Generated by All in One SEO Pro v5.0.1, this is an llms-full.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Venture Forge Commercial Clarity for Leading Amazon Brands ## Posts ### [The Amazon Q4 Reality Check Established Brands Need](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-amazon-q4-reality-check-established-brands-need/) **Published:** September 1, 2026 **Author:** Lucie Gill **Excerpt:** Revenue up, forecasts on track; but as Q4 approaches, is your Amazon business as healthy as the numbers suggest? **Content:** **Revenue up, forecasts on track – but with Q4 approaching fast, is your Amazon business as healthy as the numbers suggest?** The brands that win Q4 don’t usually do something dramatically different in October – they just spend the months running up to Q4 looking at the first half of the year with more commercial honesty than most… and using what they find to reset and restructure their activities before the peak pressure arrives. That was the premise behind [our latest Beyond the Listings session](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?s=a1f83b92-cd82-46c7-aa62-263b5f36c973), where our CEO Andy Banks, Emma Pickard (our Head of Client Services) and Mike Godsiff (our Head of Advertising and Media) sat down to work through the questions which established brands should be asking before the Golden Quarter makes every unresolved problem harder and more expensive to fix. The good news is that, right now, there’s still time to find those gaps and close them. And while there’s still time to act on what you find, the most important question to start with isn’t how much revenue you’ve generated – it’s what that revenue cost you to get there. ## Revenue and profit aren’t the same marketplace conversation As Emma explained in the session, it’s entirely possible to arrive in August with a revenue number that looks healthy but an underlying profitability picture that tells a very different story – ad spend up 30%, storage fees rising and contribution margin under pressure from Amazon; all lying under a top-line number that gives no indication of what’s actually happening. “Revenue for vanity, profit for sanity” might be an old principle, but it remains the right lens for a mid-year review. And on Amazon specifically, where hidden costs accumulate across fulfilment, storage, chargebacks and promotional funding, a true profitability figure requires deliberately including every line, not just the ones that come through automatically. For Vendor brands in particular, this means keeping a close eye on Net PPM and what’s happening to contribution margin as Amazon continues to apply commercial pressure. If top-line performance looks similar to last year but the margin underneath is eroding, the trajectory is pointing in the wrong direction; and Q4 will make it more pronounced, not less. [*Watch the session on demand*](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?s=a1f83b92-cd82-46c7-aa62-263b5f36c973) ## Are you growing in your Amazon category, or just keeping up? The second reality check is one that established brands in particular are prone to skipping: benchmarking their own growth against what’s actually happening in their category. Growing at 5% year on year can feel like solid progress. But, if your category is growing at 10%, the market share is moving and you’re not keeping pace with it. And that distinction is invisible if you’re only looking at your own numbers. This year, as Andy noted, has been one of the most unpredictable for category-level performance in some time thanks to an unusually prolonged heat wave that shifted purchasing behaviour significantly across multiple sectors. Tariff changes affected import costs and new competitive entrants moved quickly. But the brands that were only watching their own metrics didn’t necessarily see any of those shifts coming until they’d already had an impact. The practical response is to pull category and market share data now so you can understand not just where you are, but who’s moved around you, what products have gained traction that weren’t there six months ago, and whether the pricing dynamics in your category have shifted in ways that your strategy hasn’t yet accounted for. ## Consumer behaviour has shifted more than usual this year The broader consumer picture has also been more volatile than most brands anticipated at the start of the year. Review data and purchasing patterns are telling a different story in some categories than they were twelve months ago. The question Andy raised in the session – are your customers coming back, or are they going somewhere else – is one that’s worth answering with actual data rather than assumption. For this, Amazon’s own data sources are richer than you might think: Search Query Performance shows exactly what customers searched to reach your listings and Brand Analytics surfaces purchasing patterns and repeat behaviour. Review data, when read at scale, reveals what your customers genuinely value about your products, what’s confusing them, and where their expectations aren’t being met. And Andy’s point on AI tooling is relevant here: the ability to take six or twelve months of search term data, review data or purchasing trends and ask a straightforward question in plain language – “what’s changing, what patterns are emerging, what should I be paying attention to?” – is now genuinely accessible, not just for brands with data science teams. The output still needs sense-checking, but the speed at which it surfaces patterns that would previously have taken weeks to analyse manually is a real commercial advantage at this point in the year. [*Watch the session on demand*](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?s=a1f83b92-cd82-46c7-aa62-263b5f36c973) ## The agility problem for large Vendor brands One thread from the session that’s worth calling out specifically for enterprise Vendor brands has to be the combination of high revenue complexity and reduced commercial agility. When Amazon doesn’t buy stock in the expected volumes – something that happened to several larger Vendor clients this year as a result of demand unpredictability – a brand operating purely on the Vendor model has limited options because that stock sits, and the channel can’t be moved. And in a year where demand patterns shifted more rapidly than anticipated, that inflexibility has cost some brands meaningful revenue and margin that a more hybrid model might have partially recovered. It’s not a simple fix because of the commercial weight that Vendor relationships carry, but it’s a dynamic worth stress-testing now, before Q4 brings even less room to manoeuvre. ## Our take The brands that are well positioned for Q4 right now are the ones who’ve done the uncomfortable work in August, the ones who’ve looked past the revenue number, understood what their category is actually doing and been willing to rework their strategy if the first half of the year has moved the landscape in ways that January’s forecast didn’t anticipate. And that agility is the thing that separates brands that execute peak well from the ones that arrive in October still running the strategy they built in January. ## The Bottom Line The best moment for commercial honesty is right now, before peak makes every unresolved gap more expensive and every missed opportunity harder to recover. That means looking properly at what growth has actually cost in the first half of the year, what your category is doing around you and whether the strategy you’re running is still the right one for the six months ahead. For most established brands, there’s an opportunity sitting in that review that won’t surface if the numbers are only being read at headline level. **We’ve got two great places to start: watch the full session on demand for the complete conversation, including how to use consumer data and AI tooling to accelerate the analysis, what Vendor brands should be watching on contribution margin and how to approach advertising costs as they evolve going into Q4.** [WATCH NOW](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?s=a1f83b92-cd82-46c7-aa62-263b5f36c973) **And, for a structured way to evaluate where your Amazon foundations actually stand right now, our Amazon Foundations Scorecard lets you self-assess your business against the standards we believe drive strong second-half performance – and identify where to focus first.** [START THE SCORECARD](https://the-amazon-foundations-scorecard-from-venture-forge.scoreapp.com) ## Useful Links - [Watch Your 2026 Amazon Growth Checkpoint: Fixing the Foundations before Q4 finds the cracks](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/your-2026-amazon-growth-checkpoint-fixing-the-foundations-before-q4-finds-the-cracks?utm_campaign=Freshly+Forged+September+2026&utm_content=Freshly+Forged+September+2026+Preview+CID_88b44bd590267e4c524a41fab945c062&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Email&utm_term=SAVE+MY+SEAT) - [Browse our full Events resource bank](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/) - [Learn more about Venture Forge](https://venture-forge.com/about-us/) - [Contact the Team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are you blaming your Amazon Ads for a Listings Problem?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-blaming-your-amazon-ads-for-a-listings-problem/) **Published:** September 7, 2026 **Author:** Lucie Gill **Excerpt:** Poor ad efficiency and a listings problem look identical from the outside. Here's how to tell them apart… **Content:** **With Amazon advertising, poor efficiency and a listings problem look identical from the outside – here’s how to tell them apart…** When the efficiency of your Amazon advertising starts to slide – TACOS creeping up, ROAS softening, cost per click rising – the instinct is to look at the media plan, changing bids, adjusting targeting and reviewing whole campaign structures. And it’s understandable. Ads are visible and adjustable. But, as our expert panel discussed in [our latest Beyond the Listings session](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), all too frequently the problem lies entirely elsewhere. ## What Amazon advertising can and can’t do As explained directly in the session: an advertising problem is a failure to drive impressions or clicks. And if that’s what’s happening then yes, your media plan deserves scrutiny. But if clicks are coming through and conversion isn’t following, that’s a different problem; and one which no amount of bid adjustment will solve. Emma Pickard, our Head of Client Services, framed it simply: you can drive as much traffic as you want to a product, but if the listing isn’t doing its job – if it’s not showing or telling the customer what they need to see – the traffic converts to nothing. The media investment is wasted not because the media is wrong, but because the destination wasn’t ready for it. So the practical question to ask before touching any budget is: is this an advertising problem, or a listing and conversion problem? Because the fixes are completely different, and confusing one for the other is how brands end up spending more to get less. ## The retail readiness question (aka Buy Box ownership) Mike Godsiff, our Head of Advertising and Media, used the example of Buy Box ownership, one of the most common (and most commonly overlooked) retail readiness issues. You can’t effectively advertise a product that doesn’t hold the Buy Box. If a meaningful portion of your catalogue is losing the Buy Box, and it doesn’t matter if that’s to other sellers, to pricing misalignment or to operational issues, the advertising efficiency problem is a symptom, not the cause. If you fix the Buy Box position first, suddenly a portion of the catalogue that wasn’t advertising-ready becomes available to drive orders – and then your media budget works harder because it’s being pointed at products that can actually convert. It’s the same story for content. A product with weak imagery, unclear differentiation, an insufficient review profile or a price point that the listing can’t justify will underperform in organic and paid search alike, and sending more paid traffic to that listing just accelerates the loss. Emma’s recommendation? A quick review of your own listings versus competitors at this point in the year; specifically looking at whether positive signals in your reviews are being reflected in your content, and whether there are recurring negatives that the listing isn’t addressing. *[Watch the session on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)* ## Amazon Advertising costs are rising regardless The broader cost context is worth understanding, because it means the pressure to have listings working at full efficiency is higher than it’s ever been. Mike cited the trend in average cost-per-click on Amazon – up meaningfully over the past five years, with increased competition across most categories continuing to push bids in one direction. In that environment, a listing that converts at 10% and a listing that converts at 7% aren’t just slightly different; the profitability gap between them, at scale, is significant. Amazon’s own push is toward DSP as a higher-funnel offset to rising search-based CPCs, and the logic is sound. DSP allows you to bid on an audience rather than a keyword, which means reaching a shopper who is showing all the signals of intent without competing at the most expensive end of the paid search auction. For brands with the scale and catalogue readiness to support it, DSP offers a meaningful way to improve blended efficiency without just accepting higher costs because competition is fierce. But DSP doesn’t fix a listing problem either. If the product page isn’t converting organic traffic efficiently, DSP-driven traffic will convert just as poorly. ## The AI layer that’s already changing discoverability And there is – of course – another dimension that makes listing quality more commercially important now than it was even twelve months ago. Andy’s observation in the session was that everything Venture Forge is seeing around AI-driven discoverability on Amazon points to product attributes becoming the critical input – not keywords alone, and not copy. It’s now in the depth and completeness of the structured data sitting behind a listing, and these are the attributes that many brands have historically left partially filled because Amazon’s systems didn’t visibly penalise the gaps. Now, those gaps matter. As Rufus and Amazon’s AI systems determine more and more which products get surfaced for exploratory, conversational and gifting-led searches, AI is reading attribute data to understand what a product is and who it’s for. And a listing with rich, complete attribute data will be understood and matched correctly, but one with missing or generic attribute information? That listing might not be surfaced at all, regardless of how strong the keyword optimisation is. And it’s also worth remembering, as Emma flagged, that there’s a real risk in relying on Amazon’s own AI to fill those gaps, with plenty of cases where Amazon’s systems have rewritten product titles based on attributes it’s inferred, but produced descriptions that bore very little relation to the real product. That makes having human eyes on how your listing data is structured is crucial – a true commercial protection measure. ## Our take If you want to get your advertising efficiency right in the second half of this year, start with the listing, not the bid. That means retail readiness – Buy Box health, content quality, review profile, attribute completeness – coming before media investment, not alongside it or after it. And the commercial logic is straightforward: every pound of advertising spend is working against a conversion rate. So if that conversion rate is low because the listing isn’t ready, increasing the spend doesn’t improve the rate – you need to improve the listing. This is an environment where CPCs are rising and AI discoverability is increasingly driven by structural data. Now, the quality of what’s behind the ad matters more than the ad itself. ## The Bottom Line Advertising efficiency is so rarely a pure media problem – think of it instead as a signal that something upstream needs attention. For most established brands, that something is a combination of retail readiness, content quality and structural data completeness that the advertising is making visible rather than causing, so fix those first and then scale the media. For the complete conversation, including how to distinguish between genuine advertising inefficiency and listing-level problems, Mike’s take on DSP strategy through peak and what AI-driven discoverability means for how you structure your listing data, [watch the session on demand today](https://app.livestorm.co/p/639c8db4-de6b-4469-92f9-8c2522c1c751?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page). And if you’d like a practical tool to help you pinpoint exactly where you stand now – while there’s still enough time to fix things before peak – our new Amazon Foundations Scorecard will give you the lowdown on what’s working, what isn’t and where to focus your attention before Q4 arrives. [START THE SCORECARD](https://the-amazon-foundations-scorecard-from-venture-forge.scoreapp.com) ….. ## Useful Links - [Watch on Demand – Your 2026 Amazon Growth Checkpoint: Fixing the Foundations before Q4 finds the cracks](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/your-2026-amazon-growth-checkpoint-fixing-the-foundations-before-q4-finds-the-cracks?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Browse all our On Demand Events](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/) - [Get in touch with our experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Amazon Peak Events expose the Brands that weren't ready](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-peak-events-on-amazon-are-won-before-the-deals-go-live/) **Published:** August 17, 2026 **Author:** Lucie Gill **Excerpt:** The preparation most established brands still underestimate - and what the strongest do differently ahead of peak. **Content:** **We explore the preparation that so many established brands still underestimate – and what the strongest do differently ahead of peak periods…** Every year, the gap between the brands that perform on Amazon at peak and the brands that don’t comes down to the same thing: preparation that happened weeks earlier than the brands that struggled thought it needed to. That was the consistent thread running through [our latest Beyond the Listings session](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) on Prime Day – a conversation between Venture Forge’s [Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/) (Head of Operations), [Emma Pickard](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/) (Head of Client Services), [Mike Godsiff](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-godsiff-290087163/) (Head of Advertising and Media) and [PJ van Rooyen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pj-van-rooyen-40989039/), Head of E-commerce and Brand at Ultimate Sports Nutrition. And while the session used Prime Day as the lens, this is an evergreen read because these principles apply to every peak event across the Amazon calendar. ## If you’re reviewing your Amazon Content at peak, you’re too late The most common error, as Emma put it plainly, is treating content as something that gets attended to when there’s time. The reality is that by the time a peak event arrives, it’s too late to fix what content should have been doing. Conversion rate during a high-traffic event is a direct signal of retail readiness, and a product that attracts strong traffic but fails to convert isn’t suffering from a promotional problem; its content isn’t doing its job. Competitors communicating value more clearly will win that comparison, regardless of how established the brand is or how competitive the price. And during Prime Day, when traffic volumes make everything more visible and more expensive, weak content becomes more costly in both directions. So the practical question isn’t whether content needs attention – it’s which content, on which ASINs, and what specifically needs to change. Emma’s recommendation was to look at where conversion dropped against products you expected to perform, check what competitors are doing differently on those pages, and treat that review as an ongoing process rather than a pre-event checkbox. *[**Ready to follow the conversation in full? Click here to watch on demand**](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)* ## Budget flexibility beats budget size One of the clearer debates in the session was around ad spend strategy at peak; whether to run a fixed budget through the event or to stay actively flexible. And the panel’s view was consistent: flexibility matters more than total budget. Mike described the day-by-day pattern of Prime Day as inherently variable, noting that this year’s four-day format produced a flatter trend than previous years where day one tended to be strong, days two and three varied and day four recovered as last-minute intent increased. Under those circumstances, setting a fixed daily budget across all four days ignores that pattern entirely. The stronger approach, as Mike and PJ both described, is to stay responsive – moving budget toward the day types that are working, pulling back on formats that are expensive relative to what they’re returning and being willing and able to push harder on day four when last-minute purchase behaviour is strongest. That flexibility also extends to ad format mix: pulling back on Sponsored Products when CPCs spike on the day, and redirecting into Sponsored Brands to maintain visibility at the top of search at a lower cost per click. The advice post-event was equally clear: