Brand 

Our partner company in this case was a relatively new brand operating in the pet supplies niche.

Problem

The product niche was challenging. It contained well known brands offering undifferentiated products at fairly low prices. The top spot in the niche was occupied by a Fortune 500 company whose products were recommended by veterinarians.

Opportunity

The existence of the Fortune 500 company whilst initially intimidating represented an opportunity. The sellers on this listing were competing with each other instead of the other products in the niche. Pre and post-sales customer service was neglected and there was little or no differentiation between products in the niche.

What was our launch strategy?

Our launch strategy was to differentiate the product and present a strong brand image and fully optimised listing and then temporarily drive the listing to the front page of the niche using external marketing tools. We held the price down at cost and then used Amazon PPC advertising to drive sales. Once organic sales increased we slowly increased the price to the drive profit margin. We offered strong, responsive and helpful customer service both pre- and post sales to ensure initial conversions and drive repeat customers.

Why did it work?

We worked with the brand to differentiate the product from a marketing sense to ensure that customers knew why this product was subtly different. We then drove reviews that confirmed the improved feature.

Most Amazon niches comprise well known brands with multiple parasitic sellers competing with each other on price. This allowed us to out-perform them simply by concentrating on the listing performance and customer experience.

Our launch strategy temporarily drove the new product to the front page where it gained exposure and once there the follow-up PPC campaign and organic conversion optimisations held it on the front page.