
- Mark suggested a 5% bid reduction to reach the target faster (10% reduction would mathematically move ROAS from 3.37 → 3.0)
- Gilbert pushed back, citing Amazon's sensitivity to large bid changes
- Agreed: 2.5% reduction across all campaigns, observe for one week, then reassess
"I think 2.5 is, let's take 2.5 first and then observe within a week." — Gilbert