don’t stop, because the customers who were on Amazon during Prime Day don’t disappear on day five. Continuing to advertise, particularly through remarketing, into the days and weeks that follow keeps momentum building rather than letting it drop off at the point it could be sustained. ## Not everything needs to be on deal A point PJ made from direct experience at USN – and one that applies equally to any brand with a broad catalogue – is that the instinct to put hero products on promotion during peak events isn’t always commercially sound. If a product sells consistently at full price, discounting it during Prime Day doesn’t grow the business; it reduces margin on sales that were already happening. The more interesting promotional strategy is to use peak traffic to move the needle on secondary products – lines that don’t sell themselves organically, that might benefit from the uplift in platform-wide intent, and that could reach a new customer segment if given visibility at a promotional price. USN’s example was practical: with electrolyte products naturally suited to the summer period, the focus shifted toward amino acids and other products that shoppers might not seek out actively but would consider at a discount during a browse-heavy event. The result was incremental demand, not discounted revenue on existing demand. The same logic applies to using peak events for product launches or range introductions. A product launched a month before a major event, with deal pricing timed to the event, picks up the benefit of high traffic at the point it needs initial momentum the most. Tail-end ASINs can be moved into stronger positions on the catalogue if they’re genuinely optimised before the event. But, as PJ noted, that’s the condition – advertising a poorly optimised product into a high-traffic moment is expensive and inefficient. ## The Amazon Calendar beyond Prime Day The session closed with a discussion of the broader peak event calendar and a specific flag from Travis on back to school, which has now been confirmed as a Tier 1 event by Amazon and will receive significant platform-level promotion over the coming weeks. Back to school in particular is worth taking seriously for a broader range of categories than the name implies – Mike’s point was that search behaviour in the back-to-school window extends well beyond stationery and uniforms. And USN’s experience of electrolyte sales rising as school sports activities resume is a practical illustration of how categories that seem unrelated to the occasion can benefit from the broader uplift in purchase intent. The principle the panel returned to repeatedly was to plan the full year, not event by event. A promotional schedule mapped to Amazon’s key moments – the large Tier 1 events and the growing secondary events – gives brands a structure to operate within rather than a series of reactive decisions. It’s also significantly easier to execute well when preparation starts early enough to get inventory, content and ad strategy properly aligned before Amazon announces deal deadlines. ## Our take Peak event performance isn’t decided during the event, it’s decided by the quality of preparation that preceded it. Content that isn’t retail-ready won’t convert high-traffic periods into sales. Ad budgets that aren’t managed flexibly won’t make the most of the demand pattern. And promotional strategies that default to discounting hero products are often creating margin pressure without creating incremental growth. The brands that perform best at Prime Day, Black Friday and every event between them are the ones who’ve built the fundamentals properly in advance, and who stay honest about what the data is telling them after each one. ## The Bottom Line If your brand is already thinking about Q4, you’re in good company, and roughly on track. If you’re not, the window for getting content, inventory and strategy properly aligned before Black Friday is shorter than it feels right now. For the complete conversation, including benchmarking approaches, ad strategy across the four-day window and how to use post-event data to build a clearer H2 plan, click the link to watch the full Beyond the Listings session on demand. [WATCH ON DEMAND](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) And if you’d like our team’s help with peak event planning or a sharper view of where your account stands going into H2, we’d love to talk – click here to get in touch today. --- ### [What your Prime Day Performance Data is really telling you](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-your-prime-day-data-is-really-telling-you/) **Published:** August 3, 2026 **Author:** Lucie Gill **Excerpt:** Too many brands bank their sales and move on - but the ones that grow do something else with their data… **Content:** T**oo many brands bank their Prime Day sales and move on – but the ones that grow do something else with their data…** There’s no denying that Prime Day 2026 was a very different beast than the normal two-day spike. What was a concentrated burst of demand, with a clear before and after, this year became something more difficult to read during the event itself. But that has been followed by four to six weeks of data that, if used properly, can shape how a brand performs for the rest of the year. This was one of the clearest threads to emerge from [**our recent Beyond the Listings session**](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d), which brought together: - [**Travis Chappell**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/), our Head of Operations - [**Emma Pickard**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/), our Head of Client Services - [**Mike Godsiff**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-godsiff-290087163/), our Head of Advertising and Media - And [**PJ van Rooyen**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pj-van-rooyen-40989039/), Head of E-commerce and Brand at Ultimate Sports Nutrition Over 60 minutes, our expert panel shared what they actually saw from this year’s event, and what smart brands should be doing with those insights now. # Prime Day itself is getting harder to read With Amazon running this year’s Prime Day earlier than usual – in June rather than the more familiar July – additional operational pressure was created around fulfilment deadlines and preparation windows. The four-day format, which the panel were united in preferring to see shortened back to two, has also shifted shopper behaviour in ways that make day-by-day performance harder to interpret. Ads expert Mike noted that traffic patterns across the four days were flatter this year than in previous years and that, where historically there’s a clear open and a last-minute close, this year saw a steadier, less differentiated curve across days three and four. External factors played a role too: the heat wave redirected some consumer spending toward immediate needs, which affected category performance in ways that had nothing to do with brand readiness or strategy. The point, as PJ explained, is that Prime Day is an outlier. It shouldn’t be held up as a definitive measure of a brand’s Amazon health, and it shouldn’t be dismissed either. And that means that level-setting expectations should be a brand’s first job after the event. ## Where the real value sits The more important question – the one that separates brands that grow from those that simply have a good or bad Prime Day – is what you do with the data generated. As Emma put it in the session, Prime Day has become less of a discrete event and more of a diagnostic. These four days create a concentrated, high-traffic window that surfaces information that would take months to accumulate in normal trading conditions. And what you do with that data in the four to six weeks that follow is what really determines whether Prime Day was commercially useful. ## The most immediate signal? Conversion If a product received strong traffic during the event but failed to convert it, that’s not a Prime Day problem – it’’s a retail readiness problem, and Prime Day just made it visible at scale. Weak content, unclear value proposition, insufficient trust signals, a price point that doesn’t feel justified by the page; these are issues that exist year-round, but they’re hardest to see when traffic is modest. Prime Day removes that cover. Mike’s recommendation on data: download everything, and do it by day. Campaign-level data and product-level data; and not as a single aggregated view, but day by day, so you can see the actual trends: when traffic peaked, when it dropped, what the lead-in and lead-out looked like. This is then the data that doesn’t just explain this Prime Day, it becomes the baseline for every peak event that follows. ## The Amazon remarketing opportunity most brands underuse One of the most consistent points Mike raised, and one he says he’s been making for years, is that the increased footfall of a peak event creates a remarketing opportunity that most brands don’t fully capitalise on. Prime Day brings a significant volume of shoppers who view products and don’t purchase, and view remarketing, available through Sponsored Display or DSP, allows brands to re-engage those shoppers on a cycle of up to 180 days. The intent signal is already there – someone looked at your product during one of Amazon’s highest-traffic windows. And actively going back to those audiences post-event is one of the more straightforward ways to extend the value of the traffic Prime Day generated. The same logic applies to purchasers, particularly for consumable products. A customer who bought a 30 or 60-day supply during Prime Day is a high-value target for a reorder campaign at the right point in that consumption cycle, because getting them to a third purchase, as Mike noted, is generally where repeat purchase behaviour becomes established. ## Prime Day as a Q4 foundation The session made clear that the smartest brands are already treating this Prime Day as preparation for the second half of the year, not waiting until October to start thinking about Black Friday or the peak quarter. The data from this event shows category trends, competitive performance, which products are converting efficiently and which aren’t, where media spend worked and where it didn’t. That’s the foundation for better forecasting, sharper promotional planning and more targeted content investment in the months ahead – as Mike put it, if you haven’t started thinking about Q4, you’re probably already three months late. ## Our take When it comes to planning for Q4, the data generated by Prime Day is well worth its weight. The brands that will be best positioned going into H2 are the ones who’ve used the post-event window to diagnose what their account is actually telling them; not just about Prime Day, but about the underlying retail readiness of their catalogue, the efficiency of their media, and where the conversion friction lives. ## The Bottom Line Prime Day delivers a concentrated burst of data that most brands are under-using. Conversion patterns reveal retail readiness, traffic trends inform forecasting, remarketing audiences are waiting to be activated. And the insights sitting in your campaign and sales reports right now are the most accurate foundation you have for planning the rest of the year. If you want to hear more of what our expert panel discussed – including specific benchmarking approaches, ad strategy during the event and how to use organic data to sense-check your competitive position – hit the button now to [**watch the full session on demand**](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d). [Watch on demand](https://app.livestorm.co/p/ebf4c603-a86e-4475-8a61-e4d17f40668d) **And if you’d like our team’s insights to interpret your Prime Day data and build a commercially clear picture of what to prioritise in H2?** **[We’re on hand to help – click here to get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)** --- ### [Licensed to Sell: How Brands Turn IP into Amazon Growth](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-licensed-brands-turn-ip-into-amazon-growth/) **Published:** June 30, 2026 **Author:** Lucie Gill **Excerpt:** Licensed brands know their royalties, but not how their IP performs on Amazon - and that gap is costing them growth. **Content:** Most licensed brands can tell you their royalty income, but fewer can tell you how their brand actually performs on Amazon – which categories are growing, which licensees are protecting the brand and which ones are quietly eroding it. That gap in visibility is bigger than it sounds. For licensed brands, Amazon is often the single biggest commercial window into how the IP is really doing, and most are managing it with a fraction of the data and control they’d expect anywhere else. So, for our latest Beyond the Listings session, our CEO Andrew Banks sat down with Jonathan Newton, our COO, Travis Chappell, our Head of Operations, and Matt Wilson, Systems and Online Manager at Rainbow Designs, to talk through what’s really happening when IP meets Amazon. And the conversation made one thing clear: most licensed brands are managing a fraction of the commercial picture. ## The fragmentation problem In bricks-and-mortar retail, brand experience is owned, with a retailer’s merchandising team bringing every licensee’s products together under one roof, one tone and one consistent customer journey; whether that’s the dozens of licensees sitting underneath a single property like Peppa Pig, or a hero spot built around a key seasonal moment. But on Amazon, that role doesn’t exist. As Jonathan put it during the session, no one – not the licensor, not Amazon, and not any individual licensee – is responsible for how the brand comes together as a whole. The result of this is visible across some of the world’s biggest IP. Globally recognised brands can have genuinely excellent representation in one product vertical and total chaos everywhere else, their official product sitting alongside gray market imports and copycat listings. And there’s nothing to signal the difference to a customer who just wants to buy into the brand they trust – some major sporting and entertainment IP, for example, barely has a meaningful brand presence on Amazon at all, despite commanding huge demand. The thing is that customers don’t see licensors, licensees or category boundaries, they just see the brand. And when that experience is fragmented, it’s the brand that absorbs the damage, not any single seller. ## Where the commercial risk really sits for Licensed Brands It’s not just a brand perception problem either, it’s a margin issue too. Andrew shared an example from early in Venture Forge’s work in the licensing space: a contract that required the brand to launch a new product line every year. It was completely sensible on paper. But it meant liquidating the previous year’s stock – and that stock resurfaced on Amazon at heavily discounted prices, sitting directly alongside the new launch with no way for a shopper to tell the difference between this year’s design and last year’s clearance line. In another case, it took just three new sellers entering the market within two days to push a product’s price down to barely above cost. Neither of these is a one-off. They’re symptoms of a wider issue; licensing structures that were designed for a retail world where pricing and distribution sat with one or two controlled partners, now operating in a channel where anyone can list against a barcode. ## Why Amazon makes IP protection harder than retail ever did As Travis pointed out in the session, this isn’t an accident of bad luck, it’s structural. Getting into a bricks-and-mortar supply chain takes real investment and a direct relationship with the brand. But getting onto Amazon takes a seller account and a manufacturing contact who can produce something that looks close enough to the real thing. That lower barrier to entry is exactly what opens the door to gray market goods and IP infringement at scale; and it’s compounded by how interconnected Amazon’s marketplaces are. A regional distribution agreement that restricts sales to one territory can be undermined entirely by a listing created years earlier in a different market, because Amazon’s global catalogue doesn’t respect those boundaries the way a traditional distribution agreement assumes it will. Matt also described how this plays out operationally at Rainbow Designs. When a license changes hands, or new product needs to be matched correctly to an existing barcode, getting the brand association right on Amazon isn’t always straightforward – and if it isn’t passed through the correct channels, the result is a drawn-out authorisation process that has to be escalated to the licensor for sign-off before it comes back down again. Here, the timing risk is real for brands; a major launch can go live across YouTube, paid search and other channels, with the Amazon listing itself showing only one or two live images because of a compliance hold or a rogue listing already sitting on that ASIN. The team then has to scramble to fix it while the campaign – and the spend – is already running. For licensed brands specifically, that’s not just an inconvenience, it’s a moment that exposes the IP, not just the produce. ## The missing commercial owner So why doesn’t this get fixed? It’s not because licensors or licensees aren’t capable – quite the opposite in fact because, as Matt’s experience at Rainbow Designs shows, well-run licensees can build genuinely strong, brand-consistent experiences within their own category. The issue is often that nobody’s remit extends beyond their own patch; licensees are understandably commercially focused on their own sales and licensors, in many cases, see their job as done once the IP has been licensed and the royalties are coming in. As Jonathan noted in the session, most licensors simply haven’t applied the retail merchandising discipline they already trust in physical stores to their Amazon presence – because, on Amazon, there’s no equivalent function asking the question at all. ## Brand stores: the most underused commercial lever If there’s one practical opportunity raised repeatedly in the session, it’s the Amazon brand store. Brand Stores are fully owned real estate – no competitor advertising, no distraction, just your brand. And the data consistently shows stronger conversion, higher average transaction value and stronger lifetime value from brand store traffic than from standard search or PDP journeys. Yet some of the most recognisable IP in the world has no meaningful brand store presence at all – even where one exists, it’s often treated as a one-off build rather than a living asset, refreshed once and then left untouched for years. Retail has been monetising prime space for decades – end caps, freestanding display units, premium catalogue positions and there’s a clear parallel for licensors: charging licensees for hero placement within a brand store around key commercial moments – a new film release, a major signing, a seasonal moment – the same way retail charges for prime physical space. It’s a model that barely exists on Amazon today, and a genuine opportunity for licensors prepared to think about their brand store as commercial real estate rather than a static shop window. On the licensee side, Matt described an ongoing process of brand refreshes at Rainbow Designs that includes seasonal storytelling, back-to-school moments and two-way conversations with licensors about tone and direction. It’s proof that when licensor and licensee actually collaborate, the brand store becomes something worth maintaining, not just building once and forgetting. ## The data opportunity most Licensed Brands are missing Perhaps the most striking point from the session: many licensors don’t actually know how their brand performs on Amazon – they’re entirely reliant on whatever licensees choose to report upward. That’s a significant gap, because Amazon data can show far more than historic sales; revealing everything from which categories are underdeveloped and which adjacent brands are winning ground to the products which are frequently bought together and where seasonal demand is shifting. For licensors managing a portfolio of IP, this is data which should be informing licensing strategy – the difference between reacting to whatever licensees tell you and actively directing where the next commercial opportunity sits. ## There’s a creative dimension to this too One thread we’ve deliberately kept light here is the role AI is starting to play in licensed brand content, and particularly in how quickly brands can now produce seasonal, on-brand creative compared to traditional photography cycles, and the open question of whether licensor approval processes can move fast enough to keep up with it. It’s a substantial enough topic that it deserves its own piece, but it’s worth flagging now: the conversation around AI and licensed content is moving quickly, and governance models built for a slower creative cycle may already be behind it. ## Our take The brands that get this right aren’t the ones with the most resource. They’re the ones who recognise that Amazon needs the same commercial discipline they’d apply to any major retail partner – clear ownership, consistent standards and a coordinating function that sits between a licensor’s ambition and licensee’s execution. As Jonathan summarised in the session, the strongest model is a brand working closely with its core licensees and a third party capable of bridging both sides – providing licensees with the technical expertise to execute well, and giving licensors the governance and control they need to protect their IP. When that works, everyone benefits. The licensee sells more, the licensor protects and grows the brand and the customer gets the consistent experience they assumed existed all along. ## The Bottom Line For established licensed brands generating meaningful revenue on Amazon, fragmented representation isn’t a cosmetic issue, it’s lost conversion, diluted brand equity and commercial decisions being made without the data that actually matters. Amazon is, for many licensed brands, the single biggest commercial window into how their IP is really performing. The brands that treat it that way – with central ownership, real governance and a genuine view of the data – are the ones who’ll get ahead of a problem most of the sector hasn’t fully woken up to yet. **If you manage a portfolio of licensees on Amazon and want a clearer, more commercial view of how your brand is really showing up, [the Venture Forge team is here to help – get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/).