During this conference, the one who claims to have gone “from broke student to millionaire in one year” distilled his advice on the opportunities to be seized in online business. For him, the year 2023 is going to be “the best year ever for online business” and that is why he is urging everyone who attended the conference to buy an online training course. he gives along with several other experts. Its initial cost is 4997€ but for the occasion, it offers a reduction which allows the most “determined to succeed” people to obtain it for 697€ payable in three instalments.
Contacted, the entourage of Yomi Denzel let us know “that being a public figure, his team receives hundreds of requests similar to the [nôtre] per day” and that he could not answer our questions. To analyze the phenomenon of online e-commerce training and the difficulties of dropshipping, we therefore turned to Andreas Lanz, professor of marketing at HEC Paris.
Lhe “influentrepreneurs”, and more specifically Yomi Denzel, claims that it is possible to launch an e-commerce business without any knowledge and thanks to their training, to be able to make 10,000 euros in turnover in a month. Do you think that’s believable?
Quite honestly, I don’t think it’s that simple since I’ve experienced it. A few years ago, we started a company with some very good professionals in their field on the Kickstarter crowdfunding site. We were selling backpacks and wallets. It was an innovation for which we used all the different marketing communication channels.
And how did it go for you?
It was a very good learning experience, because I want, as a marketing teacher, to be able not only to tell great stories, but also to talk about them from my experience. On Kickstarter, you present a project for which you already have a prototype and users support you by committing to pay a certain sum. It worked pretty well. We made a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue through Kickstarter. We had a great product, but our margins weren’t high enough to make it a sustainable business. Our business only lasted a few years.
In these conferences, Yomi Denzel claims that you can start an e-commerce business with only 50 to 100 euros in your pocket. What do you think ?
I think it’s impossible. I would say that you need at least 10 to 20,000 euros and that is a minimum range, excluding, of course, your salary because you must also be able to live on something. But let’s say that if you really want to start selling products with a marketing and scaling activity, you need these amounts. I remember it very well, the first sale of our company and there is so much effort put into that first sale. Everything really depends on marketing tools such as targeted on Facebook, for example.
Why do these “influencers” never mention taxes or taxation in your opinion?
Honestly, I do not know. In dropshipping, there are shipping costs, handling costs and of course taxes. Overseas suppliers pay and usually these logistics companies do it on behalf of the recipient of the product, and there are actually handling charges. This can go as far as doubling the price of a product.
To sell his online courses, Yomi Denzel claims to tens of thousands of people online that it is possible, thanks to AI, to be able to generate “extremely large” income in 2023, do you think this is credible ?
I believe it is possible but it is reserved for very very few people. In any case, not to the whole community in front of which he speaks. That’s why these influencer stories are fascinating because you wouldn’t exactly get such a story if you could see all the hard work that goes into a success story. There’s a whole aspect of self-fulfilling prophecy behind it all. Another important aspect that is not mentioned is that it takes a whole team to be successful in an e-commerce business. And a very good team!
Among the members of her community, Yomi Denzel attracts many young people, sometimes minors via Instagram. Do you think it’s the perfect social network to sell this kind of training to millennials?
Yes, absolutely. Because they sell dreams on Instagram with the vision of a perfect life. But in life, as in entrepreneurship, there are no shortcuts. I’m sure the young audience watching it is only attracted by the result without really understanding how to get there. I think the expectations are too high because it’s a real gamble to succeed in e-commerce. And a bet at 10 or 20,000 euros. You need to have a solid foundation behind to understand not only the appearance of your product but also the marketing elements.
Would you say that these courses to succeed in the field of online entrepreneurship through training are scams?
The word scam is very strong. Let’s say it’s a typical vision of the iceberg: we see the tip of success but we don’t know what’s behind it. In a way, I think these types of influencers are selling dreams. Personally, I am quite in favor of the idea of marketing as a sales channel and today, in digital marketing, we have powerful tools to sell. I understand that teenagers want to earn a lot of money and are attracted by these stories but I think that the money they are ready to put in online tutorials would be better invested elsewhere.