** [Speak to the Venture Forge Team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [**Watch the full “Licensed to Sell: How Brands Turn IP into Amazon Growth” episode on demand here**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/licensed-to-sell-how-brands-turn-ip-into-amazon-growth?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) --- ### [Is Your Amazon Content Working as Hard as It Should?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-your-amazon-content-working-as-hard-as-it-should/) **Published:** June 30, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon traffic but weak conversion? Our Framework helps established brands prioritise content fixes strategically. **Content:** For established Amazon brands doing £5m+ on the channel, the challenge is rarely a lack of content. Listings are live. A+ has been added. Videos may already sit across key ASINs. Storefronts have been created. Advertising is driving traffic. In many cases, brands are also managing multiple marketplaces, increasing media investment and exploring more advanced growth levers. But more content doesn’t always mean better performance. If shoppers are reaching your product pages but not converting as strongly as they should, the issue may not be visibility. It may be clarity, trust, message hierarchy, review strength, competitor positioning or the wider shopper journey. For brands treating Amazon as a core commercial channel, content needs to do more than make the page look better. It needs to support conversion, improve advertising efficiency and help drive profitable growth. ## More traffic won’t fix underperforming content Many established brands focus on driving more traffic to priority ASINs. That can make sense when the product page is ready to convert. But if the page lacks clarity, fails to justify the price point, doesn’t answer key shopper questions or is weaker than competitor listings, more traffic can simply expose the problem. For brands investing heavily in Amazon advertising, this matters. A product page should support the traffic being sent to it. If ad spend is increasing but conversion is not following, the issue may not sit only in the media plan – it may sit in the content too. Common issues include: - High-traffic ASINs with weak conversion - Paid traffic landing on pages that aren’t ready to convert - Product pages that don’t communicate value quickly enough - Gallery images that fail to explain the strongest benefits - A+ content that looks branded but doesn’t support the buying decision - Storefront journeys that are difficult to navigate - Reviews showing repeated confusion or expectation gaps - Competitors making the product easier to understand For brands scaling media investment, expanding across markets or preparing for advanced activity such as DSP, content readiness becomes even more important. Content is not just a creative asset; it’s part of commercial readiness. ## Start with performance, not design A strong Amazon content review shouldn’t begin with what looks outdated, it should begin with what’s underperforming. For established brands, the question isn’t just: “Do we need more content?” The better question is: “Is our current content doing enough to support conversion, retail efficiency and commercial growth?” That means looking at content alongside performance data and shopper signals. Useful areas to review include: - Traffic and sessions - Conversion rate - Sales performance - Keyword performance - ROAS and ACOS - Review and rating trends - Competitor benchmarking - Shopper questions and feedback The strongest opportunities often appear when several signals point to the same issue. For example, high traffic but low conversion may suggest that shoppers are interested, but the page isn’t giving them enough clarity, confidence or reason to buy. Strong keyword visibility but weak sales may suggest the product is being found, but the content, price, reviews or proposition aren’t strong enough to convert that visibility into revenue. And high ad spend with poor efficiency may suggest that paid traffic is being pushed into pages that aren’t commercially ready. This is where content decisions need to be based on evidence, not opinion. ## The first decision happens early For many products, the first real decision happens before the shopper reaches A+. The main image and first few gallery images often do the heaviest lifting, especially on mobile. Shoppers need to understand quickly: - What the product is - Why it is different - Why it is worth the price - Why they should trust it - Why they should choose it over the competitor next to it So a strong image stack shouldn’t just show the product from different angles, it’s purpose is to help the shopper make a decision faster. For premium, technical or considered products, this becomes even more important because, if the shopper doesn’t grasp the value early enough, comparison shopping becomes much more likely. For brands with meaningful ad investment behind priority ASINs, weak early-stage content can make media work harder than it needs to. ## Competitor analysis should go beyond price Many Amazon content reviews focus on price, reviews and ranking position. Those are useful, but they do not tell the full story. For established brands, a better question is: “Who’s making the buying decision easier?” Competitors may be communicating benefits faster. They may be answering objections more clearly. They may be using imagery more effectively. They may be supporting premium pricing with stronger product education. This doesn’t mean copying competitors. It means understanding where they’re reducing shopper uncertainty better than you are. A competitor with a similar price and review profile may still convert more effectively if their product page helps shoppers understand the value faster. For brands defending market share, it’s key because content is about protecting visibility, conversion and share against competitors that may be communicating more clearly as much as it is about growth. ## Reviews are more than proof Reviews are often treated as a trust signal. But they’re also a valuable source of content insight. Review patterns can reveal: - What shoppers value most - What the listing failed to explain - Where expectations are mismatched - What objections still need addressing - What positive themes should be brought further up the page - What information shoppers repeatedly ask for - Where content may be underselling or overpromising If shoppers repeatedly misunderstand size, compatibility, material, use case, setup or what is included, that may point to a content clarity issue. If positive reviews repeatedly mention a benefit that is buried low on the page, that message may need to be moved into the gallery images, bullets or A+. For Amazon teams making decisions based on data and insight, review patterns should not sit separately from performance reporting. They should help shape future content decisions. ## A+ and Storefronts need a commercial role Don’t treat A+ and Storefronts as passive brand assets – their role is to help shoppers compare products, understand the range, build trust and move towards purchase. A+ should support the buying decision. That may mean explaining product differences, answering technical questions, showing use cases or helping shoppers understand which product is right for them. A Storefront should help shoppers navigate quickly towards the right category, product or campaign theme. This is especially important when brands are driving paid traffic to Storefronts. If the journey is unclear, traffic quality can be wasted. The strongest content journeys give every layer a clear role. Gallery images help shoppers understand the product quickly. Bullets reinforce decision-critical details. A+ deepens understanding. Video shows what static content cannot. Storefronts support discovery and navigation. Reviews validate the proposition and highlight what still needs to be clarified. For brands operating across multiple markets, this also helps create consistency while still allowing content to be adapted to local shopper behaviour, category expectations and market maturity. ## What should Amazon brands prioritise first? Not every content issue deserves equal attention. For established brands, the priority should be the areas most likely to affect commercial performance. In most cases, that means starting with: - Hero ASINs - High-traffic products - High ad spend ASINs - Weak conversion pages - Products with declining conversion - Products with repeated review confusion - Products where competitors communicate more clearly From there, review the content layers in order of likely impact. Start with the main image and first 3–4 gallery images, then review titles, bullets, trust signals, A+, video and Storefront journeys. The goal isn’t to update everything at once. It is to identify where performance, traffic and shopper friction overlap, then fix the issues most likely to improve conversion, advertising efficiency and profitable growth. ## We’ve created a Framework you can use Our new [**Amazon Content Prioritisation Framework**](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/the-amazon-content-prioritisation-framework-for-established-brands/) has been designed by our experts for established brands treating Amazon as a serious commercial channel. Particularly relevant for Amazon, Marketplace, eCommerce and National Account teams that already have: - Meaningful Amazon revenue - Dedicated internal ownership - Active advertising investment - Performance targets to hit - Pressure to improve conversion and efficiency - Ambition to scale across Amazon markets - A need to connect content, ads and commercial strategy more closely It’s a practical, actionable framework rather than a basic listing checklist – built for teams that need to make better decisions about where content is underperforming, what to fix first and how to prioritise work based on commercial impact. Inside, you’ll find a practical approach to reviewing your - Listings - A+ - Video - Storefronts - Reviews and ratings - Competitor content - Paid traffic landing pages - Performance data and shopper signals It also includes a practical 30-day prioritisation plan to help Amazon, marketplace and eCommerce teams audit, diagnose, prioritise and improve content based on commercial impact. If your Amazon content is attracting traffic but not converting as strongly as it should, this framework will help you get a clearer view of where to focus first. [Download the Amazon Content Prioritisation Framework now](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/the-amazon-content-prioritisation-framework-for-established-brands/) ## Want expert advice on what to fix first? Our specialist team has years of experience in helping established Amazon brands identify where content is underperforming and what to prioritise first across listings, A+, video and Storefronts. **If your team is reviewing Amazon content performance and wants a more commercial view of where the opportunities sit, speak to Venture Forge today.** [Speak to an Amazon expert today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) --- ### [The Amazon Vendor Brands that win at Peak do this in advance](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-amazon-vendor-brands-that-win-at-peak-do-this-in-advance/) **Published:** May 26, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Vendor brands that win at peak prepare by aligning stock, content, commercials and media before demand arrives. **Content:** Vendor brands that outperform at peak aren’t reacting to demand – they’ve been prepared for months… If there’s one thing we see every year, it’s that seasonality on Amazon has a way of exposing the gap between the brands that plan and brands that react. When demand spikes, the difference between a strong peak and a missed one rarely comes down to what you do in the moment – in fact, as [Travis Chappell, our Head of Vendor Services](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BbKyB5YG3QMCKBrJ%2FMNz1ew%3D%3D) puts it, by the time the traffic arrives, the result is already largely determined. And the brands that win at peak? They’re the ones treating it as a process as opposed to an event. *“When the traffic comes, you don’t get a second shot. You either convert… or your competitor does.”* [*Travis Chappell, Head of Vendor Services at Venture Forge*](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BbKyB5YG3QMCKBrJ%2FMNz1ew%3D%3D) ## The three ways brands get Amazon seasonality wrong Most of the underperformance Travis spots follows a familiar pattern: - Brands are chasing demand too late, when competitors have already captured share and ad costs have risen to reflect it. - They’re over-investing when a spike has already passed, driving valuable spend into declining traffic. - Or they’re missing it entirely; not through lack of intent, but because of stock shortfalls and operational gaps that no amount of last-minute activity can fix. And these are all symptoms of the same underlying issue: treating seasonality as a moment to react to rather than a window to prepare for. ## What the strongest Vendor brands do differently at peak times The brands that consistently outperform at peak tend to follow a similar approach, one which starts significantly earlier than most – and one which forms the blueprint for our teams. For us, seasonal success is about locking availability in before demand builds. It’s about forecasting disciplines that replace firefighting and confirming stock positions early, because running out during peak isn’t just a lost sale; it’s a visibility and ranking problem that compounds throughout the season. And it’s about having your content, reviews and A+ a refreshed, in place and performing before the traffic hits, building media momentum upfront so you can accelerate into demand and aligning your commercials way in advance, from AVN terms to trade funding and promotional structures, so they support spikes instead of holding you back. ## Our take We’re already seeing the most commercially disciplined Vendor brands laying the groundwork for Q4 now – not in October, when it’s too late to influence the levers that actually drive peak performance, but in the months where forecasting, content, commercial terms and media strategy can still be shaped properly. And for us, this is the only way. Seasonality on Amazon rewards preparation. When the traffic comes, you either convert or your competitor does – there’s very little middle ground. ## The Bottom Line The brands that treat seasonal peaks as something to build towards, rather than react to, are the ones that we see consistently outperforming the ones that don’t. And the most important thing is that the gap between them is rarely visible until the moment it matters most. So, whether you’re ready to think about Q4 now or you’d like to build a more structured approach to seasonal performance across the entire Amazon calendar, we’d love to chat. [Click here to get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/ "Click here to get in touch today.") ## Useful Links - [Follow Travis Chappell, our Head of Vendor Services, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BbKyB5YG3QMCKBrJ%2FMNz1ew%3D%3D) - [Learn more about our expert Vendor Services here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Smarter Amazon Ads adjustments begin before you touch a Bid](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-smarter-amazon-ads-adjustments-begin-before-you-touch-a-bid/) **Published:** May 21, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Smarter Amazon Ads optimisation starts with diagnosis, not bids. Here’s why CTR should guide your next move. **Content:** The metrics our Paid Media experts check before adjusting a single bid, and why the order matters… When a brand’s Amazon Ads performance dips, so many assume that the first lever to pull is bids – and it’s understandable, after all, they’re visible, adjustable and it’s a move that feels decisive. But, as [Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3B8E3941oaRRGuvjl89clLDQ%3D%3D) from our award-winning Paid Ads team points out, changing bids before you understand why performance is off rarely fixes the problem, it just masks it. The real starting point is diagnosis, and that starts with one metric above all the others… ## CTR: the metric most Amazon Advertisers undervalue Most advertisers, [Elfie says](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164_amazonads-amazonadvertising-paidmedia-activity-7434160797615919104-XNq_?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), are focused on ROAS, but it’s your CTR (click-through rate) that our experts see as the more important signal – and the one that tells you the earliest whether your brand is built to compete on the marketplace, because: ### It shows you relevance A strong CTR means shoppers see your ad and immediately believe it matches their intent; a weak one means you’re either targeting the wrong audience or your creative isn’t earning the click. And no amount of bid adjustment will fix either of those problems. ### It reflects the strength of your creative Your image, headline, price point, reviews and branding all feed into CTR. Before assuming a budget or bid issue, the ad itself deserves scrutiny first. ### It’s an early predictor of wider performance Strong CTRs create traffic, and traffic creates sales opportunities. But if CTR is strong and conversions are still weak, the issue has moved downstream – meaning it’s time to look at the product detail page, not the ad itself. ### It affects cost efficiency over time Higher CTR improves your ad’s engagement signal, which can lead to more efficient CPCs and stronger placement – and compounding the advantage for brands who get it right early. ## So what should you do to diagnose the issue before you touch the bid? CTR is the starting point, but it’s part of a broader diagnostic that Elfie and our experts run before they adjust a single bid – and after you’ve looked at your CTR issues, that sequence looks like this: ### Conversion rate If customers are clicking but not buying, something is breaking between the ad and the purchase. Whether it’s delivery speed, Buy Box ownership or listing quality, these are conversion problems, not bid problems. ### Search terms Is the traffic actually relevant? If the algorithm hasn’t correctly understood the SEO, impressions may be building against the wrong searches entirely. ### Product-level performance All too often, one underperforming ASIN is the culprit for skewing results across an entire campaign – identifying it can change your decision entirely. ## The Bottom Line It’s not that bid optimisation doesn’t matter – obviously it does. But bids applied on top of an undiagnosed problem don’t resolve it, they hide it, often expensively. Bid strategy is only as effective as the diagnosis behind it. And that diagnosis almost always starts with CTR; the metric that tells you whether your creative is working, your targeting is right and your brand is genuinely built to compete. Get it right early, and the rest of the system moves in the right direction. Ignore it in favour of chasing ROAS or pulling bids, and you’re optimising the wrong thing. For our experts, the strongest Amazon advertising strategies treat media performance as a commercial system where creative, content, availability and spend all interact – and pulling one lever without checking the others is how brands end up investing more for diminishing returns. **I**f any of this sounds familiar to you, our award-winning Paid Ads team is on hand to take a closer look at what’s really driving your campaign performance – and how to get it thriving as it should. [To learn more, click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3B8E3941oaRRGuvjl89clLDQ%3D%3D) - [Learn more about our On and Off-Amazon Advertising Services here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-advertising/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Rufus meets Alexa+: What it means for Brand Visibility](https://venture-forge.com/blog/rufus-meets-alexa-what-it-means-for-brand-visibility/) **Published:** May 19, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping signals a shift in product discovery, where content clarity directly shapes brand visibility. **Content:** Amazon’s merger of Rufus and Alexa+ is here to show where discovery is heading… Amazon’s announcement that it’s bringing Rufus, its shopping-focused AI assistant, and Alexa+ together as Alexa for Shopping is definitely something that smart brands should be paying close attention to. Rolling out in the US now, the combination of these two powerful, parallel AIs – one of which has helped 300 million+ customers on their purchase paths and the other which has learned household preferences, habits and shopping needs from hundreds of millions of devices – creates a single AI assistant which knows both what’s available and who it’s talking to. And it’s a combination with real implications for how your products are discovered, compared and recommended – so it’s well worth understanding exactly what it does before its capability rolls out across the rest of the Amazon world too. ## So what exactly is Alexa for Shopping? Combining Rufus’s product and catalogue expertise with Alexa+’s personalised user context, Alexa for Shopping can compare products, track prices, make personalised recommendations, reorder essentials, manage carts and shop across other web stores – all through voice, touch or both, across the Shopping app, Amazon.com and Echo Show devices. Most importantly, the data from it flows both ways. What a customer shares through Alexa informs their Amazon shopping experience, and what they browse and buy on Amazon makes Alexa more useful everywhere else – it’s essentially a continuous personalisation loop. ## Why this matters commercially The real significance here for brands isn’t the feature set; it’s what it’s set to do to how customers find your products. With both AI systems built on a combination of Amazon’s own Nova models and Anthropic’s Claude, the launch of Rufus has already shifted product discovery away from simple keyword search and more and more towards a conversational, AI-interpreted model. Alexa for Shopping is set to accelerate that shift even further – and faster – by making discovery both AI-assisted and deeply personalised, able to draw on a shopper’s complete Alexa context as well as their Amazon history. All of this changes what it means for a product to be “visible”on Amazon. Products now need to be understood by AI systems in a way that helps those systems match them to user intent in context, so they can be surfaced as the right answer for a particular customer’s search. And while being indexed properly will always be fundamental, it’s already not nearly enough on its own – especially as the AIs get better and better at understanding nuanced product details. ## What Alexa for Shopping means for your listings The practical implication is that content quality is a discoverability lever now as well as a conversion lever. Alexa for Shopping will surface products it can confidently understand, contextually match and personally recommend. And that means your listings need to: - Answer real customer questions. - Communicate clearly what your product does and who for – and why it’s the right choice for them. - Be structured in a way that AI systems can understand. - Be supported by strong reviews, Q&As and A+ content that are built to drive consumer confidence. ## The Bottom Line For brands, the strategic takeaway from the launch of Alexa for Shopping is that now, the quality and clarity of your product content carries as much weight in making your catalogue visible as your conversion rate does. As Amazon moves more and more towards being AI-led over search-led, it’s time to rethink who your listings actually are, upgrade your content so it’s beautifully built for this new reality and make your brand the one that AI understands, trusts and recommends. Need our experts’ eyes on your content strategy to make the most of how Amazon is evolving? [Our talented team is on hand to help – click here to book a call today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon DSP x LinkedIn CTV: What it means for B2B Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-dsp-x-linkedin-ctv-what-it-means-for-b2b-brands/) **Published:** May 14, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** What Amazon DSP’s LinkedIn CTV integration means for Amazon brands, audience targeting and media strategy. **Content:** Why this new integration counts beyond media buying, and what it signals for serious B2B advertisers on Amazon Amazon and LinkedIn might not be obvious partners – one being an ecomm platform built around intent and transactions and the other a professional network based on influence and profile. But the announcement that advertisers can now reach LinkedIn’s huge professional audience through Amazon DSP using the networking giant’s Connected TV (CTV) Ads has significant strategic potential for brands who approach the opportunity strategically. ## Amazon DSP meets LinkedIn CTV – the Lowdown Launched first, as ever, in the US, Amazon have announced that DSP users can now tap into LinkedIn’s first-party audience data – which covers everything from job title and seniority to industry – and layer that information onto CTV campaigns. Accessed through Microsoft Monetize on Amazon DSP, this opens the opportunity for brands to target B2B audiences at scale across premium streaming TV channels – all without separating that advertising activity from the rest of their media buying. And this is the key point – it’s the architecture that matters here. These aren’t LinkedIn campaigns running in parallel, it’s LinkedIn audience intelligence through Amazon’s existing DSP infrastructure, keeping media planning, execution and optimisation unified. ## Why this is important in commercial terms For brands that sell to businesses – or to professionals acting in a professional capacity – this level of targeting has simply not been available until now. In the past, it’s been tough for brands to reach an ICP of procurement managers, say, or commercial directors without significant inference or, at best, probability modelling. But this new partnership is set to change the landscape completely. Putting more than a billion members (numbers [doubling YOY over the 4 years to 2025](https://www.shortsintel.com/statistics/linkedin#user-growth)) with verified professional attributes at brand buyers’ fingertips, and all matched to premium streaming inventory through Amazon’s buying infrastructure, this is a genuinely new and exciting proposition for full-funnel B2B media. ## The parent shift – Amazon X Microsoft This is also the latest move in deepening the Amazon-Microsoft partnership, following on from [Amazon DSP becoming the preferred transition partner for Microsoft Invest customers](https://advertising.amazon.com/library/news/microsoft-amazon-dsp-partnership?ref_=a20m_us_nws_lnkdndsp_madp_blg_fll) in late 2025. It shows that Amazon is building towards a position where its DSP is a one-stop-shop for a whole range of high-quality audience and inventory sources – as well as the place they can all be managed. For brands building full-funnel strategies on Amazon, that’s an important shift – and one that makes DSP even more capable and central to media planning. ## Our take The integration of LinkedIn professional data into CTV buying is a genuinely useful development for B2B-focused brands – but, as with all things Amazon, it requires strong strategic intent to do it well. After all, audience quality is only as valuable as the messaging and creative strategy built around it, and reaching a Head of Procurement on a streaming platform with just generic content is likely to deliver very little. So this is a real opportunity – but one that will belong to the brands with meaningful Amazon revenue and the commercial clarity to deploy it properly. If you’d like to understand how Amazon DSP fits into your wider media and growth strategy, our award-winning Paid Ads team is here to help — [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Strategic Seller Account Management is your Amazon Superpower](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-strategic-seller-account-management-is-your-amazon-superpower/) **Published:** May 12, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Seller account management helps brands align strategy, content, ads and operations for stronger Amazon growth. **Content:** Because strong marketplace performance is all about consistency and how well everything works together… It’s easy for Sellers to focus on individual growth levers to boost their accounts, whether that’s better optimised ads, stronger content and/or sharper pricing. But sustainable performance – and the real growth it drives – comes from alignment, and many brands stall because disconnected activity is a key culprit for limiting success on the marketplace. ## When Amazon performance is inconsistent? When your ads, content, ops, inventory and reporting aren’t fully in sync, it’s all-too common for Seller brands to miss opportunities as their efficiency suffers. On Amazon, every decision you make is interconnected with another – from how well your listings convert and how your media performs to how your stock availability is impacting your visibility. And this is where [strategic account management makes all the difference](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-account-management/). ## What strategic account management really delivers At its best, account management is all about creating a joined-up system where: - Your strategy and execution are fully aligned. - Any issues are proactively identified and resolved. - Your performance is continuously optimised. - And growth opportunities are actively identified – and acted on. [For our expert team at Venture Forge](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-account-management/), it’s a process that starts with a deep audit and evolves into a fully managed, data-led strategy focused on account health, visibility and commercial performance. Our aim? It’s always to design and implement a more stable, scalable and commercially effective Amazon operation for your brand that delivers your objectives and helps you raise the bar on sustainable growth and profitability. ## What it looks like in practice: American Golf [Our work with American Golf](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/american-golf/) is a great illustration of the power of strategic account management. Faced with the challenge of scaling their Seller account across multiple owned brands, American Golf needed expertise and resource to unlock the next phase of growth. And we’re delighted to say that, by combining full account management with a robust, data-led strategy, we were able to deliver: - +265% ordered revenue growth - A +353% increase in units sold - A +29% improvement in TACOS - And a +41% improvement in profitability (Net PPM) We also worked to strengthen their brand presence, improve conversions with better content and align their advertising and operations to deliver efficient and scalable performance. In their words? *“Venture Forge has transformed our Amazon performance. Their expertise has driven growth while keeping advertising efficient. They’ve become part of our team, and the results speak for themselves.”* *American Golf* [*Read the full case study here*](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/american-golf/) ## The Bottom Line As we know from our work over the years with prestigious brands ranging from American Golf, Studio Canal and Thermos to Kodak Batteries, Cosatto and Dimplex, Amazon rewards brands that can execute consistently, strategically and at pace. We also know that achieving that internally isn’t always realistic, especially as complexity grows – and this is where our strategic account management services come in. Led by our brilliant [Head of Seller Services Emma Pickard](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BDYlUgxJjSOm36p7kCS%2BexA%3D%3D), we act as a core driver for your performance, helping your brand unlock more consistent and scalable Amazon growth with no unnecessary internal pressure. Love to learn more? [Click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Learn more about our Seller Account Management Services here](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-account-management/) - [Read our American Golf Case Study here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/american-golf/) - [Follow our Head of Seller Services, Emma Pickard, on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BDYlUgxJjSOm36p7kCS%2BexA%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Venture Forge Sponsors Huddersfield Town Women U23s](https://venture-forge.com/blog/venture-forge-sponsors-huddersfield-town-women-u23s/) **Published:** September 23, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Venture Forge sponsor Huddersfield Town Women U23s, supporting local talent, values, and women’s football. **Content:** Venture Forge is proud to announce that we are now the main shirt sponsor of Huddersfield Town Women U23s. As a business rooted in West Yorkshire, we’re passionate about supporting our local community and backing organisations that share our values. Huddersfield Town Women are a fantastic example of ambition, teamwork, and progress – qualities that resonate strongly with us at Venture Forge. ![Image of Huddersfield Town Women U23s with Andrew and Jack Banks](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG-20250911-WA0051-1-800x528.jpg "Image of Huddersfield Town Women U23s with Andrew and Jack Banks - Venture Forge")*Andrew Banks CEO of Venture Forge pictured with Jack Banks and the Huddersfield Town Women U23s team* ## Why This Matters to Us Our sponsorship reflects three key commitments: - **Investing locally** – supporting organisations that make a real difference in our community. - **Championing women’s football** – backing a sport that’s growing rapidly and creating new opportunities for young players. - **Supporting our people** – our colleague Farran is part of the Huddersfield Town Women coaching team, making this partnership especially meaningful. ![Image of Andrew Banks and Farran Pringle](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG-20250911-WA0035-1-1-800x608.jpg "Image of Andrew Banks and Farran Pringle - Venture Forge")*Andy Banks CEO of Venture Forge with Farran Pringle Huddersfield Town Women coach* ## From Our CEO Andy Banks, CEO of Venture Forge, said: “We’re thrilled to be supporting Huddersfield Town Women U23s this season. The women’s game is growing rapidly and it’s inspiring to see the opportunities it’s creating for young players. As a business, we’re proud to contribute to that journey and to strengthen our ties with the community we call home. At Venture Forge, we’re laser-focused on performance for our clients – and it’s great to back a team that shares that same drive for performance on the pitch.” We look forward to cheering on the team this season in their new kit – and wish them every success on and off the pitch. Follow us on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/venture-forge/) for updates as we support Huddersfield Town Women U23s throughout the year. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor Terms: Where Amazon Profitability Is Really Won](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-terms-where-amazon-profitability-is-really-won/) **Published:** May 7, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor terms can shape margin, cashflow and profitability long before sales performance is measured. **Content:** Amazon Vendors, your margin doesn’t just come from your performance, it’s written into your terms… If you’re a Vendor brand that treats your terms negotiations as a routine process, you’re certainly not alone. But what many Vendors don’t realise is that commercially, this negotiation process is one of the most important levers you have at your disposal to drive growth. In fact, long before you optimise your ads, improve your conversions or scale your revenues, your profitability is already being shaped by the agreement you’ve signed. ## The reality: margin is often decided upfront Vendor performance is often analysed through: - Sales growth - Advertising efficiency - Conversion rates - Market share But underneath all of that sit your terms. And when those terms are unfavourable to you, even strong performance can struggle to translate into real profit. Our Vendor experts regularly see accounts impacted by issues like high chargeback exposure, restrictive payment terms, funding requirements that erode margin and agreements that prioritise Amazon’s position over the brand’s. In short, if your terms aren’t right, you can still grow revenue while losing ground commercially. ## Why lots of brands don’t push back The challenge is that Vendor negotiations aren’t straightforward – they require: - A clear, solid and thorough understanding of how each term impacts your P&L. - Real knowledge of what’s negotiable (and what isn’t). - And the confidence to push back in a commercially structured and data-supported way. Without these in their corner, it’s all too easy for brands to default to acceptance – and then they’re locking in terms that will limit their profitability for the full year ahead. ## The opportunity: terms as a growth lever If they’re approached strategically, your Vendor negotiations have the power to unlock significant improvements across your: - Margin and profitability. - Cashflow and payment cycles. - Chargeback exposure. - And Operational flexibility. And this is how a real shift towards Vendor success happens, because with these elements in place, margin is built in from the very start of your agreement. ## Our Amazon Vendor Terms Support Service We strongly believe that your Vendor Terms Negotiations shouldn’t be reactive, they should be data-led, rigorously commercially structured and completely aligned to your wider growth strategy. To do this, you need to know exactly where you’re losing value now – and exactly where it can be reclaimed. This is why [our Terms Negotiation Support service](https://venture-forge.com/services/terms-negotiation/) begins with a detailed review of your current agreement, so we can identify where restrictive clauses or unfavourable conditions are limiting your profitability. And with that information under our belt, we’re perfectly placed to work with you to build a strategy designed to improve your margins, payment terms and chargeback conditions. *“Working with Venture Forge has been a game-changer for our Amazon strategy.* *Their expertise, strategic guidance, and hands-on support have helped us navigate challenges, optimise performance, and drive sustainable growth.”* ## The Bottom Line For Amazon Vendors driving more and more revenue, the important thing is how much of that revenue you actually keep; and that starts with your terms. If your current agreement is limiting your profitability – or you’re heading into your next negotiation cycle – this is one area where expert support can have an immediate and lasting commercial impact. Our experts are on hand to help you strengthen your position, and help you deliver long-term profitability and growth potential for your Vendor brand. [To learn more, get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why so many Amazon Vendor Accounts struggle to scale profitably](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-so-many-amazon-vendor-accounts-struggle-to-scale-profitably/) **Published:** April 30, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendors need clear ownership, specialist support and structure to scale profitably and sustainably. **Content:** Because Vendor isn’t one job, it’s a complete commercial system… When an Amazon Vendor account starts doing serious revenue, it’s easy to assume the hard part is done. But often, we see something very different happening behind the scenes, with accounts that carry huge commercial responsibility managed by just one or two people. It’s a scenario that might sound efficient on paper but in reality can create overwork, friction, blind spots and margin pressure, all of which have the potential to significantly limit a Vendor brand’s long-term growth. ## Amazon Vendor is not one discipline As our CEO, [Andrew Banks, points out](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_most-amazon-vendors-arent-losing-because-share-7457393670414094337-rl4k?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), one of the biggest misconceptions we still see is the idea that Amazon Vendor can sit neatly within a single role – when the reality is that Vendor has evolved into a series of specialisms that include: - Strategic trade planning. - Retail readiness and availability. - Sponsored Ads and DSP execution. - AMC data and attribution. - Content and conversion strategy. - SEO and discoverability. - Vendor Central operations. - Commercial account direction. ## Where many Vendor accounts fall down And over all of this are both profitability monitoring and P&L ownership – the very places where many Vendor accounts begin to struggle. The issue is that Amazon Vendor isn’t just about driving revenue growth anymore. It’s about understanding where margin is leaking. It’s about knowing when to push trade and when to protect profitability, how pricing, media and funding interact commercially and what every single operational decision does to the wider P&L. All of this requires a level of commercial oversight that’s difficult to achieve when too much sits with too few people, and this is especially true because Vendor adds even more layers of complexity – think: - Terms negotiations - Chargebacks - Operational compliance - Supply chain execution - And ongoing retail management ## Why structure matters more than effort These struggling Vendor accounts aren’t underperforming because people aren’t working hard enough, they’re struggling more because their account structure isn’t robust enough for the scale of the Amazon opportunity in front of them. This is a platform that moves at lightning speed, with specialisms that get more specialised by the day and commercial decisions that are interconnected and complex. Sustainable Amazon growth as a Vendor depends on having the right operating model in place. But what does that look like? ## What the strongest Vendor brands do differently In our experience, the Vendor brands that scale most effectively tend to follow a similar model: - One strong internal owner, who’s commercially minded, close to the numbers and there to challenge, prioritise and make decisions confidently. - Around them, there’s not a team of one or two; there’s an ecosystem of specialists that spans the disciplines needed, from media to content to data to ops to strategic planning. - And they’re all aligned to a single commercial outcome. It’s this alignment – and this fully supported Amazon foundation – that turns the marketplace from a simple revenue channel into a genuinely profitable engine for real growth. ## The Bottom Line Amazon Vendor has become too commercially complex to manage as a side function or a single discipline. The brands that continue to grow profitably are the ones that recognise Vendor for what it really is – a specialised commercial project that needs the right expertise, operational alignment and strong P&L ownership. The truth is that Amazon can be so much more than just a generator of top line revenue for Vendor brands. And if you’d like expert support to build a robust, commercially conscious Vendor structure designed for growth that’s both profitable and scalable, we’re here to help – [click here to speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon opens its Supply Chain Network to the Wider Market](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-opens-its-supply-chain-network-to-the-wider-market/) **Published:** April 28, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Supply Chain Services could reshape fulfilment, forecasting and operational expectations for brands. **Content:** Why Amazon’s launch of Supply Chain Services could reshape expectations around logistics, fulfilment and operations… Amazon has announced the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), opening up its logistics infrastructure, freight capabilities and fulfilment network to businesses everywhere. And while this might sound like a simple expansion of Amazon’s logistics arm, strategically we think it signals something much bigger for the retail giants – positioning its operational infrastructure as a standalone commercial service for businesses across multiple industries. ## What is Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS)? ASCS is packaging Amazon’s wider logistics capabilities together into one offering that includes: - Freight - Distribution - Warehousing - Fulfilment - Parcel delivery All powered by Amazon’s own, tried and tested infrastructure. Importantly though, it’s a move that’s being opened to businesses across all sectors, from retail and manufacturing to healthcare and automotive, with major brands like Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle already on the books. ## Why this matters Amazon has always treated its state-of-the-art logistics offering as a key competitive advantage, with super-fast delivery and operational efficiency central to the customer experience since its inception. Now, it’s commercialising that capability at a whole new level, moving into territory traditionally taken by third-party logistics providers, freight operators, distribution specialists and supply chain partners. [Our experts](https://venture-forge.com/about-us/) see this as a bigger shift towards Amazon as infrastructure, with an interesting parallel with AWS, the internal cloud infrastructure that the retail leaders turned into one of the world’s largest external platforms. And this has significant implications for the future of logistics too. Amazon’s clear strengths across everything from scale, speed and forecasting to automation and operational data are likely to massively raise expectations from businesses around what they expect from their logistics and fulfilment partners – and from customers around what they expect from their purchases. ## Amazon’s AI and forecasting are becoming operational advantages too ASCS is set to use Amazon’s own AI forecasting models and operational datasets to help businesses: - Better position their inventory. - Improve their fulfilment speeds. - Increase their operational agility. - And respond faster to fluctuations in demand. All this sets logistics up as a business function that’s led as much by the data as it is by the infrastructure. ## And what does this mean for Brands? For brands operating on the marketplace, this is a sign that Amazon are driving: - More emphasis than ever on operational speed. - Fulfilment flexibility as a key competitive advantage for brands; - And supply chain capacities that are increasingly tied to a customer’s experience. It’s also a reinforcement of something we’re seeing more broadly across the whole Amazon landscape, namely that the retail giants are pushing hard to be much more than “just” a marketplace – they’re moving towards becoming an inescapable layer of e-commerce infrastructure. ## The Bottom Line Amazon Supply Chain Services is another example of Amazon taking an internal capability – one built to support its own dominance – and turning it into a wider commercial platform. And for brands, this is a reminder that the future of ecommerce competition is set to be shaped as much by operational capacity as it is by products and marketing. Ready to upscale your own brand’s commercial efficiency; from fulfilment and forecasting to growth strategy and scalability? Our award-winning team is here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon has moved on - but has your Brand moved with it?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-has-moved-on-but-has-your-brand-moved-with-it/) **Published:** April 21, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon strategy must evolve as AI, speed, content quality and efficiency reshape how brands compete online. **Content:** Amazon’s not the same game it was even a year ago. Here’s why your brand’s approach might need a rethink… It’s easy to assume that Amazon is evolving gradually, but when you look closely at the direction of travel its shift is so much more fundamental. And while lots of brands are still, in [our CEO Andrew Banks’ words](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_most-brands-are-still-playing-amazon-like-activity-7447955819431858176-kmo2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), “playing Amazon like it’s 2020”, Amazon itself has moved on – leaps and bounds. ## AI is set to shape every interaction One of the clearest signals is how deeply AI is being embedded across the platform – and it’s not just about tools or features, it’s about the entire customer journey. Touching everything from search and discovery to ads and targeting, visibility isn’t driven purely by keywords and optimisation tactics anymore. Now, it all comes down to how well your products can be understood, interpreted and prioritised by AI systems. Our take? Optimising for algorithms now means optimising for understanding, not just search. ## Lower costs will increase competition Another key shift is the direction of cost. As Amazon continues to drive efficiencies internally, the expectation is that operating costs will reduce over time. But for brands? That doesn’t mean things get easier. It actually means that the barriers to entry will be lower than ever before – and that will in turn increase competition as more brands can enter the market and compete for attention. Our take? As access becomes easier, brands will need sharper positioning and execution to stand out – and greater efficiency to survive pressure on margins. ## Speed is Amazon’s competitive advantage- and yours It doesn’t matter how big Amazon gets, that focus on speed is still paramount – faster innovation, faster decision-making and faster execution. For brands, competing on Amazon increasingly means matching that pace, not just reacting to it. Our take? It’s all about agility. Brands’ ability to move quickly and decisively is becoming just as important as the strategy itself. ## The customer is always at the centre Despite all the technological and operational change, one thing hasn’t shifted and that’s Amazon’s obsession with the customer. Unfortunately, this is still where lots of brands fall short because, while the platform evolves, it’s easy to focus on metrics, tactics and short-term performance. But brands should be focusing on the same core question – does this genuinely improve the customer experience? Because conversion will depend more and more on the quality of your content as Amazon continue to move forward. Our take? The brands that win are the ones who align with Amazon’s customer-first mindset. ## The Bottom Line Taken together, these shifts are redefining how success on Amazon is achieved and we’re seeing three clear implications: - Visibility will increasingly be driven by AI-led discovery, not just keywords. - Conversion will depend more heavily on content quality and clarity. - And efficiency will determine who can sustain growth under margin pressure. Now, success on the marketplace isn’t about doing the same things better, it’s about adapting to what Amazon is becoming and building strategies – and capabilities – which are aligned to that future. If you’d like support evolving your Amazon strategy to stay ahead of these shifts, our team is here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3B6Ye%2BsJ3mTZeK6jL%2FPXN27g%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Listing Quality is about to decide who wins on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-listing-quality-is-about-to-decide-who-wins-on-amazon/) **Published:** April 23, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** AI-led discovery is making Amazon listing quality critical for visibility, conversion and long-term growth. **Content:** As AI reshapes discovery, content is becoming one of your most important growth levers… The quality of your Amazon product pages has always been important – but right now? It’s getting more and more critical to your success by the day. As Elfie Brocklehurst from our award-winning Paid Ads team [highlighted recently](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164_my-prediction-for-the-next-year-on-amazon-activity-7449789428266397696-CR0N?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), the next phase of Amazon growth will be defined by one thing, and that’s how well your listings perform in an AI-driven environment. ## Discovery is changing – fast With the increasing integration of AI tools like Rufus, the way customers discover products is evolving past simple search queries. Now, we’re working with systems that are intelligent as opposed to just indexed – and they can: - Understand context. - Compare products. - Interpret customer intent. - And surface the most relevant options. ## What this means for your listings In this new environment, traditional SEO tactics alone just aren’t enough. AI doesn’t just scan for keywords, it evaluates whether your content actually helps a customer make a decision, and that shifts the focus onto: - Listings that answer real customer questions. - Clear, structured bullet points and descriptions. - Strong, informative imagery and A+ content. - And reviews and FAQs that reinforce trust and clarity. On the flip side, it also marks the end for tactics like: - Keyword stuffing. - Over-optimisation without substance. - And content that’s built for algorithms over people. ## From conversion tool to discovery engine Perhaps the biggest change is that your product detail page isn’t just where conversions happen – it’s become one of your primary discovery drivers. That means that poor content doesn’t just hurt your conversions, it stops you getting noticed in the first place. Only the strongest content will get surfaced, recommended and prioritised, so if you feel like yours needs a refresh? Now’s the time to act – because the brands that grasp how visibility is driven by understanding, conversions depend on clarity and content is king over both are the ones with a significant advantage right now. ## The Bottom Line Amazon is working towards an AI-led discovery model, meaning that listing quality is decisive, not just important. [As Elfie says](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3Bdv8e3H4VSVicH9T9NhD11w%3D%3D), the brands that win won’t just be the best at ads – they’ll be the ones who build content that AI can understand, and that customers can trust. Need expert help to strengthen your listings to shine in this new Amazon environment? Our award-winning Paid Ads team can help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3Bdv8e3H4VSVicH9T9NhD11w%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [When Amazon gets harder to scale? The problem is often internal](https://venture-forge.com/blog/when-amazon-gets-harder-to-scale-the-problem-is-often-internal/) **Published:** May 5, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon growth slows when internal capability, ownership and structure fail to keep pace. **Content:** Why capability, not just strategy, is becoming the real growth lever… There’s a moment that many established Amazon brands reach, where performance is still strong on paper – revenues are holding and the opportunity is still clearly there… But growth? It begins to feel much harder than it should. And, as we explored in our latest “Beyond the Listings” session, it rarely ends up being a channel problem, because it’s far more likely to be down to your brand’s internal capabilities. ## The early warning signs aren’t always external One of the biggest takeaways from the discussion was that the first warning signs tend to show up internally, as: - Decision-making slows; - Ownership becomes less clear; - Processes that once worked start creating friction; - And execution loses pace. And it’s not that the channel has changed, it’s that the business around it hasn’t been able to keep up with the pace. ## Why strong performance can hide weak structure Unfortunately, it’s easy for brands to get stuck at this point because, on the surface, everything looks fine. It’s only when you look deeper that you can spot the real issues – from no-one fully owning the P&L or teams whose priorities aren’t aligned to capabilities that haven’t scaled alongside revenue growth. It’s what our experts call “organisational drag”; a point where growth is still possible, but it’s much harder, slower and less efficient than it should be. ## More resource isn’t always the answer Another key theme? Adding more people doesn’t necessarily fix the problem. Capability isn’t just about headcount, it’s about: - Clear ownership and accountability. - Defined roles across functions. - Strong decision-making frameworks. - And strong alignment between finance, operations, marketing and supply chain. Without these in place? More resource can actually increase complexity instead of reducing it. ## So what does a high-performing Amazon function look like? The brands that continue to scale successfully tend to have one thing in common – they’ve built a function around Amazon that matches the scale of the opportunity. What does that mean? It means they treat Amazon as a core commercial channel. It means there’s ownership that’s both clear and accountable and KPIs that are aligned across teams. And it means they can make decisions quickly and confidently – which is critical in such a fast-paced retail environment as Amazon. In short, successful brands make sure that their structure is built to support their strategy, not the other way around. ## And where does external support fit best? One of the most practical questions raised in the session looked at the question of where exactly external support can add the most value. The consensus, agreed by both our own experts and our guests [Patrick Murray of 3Search](https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmurrayecom/) and [Paladone’s James Prewitt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-prewitt/), was that external expertise, when used the right way, has the power to: - Boost capability without adding unnecessary headcount. - Provide clarity where internal teams are too stretched. - And accelerate progress in areas where you need specialist know-how to succeed. But the real key to getting the most from your external spend? It comes from commercial clarity – when everyone you bring in is fully aligned to the same, clear internal structure. ## The Bottom Line If your brand is finding that Amazon growth is becoming harder to sustain, ask yourselves the question – is it really your strategy that’s the problem? Or is the structure you have around it what’s holding you back? At scale, performance isn’t about just listings, ads and tactics – it also comes down to whether your organisation is built to support the opportunity that’s in front of it. If you missed the session? You can catch up on demand now – just hit the button below. [**WATCH ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/the-amazon-capability-blueprint-building-a-function-that-delivers-performance) And if you’d like our expert eyes on the setup of your Amazon function – spotting all the places where it might be causing friction and helping you get it on a smooth and successful path – we’re here to help! [Get in touch with the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Watch “The Amazon Capability Blueprint: Building a Function That Delivers Performance” on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/the-amazon-capability-blueprint-building-a-function-that-delivers-performance "Watch “The Amazon Capability Blueprint: Building a Function That Delivers Performance” on demand here") - [Browse all our on-demand and upcoming Events here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Discounts Need to Stand Up to Amazon’s Tighter Reference Pricing Rules](https://venture-forge.com/blog/discounts-need-to-stand-up-to-amazons-tighter-reference-pricing-rules/) **Published:** April 16, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s updated reference pricing rules mean discounts must be backed by real pricing history and evidence. **Content:** What Amazon’s new pricing rules mean for discount visibility, credibility and performance… From 23 April 2026, Amazon is updating its reference pricing requirements to tighten the rules around how “Was Price” and Recommended Retail Price (RRP) can be used across the platform. So what does this mean for brands relying on visible discounts to drive conversion? It’s a change with the potential to have a direct impact both on how offers are displayed and how frequently promotions can be run. ## What’s changing Under the new rules, for RRP to be accepted, it now needs to reflect a price the product has actually sold at on Amazon as the Featured Offer, or match a price recently offered by another retailer. At the same time, changes to “Was Price” calculations mean: - Amazon will increasingly rely on real transaction data over the last 90 days. - Promotional and non-promotional sales may be combined in certain cases. - Discounts will only be displayed where they are genuinely supported by price history. ## Why it matters Reference pricing has long been a key conversion driver on Amazon, with clear savings messaging helping customers quickly understand value; especially in competitive categories. But under these new rules, discounts that aren’t supported by real pricing history may not be shown at all – plus the frequency of promotions could be limited by 90-day pricing data and pricing strategies that rely on “resetting” reference prices might become less effective. ## The bigger picture: Pricing transparency is increasing This change aligns closely with Amazon’s broader push toward transparency across the board. With tools like the price history graph already showing customers how prices have moved over time, the platform is making it harder to inflate reference prices, create an artificial perception of a discount and to rely on short-term pricing tactics. Instead, the focus is shifting toward genuine, trackable value. And so for brands, this is a moment to reassess how pricing and promotions are structured. Our experts’ take is that you now need to be: - Reviewing whether your RRP is both defensible and consistent across channels. - Understanding how your 90-day pricing history might influence your discount visibility. - Planning promotions more strategically, rather than relying on frequent resets. - And aligning your pricing decisions across marketplaces to avoid any conflicts. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s updated reference pricing rules are another step toward a more transparent and data-driven marketplace. For brands, that means less room for artificial discounting and more emphasis on credible, consistent pricing strategies – and frankly? In an environment where customer trust is a key driver of conversion, we don’t see that as a bad thing at all. Need expert help? Our team is on hand to help you review your pricing strategy and make sure your promotions remain compliant, effective and sustainably successful. [Click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s new Fuel Surcharge: A Small Fee with Bigger Implications](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-new-fuel-surcharge-a-small-fee-with-bigger-implications/) **Published:** April 14, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s FBA removal fee update could add billing complexity for brands managing large inventory volumes. **Content:** Why April’s 1.5% uplift is another signal on rising cost pressure for brands… Amazon’s new 1.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfilment fees is live, with plans to extend it to Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF) in May. On paper, it’s a relatively modest increase, averaging around £0.05 per unit for many EU FBA products. But for brands already managing tightening margins? It’s another incremental cost in a marketplace where these kinds of increments quickly add up. ## What’s changed? A new 1.5% surcharge has been applied across multiple European marketplaces, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, with: - FBA fees impacted from 17 April 2026. - And MCF fees set to follow in May. Importantly, the charge is applied to fulfilment fees, not product price, so it directly affects brand’s operational costs and, ultimately, their profitability. Amazon has positioned the move as a response to sustained increases in fuel and logistics costs, aligning with similar surcharges introduced by other carriers. ## Why it matters In isolation, a 1.5% surcharge might not seem significant – but, as we all know, Amazon economics don’t operate in isolation. When you layer them alongside: - Referral fees. - Storage costs. - Advertising spend. - Promotional pressure. - And wider operational costs… Even small increases like these have the potential to erode margin in a meaningful way – adding to the cumulative impact of cost pressures across the entire Amazon model. ## The bigger picture: Margin pressure is structural This update ties directly into a wider trend we’re seeing across Amazon as margins tighten and costs rise. The thing is that brands are absorbing more of the pressure while still delivering: - Competitive pricing. - Strong availability. - And ongoing growth. The result is that profitability is becoming harder and harder to sustain, even when a brand’s revenues are increasing. ## What brands should be doing now While this particular surcharge is already in effect, our experts strongly advise that brands take the opportunity now to reassess just how resilient your margin structure really is. That means:[](https://venture-forge.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=post) - Reviewing per-unit profitability across your whole catalogue. - Understanding how fee changes impact your Net PPM. - Stress-testing your margins against further cost increases. - And identifying where efficiencies can be improved. Because this is an environment where margin needs to be actively managed – and protected – right at the very core of your strategy. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s fuel surcharge may be small in percentage terms, but it’s another signal of a broader shift that means brands need to be more commercially disciplined than ever in how they manage their whole whole account. Because when margins are under pressure, it’s not just about growth – it’s about how much of that growth you can actually keep hold of. If you’d like support to understand the true profitability of your Amazon business – and to protect your margin however the Amazon landscape shifts – our expert team is here to help. [To get started, click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon changes FBA Removal Fees to per item charges](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-changes-fba-removal-fees-to-per-item-charges/) **Published:** April 9, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new fuel surcharge adds another layer of cost pressure for brands already protecting tight margins. **Content:** A billing update that could create more complexity behind the scenes… From May 2026, Amazon is changing how it charges for FBA removals and disposals, moving from a single consolidated fee per order to per-unit billing at the point each item is removed or disposed of. And though it looks like a minor update at a glance, for brands managing large inventories it’s a shift that could have a much bigger operational impact than they might initially think… ## What’s changing Previously, removal and disposal fees were charged as a single consolidated line item once the full order was completed. Now, for orders created from May onwards: - Fees will be charged per unit. - Charges are applied as each unit is processed. - Billing becomes fragmented across multiple transactions. And in practice, that means a removal order for hundreds of units could generate hundreds of individual charge entries. ## Why it matters This is both a process change and a pricing change, and that matters because it has the potential to bring greater complexity for your admin teams, more in-depth reconciliation requirements and increased pressure on your finance and reporting functions. For brands with high stock volumes or frequent inventory clean-ups, the fact that what was once a simple, single-line cost will become a series of transactions that all need to be tracked, matched and accounted for makes it a meaningful shift. ## The bigger picture: More granular control, more operational load Amazon has positioned this update as improving visibility and alignment with industry standards – and that’s true. But, as we’ve been seeing across the platform, increased visibility often comes with increased responsibility. Our experts see this as another example of Amazon moving towards more granular cost tracking, more detailed operational data and more accountability at unit level. And while it’s useful from a control perspective for brands – it also raises the bar for how efficiently brands manage their operations. ## What brands should be doing now With the change now in effect, brands need to look at adapting processes accordingly – which means: - Preparing your finance systems for higher volumes of line-item charges. - Reviewing how your removal and disposal costs are tracked and reconciled. - Ensuring your reporting can still provide clear visibility on total costs. - And thinking carefully about how often you trigger removals to manage any added complexity as smoothly as possible. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s move to per-unit billing for removals and disposals is just another sign of a broader shift toward greater granularity and tighter operational control. And while for brands that means more visibility, it will inevitably also bring more complexity. Given Amazon is an environment where even the smallest inefficiencies can quickly have a sizable impact, it’s key to have the right processes in place. If your team is looking for an expert hand to guide them to more robust operational and financial control across your entire Amazon account, our team is here to help – [click here to book an introductory call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Pressure Points Brands face as they scale Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-pressure-points-brands-face-as-they-scale-amazon/) **Published:** April 7, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon growth pressures margins, pricing, promotions, channel strategy and internal alignment for brands. **Content:** From margin erosion to channel conflict, here’s what senior leaders are grappling with on Amazon right now… At our latest Amazon roundtable, we asked a simple question; “Where do the first pressure points typically appear as Amazon scales?” As [our CEO Andrew Banks says](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_we-brought-together-some-of-the-uks-most-activity-7450503486544367616-0APD?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), what followed was one of the most commercially honest conversations we’ve heard in a long time. Because while many brands are seeing their revenues grow? The dynamics beneath, from profitability to promotions, are becoming more and more complex; and tougher and tougher to manage. Here are the themes that came up again and again – [let us know](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) which resonate with you… ## Margins are under fire Almost every brand in the room agreed that their margins are under more pressure than ever before. And though their top-line revenues may be increasing, their profitability just isn’t keeping pace. This is a challenge with lots of layers: - Holding price on Amazon. - Managing promotional pressure. - Navigating increasingly cost-conscious consumers. - And balancing expectations across multiple retail channels. And that means that margin is fast becoming a central commercial challenge for brands. Our take? Margin protection needs to be designed into your Amazon strategy from the very outset, not recovered later through optimisation. ## Channel conflict is getting more complex Amazon isn’t on its own now – there are new marketplaces entering the mix all the time and existing ones continuing to grow. This leaves brands needing to constantly rethink how each channel fits into their wider strategy, with the issue not just being where to sell but also how to define the role of each platform, avoid creating conflicts between channels and building a strong strategy that won’t introduce new pressures as things evolve. Our take? The brands that will scale successfully through 2026 and beyond will be the ones who define clear roles for each channel early, rather than reacting to conflict once it appears. ## Category leadership brings new challenges Being the category leader should be a position of strength – but in slower-growth categories, it can actually create a different kind of challenge. Why? Because when you already hold significant market share: - Growth becomes harder to achieve. - Margin becomes harder to protect. - And expectations remain high. And the thing is, this is a challenge that becomes particularly topical when brands are entering Annual Vendor Negotiations (AVNs) – a time where both their performance and their future potential are under scrutiny. Our take? When growth slows, brands need to shift the focus from share capture to tight margin discipline and strategic defence. ## Where Amazon sits in the business is still unresolved One of the most revealing insights? There’s still no consistent answer to where Amazon sits within an organisation. Is it: - A digital function? - An ecommerce channel? - A sales responsibility? Our expert take? In reality, it’s often all three. And the friction between these teams is frequently where operational strain first appears – but it’s also where growth can be unlocked when alignment is achieved. Our take? Amazon needs clear ownership and cross-functional alignment combined, because performance sits at the intersection of all three teams. ## Promotions are becoming a structural challenge Promotions have always been part of Amazon but, as the frequency and intensity increase, it’s creating a loop that many brands say they’re struggling to manage. Currently, brands are reporting something of a vicious cycle where, with Amazon encouraging lower prices during promotions: - Other retail channels then match those prices. - Amazon then sees those lower prices and pushes further. - And the cycle continues… All of this can easily turn what started as a promotional tactic into a structural pricing challenge; one that impacts every channel, every retailer and every negotiation – and one which only compounds over time. Our take? If promotion becomes your default lever, it stops being a tactic and starts eroding your pricing power – and that often means across every channel, not just Amazon. ## The Bottom Line If these pressure points feel familiar? You’re definitely not alone. It’s truer than ever before that scaling on Amazon is about managing a whole range of increasingly complex commercial pressures, from margin and pricing to channel strategy and internal alignment. But while these challenges are significant, they’re not insurmountable – not with commercial clarity, rigour and joined-up thinking across the brand. If you’d like to learn how our expert team can guide you to navigate them smoothly, effectively and with scale-achieving success, we’d love to chat – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is it a PPC problem? Or do you need to fix your Amazon foundations](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-it-a-ppc-problem-or-do-you-need-to-fix-your-amazon-foundations/) **Published:** April 2, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Many Amazon growth issues stem from weak commercial foundations, where misalignment limits performance. **Content:** What if the problem isn’t your ads, but deeper misalignment that optimisation alone just can’t put right? “One thing I’m seeing again and again on Amazon lately?” says Emma Pickard, our Head of Seller Services. “It’s that most “growth problems” aren’t actually ads problems. They’re alignment problems.” And she’s right, it’s a pattern we can spot again and again – a brand’s performance stalls, their efficiency stops, their growth feels tougher than it should, and the immediate reaction is to optimise the ads. The problem with this approach is that, often, the real issue lies elsewhere… ## Is your account in alignment behind the scenes? Great Amazon performance doesn’t come down to any one thing; it’s shaped by a combination of: - Stock availability. - Buy Box ownership. - Pricing consistency. - Listing health. - And stable, clearly defined KPIs. And when these elements aren’t aligned, even the best media strategy will struggle to deliver – because the reality is that you can’t scale what you can’t control. So there’s no amount of bid optimisation that can fix issues like out-of-stock ASINS, suppressed listings, VAT or compliance issues or strategies that shift all the time. ## Why Ads often take the blame Paid media is the most visible lever in an Amazon account so, when performance drops, it’s the first place brands look. But what might seem like a PPC issue can just as easily be: - Gaps in your inventory that are limiting availability. - Buy Box instability that’s reducing your conversions. - Changing KPIs that are disrupting optimisation efforts. - Or inconsistent strategies that stop the algorithm from learning. In any of these cases, optimising is just reactive firefighting; not the strategic growth lever you’re looking for. ## What Actually Drives Progress For brands looking to unlock sustainable performance, it’s the fundamentals that matter most: - Clear, consistent KPIs that are aligned to your commercial goals. - Stable stock and Buy Box control. - Healthy, accurate listings. - And the discipline to let your strategy play out over time. Growth and profitability can work together on Amazon, but they do need alignment and consistency to do so. When strategy, operations and media are all pulling in the same direction, your performance becomes more predictable, more scalable and far more efficient. But without that alignment, you can throw money at your media but it will still struggle to deliver anything meaningful in terms of results. ## The Bottom Line Does your Amazon account feel “stuck”? Instead of jumping straight into media optimisation, take a step back and ask whether your foundations or strategy need attention — because on Amazon, progress doesn’t come from just doing more; it comes from doing the right things consistently with a clear goal in mind. If you’d like expert support to align your Amazon strategy from the ground up, our team of experts is here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). Useful Links - Connect with our Head of Seller Services, Emma Pickard, [on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BMOyVQUqwRRyxeRZlP5YA5g%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s US Delivery Leap: What 1-Hour Delivery Means for Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-us-delivery-leap-what-1-hour-delivery-means-for-brands/) **Published:** March 30, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s faster US delivery signals rising expectations and operational pressure for brands competing on speed. **Content:** What new 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options signal for brands and the future of fulfilment… Amazon has introduced new 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options across the US, allowing customers in thousands of cities, towns and suburbs to shop over 90,000 products with lightning-fast fulfilment. From everyday essentials like groceries and health products to electronics, toys and homeware, the idea is to bring supermarket-style convenience to the Amazon ecosystem, making the marketplace even more of a draw. And while it might seem like just another logistics upgrade, for brands it’s not just a clear signal for where Amazon is heading – it’s a clear signal of what customers will soon come to expect. ## What’s changing Customers in eligible US locations can now: - Filter products by “delivery in 1 hour” or “delivery in 3 hours”. - Shop a dedicated storefront of ultra-fast delivery items. - See delivery speed clearly signposted across search and product listings. With availability already spanning hundreds (1-hour) and thousands (3-hour) of locations, it’s an initiative that Amazon US is scaling really quickly. And as we know, many innovations that start in the US are rolled out to the UK and Europe, so we expect ultra-fast delivery to hit our shores in the not-too distant future. ## Why it Matters Amazon has always competed on speed, but this move shifts it up another notch again. And as fast delivery has morphed from a benefit to an expectation for consumers, so too will these new super-quick delivery speeds. For customers? It means: - Less planning ahead. - More impulse purchasing. - And a greater reliance on Amazon for everyday needs. And for brands? It’s likely to raise the bar across several areas, including: - Inventory positioning and availability. - Fulfilment speed, agility and reliability. - Product eligibility for fast-delivery programmes. - And ultimately, how competitive your offer is in the moment of need. ## Amazon as an “Immediacy” platform More than just shaving hours off delivery times, this move – if rolled out across the Amazon ecosystem – will position the marketplace as *the* place for convenience-seeking customers to go when they need something right now. We’ve already seen the development of this positioning through: - The expansion of same-Day delivery. - The integration of local inventories. - The growth of Amazon Grocery and Essentials. - And now, ultra-fast delivery windows. And together, these moves are turning Amazon into an on-demand retail platform, not just an ecommerce store. ## The Bottom Line When super-faster delivery becomes the norm, availability and proximity become even more critical to performance. So, even if 1-hour delivery isn’t available in your market yet, the direction of travel is clear – meaning it’s time to ask questions like: - Are our products positioned to qualify for faster fulfilment options? - Is our inventory strategy aligned to speed as well as cost? - Are we optimised for impulse and convenience-driven purchases? - And how does delivery speed influence our competitiveness in key categories? Because, as delivery windows shrink, speed will become even more important to competitiveness – and the brands that adapt their strategies now will be the ones best placed to stay one step ahead. Love our expert take on how to align your Amazon strategy to evolving delivery expectations? Our team is on hand to help – click here to get in touch today. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Amazon Poland should be on your radar for 2026](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-amazon-poland-should-be-on-your-radar-for-2026/) **Published:** March 26, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Poland investment signals a growth opportunity for brands seeking earlier entry and stronger EU positioning. **Content:** Amazon’s €5bn investment signals a major growth opportunity for brands… Amazon has announced plans to invest over €5 billion in Poland between 2026 and 2028, alongside the opening of a new fulfilment centre; a move that reinforces the strength of its long-term commitment to what is one of Europe’s fastest-growing ecommerce markets. It might look like just an infrastructure update on the surface – but for brands? It’s a clear signal that Amazon Poland is moving into a new phase of growth. ## Why Poland matters now Having seen consistent economic growth over the last decade, Poland’s already one of the world’s top 20 economies. But what makes it really interesting for Amazon brands is that this is an economy that combines: - A fast-growing ecommerce market. - Growing consumer confidence in online shopping. - Strong logistics and infrastructure investment. - And continued inflows of international capital. Basically, it’s a market that’s still in the development stage – but it’s scaling fast. And with Amazon investing heavily in both infrastructure and customer experience? It’s clear the retail giants expect demand to accelerate too. *“From a European perspective, Poland stands out significantly. It combines impressive economic growth, advanced technology, and entrepreneurs ready to compete on a global stage. That is why we are announcing our next investments here of over EUR 5 billion between 2026 and 2028. Poland is already one of the world’s 20 largest economies, and Amazon intends to play an active role in strengthening that position.”* *Mariangela Marseglia, Vice President, Amazon European Stores* ## What Amazon’s investment is really signalling Amazon doesn’t invest at this scale without long-term intent, so we think this €5bn commitment points to: - Increased fulfilment capacity and faster delivery speeds. - Greater Prime adoption and customer retention. - Continued growth in marketplace activity. - And stronger competition as more brands enter the market. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before in other regions – early investment coming right before increased competition and rising customer expectations. ## The opportunity for brands For brands not yet selling on Amazon Poland, we’re seeing this as a window of opportunity for those with international capabilities or expansion goals. After all, fresh, exciting markets like this often offer lower competition than more mature Amazon regions, as well as strong growth potential and the ability to build a great brand presence before categories become saturated. But – as always with Amazon expansion – success isn’t just about entering the market, it’s about entering it strategically and with plenty of commercial rigour. ## What brands should be thinking about now If Poland is on your expansion roadmap, now is the time to start planning strategically. That means: - Assessing demand and category dynamics. - Building a localisation strategy (content, pricing, positioning). - Ensuring operational readiness for cross-border fulfilment. - And aligning expansion with your wider European growth strategy. Doing this now? It’ll put you in a great position before Amazon increases its investment and raises the bar for execution alongside it. ## The Bottom Line This massive €5bn investment is a signal that Amazon sees significant long-term growth potential in the Polish marketplace and for brands, that creates both opportunity and urgency. Our experts’ take? Those brands who move early – and execute well – are the ones that will be in the perfect position to establish and strengthen before the competition intensifies. And if you’d like to be one of them? Our team can support you to evaluate Amazon Poland as part of your international expansion strategy, putting our commercial focus, rigour and clarity at your disposal so you know you’re making all the right moves. [To learn more, get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Building Growth that lasts: The Kodak Batteries UK Story](https://venture-forge.com/blog/building-growth-that-lasts-the-kodak-batteries-uk-story/) **Published:** March 24, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** See how Kodak Batteries UK used Amazon strategy to drive profitable growth, improve retention and value. **Content:** How our ultra-disciplined Amazon strategy delivered incremental growth and long-term customer value… *“A lot of Amazon growth looks good on paper, but doesn’t build anything durable.”* [*Andrew Banks, CEO at Venture Forge*](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_ventureforge-amazonexperts-amazonstrategy-activity-7441773172376539136-CdF2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k) When it comes to Amazon right now? Not all growth is created equal. When you dive deep into the data, it can be surprising how much Amazon success is made up of top-line gains that won’t translate into something sustainable – think short term spikes, aggressive spend and revenues that aren’t backed by retention or profitability. For us? The real test of a strong Amazon strategy is whether it’s designed to build something that lasts. And that was exactly where we focused when we partnered with Kodak Batteries UK, with a brief that was centred not just on commercial growth in-year, but on profitable, durable performance for the longer term. ## The Challenge: Grow without eroding Efficiency Kodak’s objective wasn’t just to increase sales – though they did task us with achieving significant revenue growth – they also wanted to: - Drive incremental revenue growth without cannibalising existing demand. - Maintain tight control over TACOS and profitability. - And strengthen customer retention and repeat purchases. In other words, growth needed to be commercially disciplined *and* strategically sound. ## The Strategy: Build a Growth Flywheel Rather than relying on heavier ad spend or short-term promotions, our approach focused on strengthening the commercial fundamentals. How? Our key initiatives included: ### Pack size expansion We introduced multipack variations to boost the perception of value, increase basket size and unlock opportunities for incremental revenues. ### Subscribe & Save optimisation We enrolled key products into Subscribe & Save to drive repeat purchase behaviour and build long-term customer value. ### Conversion rate optimisation We enhanced all PDP content, imagery and customer experience to reduce friction and improve purchase confidence. ### Data-led performance management And, as always, we continuously refined our strategy using real-time insights to make sure decisions were always commercially driven, not opinion-led. The aim was to create a strategy that would compound over time, rather than deliver one-off sales spikes. ## The Results The impact was both immediate and sustainable, as together we drove: - +27% revenue growth - +23% increase in units sold - +11% increase in Q4 seasonal sales - +2pp improvement in conversion rate - 806x growth in Subscribe & Save Crucially? These gains were achieved while maintaining a strong balance between growth and efficiency. And this is a case study that highlights a key truth about Amazon right now; which is that sustainable performance in today’s marketplace comes from moves like: - Strengthening customer lifetime value. - Improving conversion before increasing spend. - Building repeat purchase mechanisms. - And making decisions grounded in data, not guesswork. It’s all about creating holistic growth, not chasing isolated wins. ## The Bottom Line Amazon offers plenty of ways to grow quickly, but the brands that scale successfully over time are the ones who focus on incremental, compounding growth built on strong commercial fundamentals. Kodak Batteries UK is a clear example of what that looks like in practice – [for more of the detail, you can read our full case study here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/kodak-batteries-uk/). And if you’d like the support of our award-winning team to build your own growth strategy for both immediate results and long-term value, we’d love to help! [Click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Protect the Core, Grow the Brand: Pronto Seed’s Strategy Story](https://venture-forge.com/blog/protect-the-core-grow-the-brand-pronto-seeds-strategy-story/) **Published:** March 19, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** See how Pronto Seed used Amazon DSP to drive incremental growth, reduce TACOS and win new customers. **Content:** We explore how precise Amazon DSP unlocked incremental growth for a brand already in their category’s top spot… When a brand already dominates its category on Amazon, the challenge changes – in the best possible way. In this position, a brand’s aims become less about visibility and more about how to keep growing sustainably without wasting spend on sales that they’d likely win anyway – how to increase their profitability while unlocking new customers and new demand. And this was the exact challenge facing Pronto Seed when they came to us; a sector-leading brand with strong organic rankings, excellent Buy Box performance and an already commanding share of the market. So how did our expert team help? ## Where Amazon Growth comes from next Pronto Seed were already the No.1 brand in their category, which meant that traditional Amazon growth tactics carried a risk. After all, spending more on advertising could easily mean they were simple paying for traffic they were already capturing organically – and so we knew our focus needed to shift instead towards: - Improving conversion efficiency. - Expanding new-to-brand customer acquisition. - Reducing dependency on paid placements already dominated organically. - Driving sustainable profitability through reducing TACOS. In other words, this was a challenge driven by pure precision, innovative thinking and commercial clarity. ## The Strategy Working alongside Pronto Seed, our team built a strategy focused on protecting their existing market strength while unlocking new demand – one about smarter spend, not more spend. Our key initiatives? They included: ### Strategic advertising reallocation Reducing spend on placements the brand already owned organically and redirecting budget into real growth opportunities. ### Efficiency-first optimisation Maintaining strict control of profitability by shifting the focus from visibility alone to high-intent conversion, improving performance while reducing overall TACOS by 6%. ### New-to-Brand Customer Growth via Amazon DSP Using Amazon Audiences, an increased Sponsored Display (SD) budget and cross-category targeting to reach potential customers beyond the brand’s core shopper base. ### Conversion-focused creative across Video & Content Introducing stronger video and content assets designed to improve engagement and reduce friction in the buying journey, leveraging Amazon video ads and boosting CVR. The result was a strategy built not around more spend, but around smarter spend. ### Long-Term Growth & Product Expansion Building a roadmap for NPD, with dedicated strategy meetings designed to explore the best and most innovative opportunities for expansion. ## The Results The impact of our ultra-smart optimisation was immediate and measurable, with Pronto Seed achieving: - +27% sales growth - +40% increase in units sold - 6pp reduction in TACOS - +51% increase in new-to-brand customers - 99% Buy Box win rate And within the first 60 days of DSP activity, the strategy delivered: - £79.2k in DSP-driven sales - 5.76 ROAS - 12.3 million impressions - 19.29% new-to-brand customers In short, DSP became a powerful driver of incremental growth rather than duplicated demand. ## The Bigger Lesson for Amazon Brands The Pronto Seed case study highlights something we see again and again across Amazon; that growth becomes more complex, and far more strategic, when a brand reaches market leadership. At that point, success isn’t about chasing more traffic, it’s about: - Protecting your profitable core demand. - Building your audience intelligently. - Using media channels like DSP to unlock new customer acquisition. - And ensuring every pound of spend is working towards incremental growth. It’s a whole different mindset, and it calls for precision, real-time data insights and truly disciplined execution. And if you’d like to explore how our team can help your brand unlock the kind of profitable growth enjoyed by Pronto Seed, we’d be thrilled to help – [simply click here to book a call with our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Get the Lowdown on Amazon’s new Interactive Canvas Experience](https://venture-forge.com/blog/get-the-lowdown-on-amazons-new-interactive-canvas-experience/) **Published:** March 16, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Explore Amazon’s Interactive Canvas Experience for real-time insights, visual dashboards and smarter decisions. **Content:** The info you need on the new AI-powered visual workspace bringing real-time insights and actions to Seller Central… Introduced on 3 March 2026, Amazon’s new Interactive Canvas Experience is marking another step in the platform’s push towards AI-driven decision-making for Sellers. Designed as a dynamic workspace inside Seller Central, the canvas lets sellers generate personalised dashboards that combine business data, insights and recommended actions in real time, with the aim of helping brands see, interpret and manage their performance more easily. Powered by the same agentic AI architecture that lies behind Seller Assistant, the tool brings sales data, customer signals and operational metrics together, reacting to conversational queries to produce interactive visualisations that make the data more accessible, more visual and more actionable. ## How Interactive Canvas works Sellers can start by asking Seller Assistant a question, like: - “How are my products performing?” - “What inventory do I need to restock?” - “How can my campaigns perform better?” And Seller Assistant then generates a personalised canvas, displaying relevant data, trends and suggested actions in a visual workspace. From there, Sellers can move on to: - Explore performance dashboards combining sales, traffic and trends. - Analyse marketing campaigns and advertising effectiveness. - Simulate inventory decisions and “what-if” scenarios. - And identify growth opportunities and product expansion ideas The canvas is unique because it adapts in real-time – Sellers can ask follow-up questions or request different perspectives on their data, and the canvas will update instantly with new visualisations and insights. ## The opportunity and the challenge We’ve been flagging all the ways that Amazon has been steadily embedding AI into the Seller ecosystem for a while now, with everything from AI-powered listing creation and A+ content tools to the conversational Seller Assistant – and this is the next step in that evolution. This is a move towards an interactive decision environment, where Sellers are able to step beyond simpler reports and dashboards to explore deeper data, test scenarios and plan their actions, visually. And with the system integrating with Seller Assistant, Amazon is looking to make the journey from insight to action as seamless as possible. For brands, the good news is that these tools bring the ability to make faster, more informed decisions. But they do also, as with all AI assistants, raise the bar for how effectively data is interpreted and applied. Brands now need to be crystal-clear on their objectives and totally disciplined in how insights turn into action, something that increasingly rewards [strong strategy and experienced oversight](https://venture-forge.com/services/analytics-and-reporting/). And as Amazon continues to build more AI-led tools into Seller Central? We see the brands that succeed as being the ones who aren’t simply using the tools – they’ll be the ones using them strategically. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s Interactive Canvas Experience is another sign that Seller Central is evolving from a reporting interface into an AI-assisted operating system – a single, adaptive space that brings together insights, projections and recommended actions. And as Amazon continues investing in AI-led tools across its ecosystem? The brands that combine these capabilities with strong strategy and disciplined execution will be the ones best positioned to scale. If you’d like support to interpret Amazon’s insights and use them to build a commercially rigorous, data-led growth strategy for your brand, our experts are here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Amazon Retail Events Are Getting Smarter for Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-amazon-retail-events-are-getting-smarter-for-brands/) **Published:** March 9, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Explore how AI, personalisation and smarter discovery are reshaping Amazon retail events. **Content:** We explore how the latest Spring Deal Days event offered a glimpse into the future of AI-powered shopping… As Spring Deal Days returned with 7 days of discounts across everything from electronics and beauty to home, fashion and everyday essentials, our team took the chance to look beyond the deals themselves and dive deeper into just how much Amazon is using AI and personalisation to shape the way customers are discovering products. What we saw here, more than any previous event, was that retail events aren’t just about price anymore; how Amazon is guiding shoppers to what they buy is playing a huge role that’s only going to increase. So how can you turn this to your advantage? Here are our key takeaways… ## Discovery is becoming more conversational One of the most noticeable things around the March event was the part played by AI-led product discovery, and especially Amazon’s conversational assistant Rufus. Designed to answer questions like, “what are the best running trainer deals for marathon runners?”, Rufus is letting shoppers explore what’s on offer through natural language queries – with Amazon then interpreting intent and showcasing the products it deems most relevant. [We’ve said it before](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-rufus-ai-shopping/) but, for brands, this marks a clear shift from optimising for search alone toward making sure your product data, attributes and positioning are clear enough for AI systems to understand and recommend – as well as making sure everything about your product descriptions is built to work with conversational search queries too. ## Personalisation is shaping how shoppers encounter deals As well as conversational discovery, Amazon is continuing to expand how it curates personal deals for shoppers. During the Spring Deal Days event alone, shoppers were guided by features like: - Recommended Deals for You. - Deals related to Wish Lists. - Deals related to items in your cart. - Curated Top 100 deal lists. - And even Creator-curated selections. And all of this reinforces one simple fact – Amazon is moving from acting like a catalogue or sorts to being a tailored, guided shopping experience, all shaped by search, browse and purchase behaviours. In this kind of environment, visibility for brands increasingly rests not just on your participating in promotions, but on how well the platform can match your deals to the right customers – another win for those with everything optimised to the highest standard. ## AI is changing how deals are surfaced New tools like Amazon Lens, which allows customers to photograph a product and find it on Amazon, are another strong example of how far marketplace discovery is expanding beyond traditional browsing. When you consider these tools alongside conversational AI and algorithmic recommendations, it’s increasingly obvious that the customer journey from curiosity to purchase is becoming more and more driven by Amazon’s own systems. So bear in mind that, during major retail events, when traffic spikes and discovery accelerates? These systems are what are determining which products shoppers actually see. For Amazon brands, the implication is clear – it’s not enough to just participate anymore, you need to be maximising your visibility by every means possible. And that means making sure that your: - Product detail pages are clear and well-structured. - Attributes and data describe the product as accurately as possible. - Content communicates the right expectations. - Customer feedback backs up your claims and builds trust. Doing this isn’t just about attracting and ensnaring your customers, it’s about Amazon too – because these discovery systems rely on structured data and customer signals to decide which products to surface. ## The Bottom Line It’s fascinating to see how these events offer a concentrated window into how Amazon’s shopping ecosystem is evolving from discounts and search-driven browsing toward AI-guided discovery and personalised deal experiences. And as Amazon’s systems become both more fundamental to discover and more sophisticated in how they work, we think the brands that benefit the most will be the ones who can blend competitive pricing with the products that can be most clearly understood by Amazon’s algorithms. [If you’d like expert help preparing your brand for the next wave of AI-driven discovery on Amazon, our team is here for you – click here to get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Our 4 Favourite Things About Amazon Deal Events Beyond Discounted Sales](https://venture-forge.com/blog/our-4-favourite-things-about-amazon-deal-events-beyond-discounted-sales/) **Published:** March 12, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Our experts explain why Amazon deal events can drive visibility, customer acquisition, momentum and growth. **Content:** Our experts explain why weeks like the recent Spring Deal Days can deliver much more than just discounted sales… When all the headlines focus on percentage savings, Lightning Deals and units sold, it’s easy to dismiss Amazon retail events as short-term discount festivals – but, for brands who approach with their strategic hats firmly on? These promotional days can offer a lot more than just a temporary spike in discounted sales. In actuality, events like these can be some of the most powerful, momentum-building moments in the entire Amazon calendar – and here are our 4 favourite reasons why… ## They create strong Sales Velocity signals One of the most valuable aspects of deal events is the concentrated burst of demand they generate as shoppers looking for offers drive significant rises in traffic across the marketplace. For brands participating in the event, this can create strong sales velocity signals – which Amazon’s algorithm then takes as an indicator of product relevance and demand. The result? Listings that perform well during these windows often see improved visibility and ranking momentum that can continue beyond the event itself. ## They concentrate shopper’s attention Retail events also bring something Amazon brands rarely get at scale – a concentrated period of collective customer focus. During deal weeks, shoppers arrive with a clear intention to browse and buy, so your products are being discovered by an audience that’s already primed to convert. And for brands with strong listings and competitive offers, this focused attention has the power to accelerate both your sales and customer acquisitions. ## They help unlock new customers Deal events are great for introducing your brand to shoppers who might not come across it otherwise – with promotional pricing reducing the risk of a new product, and increased traffic across Amazon creating additional discovery opportunities. For smart brands, these events can become a key customer acquisition moment, bringing new shoppers in – new shoppers who may well return to buy again at full price. ## They reveal how well your operations really work Finally – and fundamentally – promotional events like these are the best stress test going. After all, when traffic, orders and competition all increase at the same time, any operational weaknesses tend to surface quickly – from stock gaps and content issues to pricing misalignment and issues around your paid media. For brands who find themselves suffering through these weaknesses, learning from deal days offers the chance to tighten up and prepare for the next event with stronger planning, more aligned stock and media strategies and clearer messaging – and that’s important because these events are such a great opportunity to execute at scale and capture momentum that can be truly meaningful. ## The Bottom Line Amazon deal events may last only a few days, but their impact can extend well beyond the promotional window itself. And for brands who approach them with the right preparation – aligning stock, pricing, content and media – they can deliver far more than discounted revenue, offering the opportunity to build visibility, customer acquisition and algorithmic momentum that can all work to support your long-term growth. Love a little support to make the most of Amazon’s key retail moments for your brand? Our award-winning team is here to help. [Click here to book a call with our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/ "Click here to book a call with our experts today"). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Importance Of Tracking Market Share And Competitors On Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-importance-of-tracking-market-share-and-competitors-on-amazon/) **Published:** August 10, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Maintaining a competitive edge on Amazon is no easy task. Especially if you don’t keep regular tabs on your competitors and your market share. **Content:** Maintaining a competitive edge on Amazon is no easy task. Especially if you don’t keep regular tabs on your competitors and your market share. To succeed in a market like Amazon, you need to monitor and anticipate your competitors and track the market share of your chosen sector. If you don’t carry out a routine competitive analysis yet, then you need to start. Your competitors are probably already keeping tabs on you. > Trusted by leading brands on Amazon, we constantly monitor our clients’ market share and competitors to help them stay one step ahead. In this blog, we will explore how to keep a competitive edge by monitoring your market share and having an effective Amazon competitive analysis. This will help you be agile and continue to be a success within Amazon. ## Market tracking and why it is important Trusted by leading brands on Amazon, we advise all clients to measure and understand their market share on Amazon properly, as it involves far more than simply comparing your sales growth with total market growth. If you know a product’s sales ranking, you can use a simple formula to estimate your sales, but you can’t calculate your market share on Amazon as simply as that. To get a more accurate idea of our market share within Amazon, you need to take a few extra steps. You need to see how your products are performing year over year in comparison to other sellers and the eCommerce market. This means looking at your actual market share on Amazon by category and item, and over time. Only then can you begin to grasp where you stand and, more importantly, begin to implement the right strategies to compete in the marketplace in a meaningful way. Here are our top four tips to help you find your Amazon market share: 1. Learn the current value of sales coming from online channels, within your category 2. Gather expected growth of online sales within your category 3. Calculate the Amazon-specific share of sales, by category, using historical data 4. Measure this total against your company’s current and historical Amazon 1P/3P sales ## Track and monitor your competitors You can easily review your competitor’s performance and scope out the competition by monitoring the best performing brands. By gathering competitor’s data, it helps you gain a clear image of where your business is positioned in the market. The benefit of monitoring your competitors include: - It gives you an idea of how you’re doing in comparison to your competitors. - Keeps you informed of actions and activities they may be undertaking (discounts, listings changes). - Monitor and estimate their sales. - Benchmark your market share against theirs over time. - Benchmark your organic search performance against theirs over time (and compute Share of Voice). Once you know who your main competitors are, it’s time to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop your strategy to be better than them. Below are our expert tips on how to monitor competitors. ## Audit your competitors’ listings This is where you can identify potential weaknesses within your competitors’ listings. Do photos have poor image quality? Are listings missing specific product information? Do products have a sub-par rating? You can learn from what your competitors are doing in terms of listing optimization and use this information to make your listing even better. Here are the components of a listing to closely inspect in your audit: - Title - Images - Bullet points and descriptions - Reviews ## Pricing Pricing is a crucial factor as it’s one of the deciding factors in your customer’s decision to buy. The increasingly saturated Amazon marketplace points towards the fact that more and more sellers are changing prices frequently. It’s important to understand your competitor’s pricing strategies to avoid price wars. With that being said, you still need to make a profit. It is important to understand the price history of a particular market to determine a product’s long-term viability. If the price of the product you’re selling or are interested in selling fluctuates frequently, it may not be a good market to get into. ## Understand rankings Tracking changes in a product’s keywords rankings is a good way for you to benchmark your performance against your competitors and extract insightful learnings from how they are piloting their Amazon business. It allows you to discover the keywords for which your competitors’ products are ranked and track how their ranks change over time. You then get to compare those findings to your products and better understand from where they drive sales as well as how their SEO efforts, pricing positioning, PPC strategy, and other advertising techniques might be explaining the gap between their performance and yours. Without knowledge of the competitive landscape, growing your Amazon business will remain challenging and place you at a disadvantage to others. Researching your competitor’s sales and marketing strategies helps give you a better understanding of what you are up against in the Amazon marketplace and offers you a competitive edge. To find out how Venture Forge can help your business understand it’s category and share within it, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) and we’ll be happy to share some data with you. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Northern Digital Awards 2021](https://venture-forge.com/blog/northern-digital-awards-2021/) **Published:** February 24, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** More great news from Venture Forge! We kicked off the year by winning ‘Best Small Digital Agency’ at the 2021 Northern Digital Awards. **Content:** The good news keeps on coming here at the Venture Forge HQ. We have kicked the year off by being crowned the ‘Best Small Digital Agency’ in 2021’s Northern Digital Awards, which was organised by the wonderful team at Don’t Panic Awards. The Northern Digital Awards recognise the absolute best in digital marketing campaigns, agencies and talent in the region and reward websites across several sectors to reflect the online world that public, private and third sector organisations now inhabit, trade and communicate in. The awards celebrate exceptional agencies, teams, campaigns, and talent. Even though we weren’t able to attend the awards in person this year, the virtual event was still a celebration of digital marketing in the North. The ‘Best Small Digital Agency’ is in recognition of small digital marketing agencies, with less than 20 team members, that have produced fantastic results and have made a positive contribution to the industry. The judges reviewed our client wins, client retention, financial results, growth, margin, team retention, development and training, innovative approaches to development, delivery or cost saving and the quality of campaigns, apps or websites delivered on behalf of clients. We have grown remarkably as a marketplace agency since our launch in Spring 2018. The last three years haven’t always been an easy ride, especially with the pandemic disrupting so much of everyone’s lives. > In 2020 we had a record year for the Venture Forge team, with 21 new clients added to the portfolio and existing clients reporting a 450% growth in revenue. During the pandemic, we’ve managed to successfully pivot and become recognised marketplace specialists, exceed targets, grow our clients’ businesses and create jobs in the region for highly skilled people – which will continue long beyond Covid as we continue to grow. Having recently secured a place on the Amazon Service Provider Network, this award marked another strong step forward for the agency and set the path for another successful year. Ultimately, what could have been a challenging trading period for our us has become our highest growth and the most successful since we launched the business and winning this award is evidence of the hard work. Being crowned the ‘Best Small Digital Agency’ really is a testament to our vision, leadership, drive and confidence in each other. To find out more about Venture Forge and our award-winning work, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Top 10 Dog And Cat Food Brands On Amazon UK](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-top-10-dog-and-cat-food-brands-on-amazon-uk/) **Published:** June 7, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** See which dog and cat food brands are winning on Amazon and how to break into the pet category. **Content:** With the pandemic forcing people to spend more time at home and some businesses now making the move to work from home permanently, this has provided people with the opportunity to buy a new furry friend as they can now dedicate the time to taking care of a new animal. Pet Care in the UK has been growing consistently year on year and the most recent stats from the UK’s Office for National Statistics showing that expenditure on pets and related products reached a massive £7.9bn in 2020, up 170% from 2005. This recent boom in pet purchases has unsurprisingly led to an increase in demand for pets and related products and the channels through which they are purchased. Amazon alone has seen sales of pet food grow by 67% in the past two years, and their sales of wider pet supplies by 79%, with dog and cat food now generate £11.5m of revenue per month (£138m/year) in the UK – this is huge business that is not to be sniffed at. ## The top ten most successful wet and dry dog food brands on Amazon We researched the leading dog food brands available on Amazon and compiled a list of the top sellers using annual sales data and other key performance metrics. Here is our current list of the top 10 dog wet and dry food brands on Amazon: ### Dry dog food Dry dog food accounts for £5.75m of sales on Amazon UK every month, with the best-selling brand being Harringtons at £1.45m sales per month and the three subsequent brands taking £1m+ each per month. 1. Harringtons – average monthly sales – £1,453,940 2. Arden Grange – average monthly sales – £1,078,860 3. Lily’s Kitchen – average monthly sales – £994,571 4. AATU – average monthly sales – £393,981 5. Purina Beta – average monthly sales – £352,371 6. Purina Bakers – average monthly sales – £289,478 7. Pooch & Mutt – average monthly sales – £269,037 8. Gilberston & Page – average monthly sales – £262,067 9. Wagg – average monthly sales – £198,646 10. Iams – average monthly sales – £108,230 ### Wet dog food Wet dog food is a slightly smaller category, but a small number of brands still take the lion’s-share of the market. Lily’s and Forthglade do well here, taking £360k+ each per month in sales. 1. Lily’s Kitchen – average monthly sales – £370,942 2. Forthglade – average monthly sales – £361,088 3. Pedigree – average monthly sales – £201,700 4. Harringtons – average monthly sales – £137,562 5. Butchers – average monthly sales – £134,282 6. Winalot – average monthly sales – £130,135 7. Naturediet – average monthly sales – £96,363 8. Hilife – average monthly sales – £81,188 9. Natures Menu – average monthly sales – £73,341 10. James Beloved – average monthly sales – £63,182 ## The top ten most successful wet and dry cat food brands on Amazon ### Wet cat food Mid-market brands like Felix and Whiskas dominate this category on Amazon. With keen price points and OK listings, they both have a great market share. 1. Felix – average monthly sales – £604,390 2. Whiskas – average monthly sales – £494,469 3. Sheba – average monthly sales – £262,010 4. Applaws – average monthly sales – £255,528 5. Gourmet – average monthly sales – £237,810 6. Purina ONE – average monthly sales – £108,451 7. Lily’s Kitchen – average monthly sales – £90,717 8. Hilife – average monthly sales – £72,868 9. Lifelong – average monthly sales – £47,284 10. Encore – average monthly sales – £36,162 ### Dry cat food Purina has real dominance of the dry cat food market on Amazon UK, with £393k of sales through their premium ONE range and £196k per month through their mid-market Go Cat range. 1. Purina ONE – average monthly sales – £393,887 2. Iams – average monthly sales – £225,601 3. Purina Go Cat – average monthly sales – £196,920 4. Whiskas – average monthly sales – £120,495 5. James Wellbeloved – average monthly sales – £108,663 6. Purina Pro Plan – average monthly sales – £98,703 7. Applaws – average monthly sales – £91,255 8. Arden Grange – average monthly sales – £54,340 9. Perfect Fit – average monthly sales – £49,972 10. Lily’s Kitchen – average monthly sales – £40,745 ## How to become a best-selling pet food brand on Amazon As a leading Amazon agency, we can offer proven industry experience and expert insight for dog and cat pet food brands on how they can become leaders in this sector. Our key points to help any brand enter and succeed in this specific category are: 1. Treat Amazon as your number one sales channel – treat Amazon as your number one sales channel, rather than a key account, which will set you in good stead for growth. 2. Have an Amazon strategy, not a grocer strategy – create an Amazon strategy for selling on Amazon and not a grocer or key account strategy 3. Excel at everything – with large, mature markets, dominated by big brands with huge budgets you must use every opportunity you have to your advantage on Amazon. In dog and cat food, being exceptional at everything on Amazon is a minimum requirement. To find out how Venture Forge can help your pet food brand achieve significant growth on Amazon, please [get in touch and say hello](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Dog and Cat Food Category Analysis on Amazon UK: Market Share Trends](https://venture-forge.com/blog/dog-and-cat-food-category-analysis-on-amazon-uk/) **Published:** February 26, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon pet food category analysis revealing pricing strategy, operating model differences, and brand growth. **Content:** Amazon UK’s dog and cat food category has entered a structurally mature and highly competitive phase. Analysis of the latest 12-month performance data shows that category leadership is no longer defined purely by brand size. Instead, operating model, pricing strategy, and commercial execution are now the primary drivers of growth and profitability. Vendor remains the dominant route to market by revenue. However, Seller-led brands are achieving faster growth, commanding higher price points, and gaining market share. This reflects a fundamental shift in how pet food brands are using Amazon, from a scale channel to a commercial profit driver. Amazon is no longer simply a distribution channel. It is now a primary commercial battleground. ## Dog Food Category Analysis ### Category Revenue Structure Dog food remains heavily Vendor-weighted overall, with Amazon Retail accounting for the majority of category revenue. However, Seller now represents a significant and growing proportion of total sales, driven primarily by premium and specialist brands. ![Chart showing revenue share split between Vendor and Seller models in the Amazon UK dog food category.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/dog_vendor_seller_trend_green-e1772729519116-800x573.png "Dog Food Revenue Share: Vendor vs Seller on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")**Average Dog Food Price Vendor vs Seller on Amazon UK** Vendor continues to dominate among legacy FMCG brands prioritising scale and distribution. Seller adoption, however, is increasing among brands seeking greater pricing control and margin protection. This is creating a structurally divided category. ### Category Structure: Vendor vs Seller Brand Positioning Vendor and Seller adoption varies significantly by brand. Vendor remains the dominant operating model across the dog food category, particularly among large legacy FMCG manufacturers. Seller adoption is significantly higher among premium and specialist brands, reflecting a strategic shift towards margin protection and pricing control. This split reflects fundamentally different commercial objectives. Vendor prioritises volume scale and distribution reach, while Seller enables brands to protect pricing, control positioning, and maximise profitability. This structural divide is now a defining characteristic of the category. **Vendor prioritises:** - Scale - Distribution reach - Volume growth **Seller prioritises:** - Pricing control - Margin protection - Brand positioning This strategic choice is now one of the primary determinants of category performance. ### Pricing Analysis: Vendor vs Seller A clear pricing divide exists between Vendor and Seller brands. ![Bar chart comparing average price of Vendor and Seller dog food products on Amazon UK showing higher Seller pricing](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-8-e1772180604686-800x572.png "Dog Food Price Comparison – Vendor vs Seller (Amazon UK) - Venture Forge")**Dog Food Price Comparison Vendor vs Seller Amazon UK** Seller-led brands operate at significantly higher average selling prices than Vendor-led competitors. This pricing differential is not accidental. It reflects fundamentally different commercial objectives. Vendor optimises for scale efficiency, while Seller enables deliberate premium positioning and margin control. Vendor-led brands compete more aggressively on price to maintain volume and distribution, while Seller-led brands prioritise pricing control and profitability. Pricing strategy is now closely aligned to operating model, making it a defining structural characteristic of the category. ### Market Share Dynamics Market share movement shows that premium brands are gaining ground. ![Bar chart showing market share growth by dog food brand on Amazon UK highlighting premium brand growth](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-9-e1772180682331-800x573.png "Dog Food Market Share Growth by Brand (Amazon UK - 12 Months to 2026) - Venture Forge")**Dog Food Market Share Growth by Brand Amazon UK** Royal Canin has delivered significant market share growth, despite operating primarily via Seller. This demonstrates that commercial execution and pricing power can outperform scale alone. Legacy Vendor-led brands continue to hold large overall share but are growing more slowly. This indicates that market share growth is increasingly correlated with pricing power and commercial execution, rather than portfolio breadth alone. ### Portfolio Scale and Product Count Product count remains an important factor in category leadership. ![Bar chart showing number of dog food products by brand on Amazon UK highlighting differences in portfolio size](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-10-e1772180766830-800x573.png "Dog Food Product Portfolio Size by Brand (Amazon UK) - Venture Forge")**Dog Food Product Portfolio Size by Brand Amazon UK** Vendor-led brands typically operate larger product portfolios, supporting greater visibility and scale. However, several Seller-led brands are generating strong revenue performance with fewer SKUs, reflecting higher revenue productivity per product. ## Cat Food Category Analysis Legacy FMCG brands including Whiskas, Felix, and Sheba continue to rely primarily on Amazon Retail. Cat food remains heavily Vendor-dominated on Amazon UK, with the majority of category revenue driven through Amazon Retail. ![Chart showing revenue share between Vendor and Seller models in the Amazon UK cat food category.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cat_vendor_seller_trend_green-e1772729969132-800x576.png "amazon-uk-cat-food-vendor-vs-seller-revenue-share.png - Venture Forge")**Cat Food Revenue Share Vendor vs Seller on Amazon UK** However, Seller is playing an increasingly important role among premium brands, enabling greater pricing control and supporting higher-margin growth. ### Pricing Strategy and Positioning Seller-led cat food brands also operate at higher price points. ![Bar chart comparing average price of Vendor and Seller cat food products on Amazon UK showing higher Seller pricing](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-11-1-e1772122487460-800x575.png "Cat Food Price Comparison – Vendor vs Seller (Amazon UK) - Venture Forge")**Cat Food Price Comparison Vendor vs Seller Amazon UK** Premium positioning allows these brands to maintain stronger margins while competing effectively. Vendor-led brands continue to prioritise scale and competitive pricing. ### Market Share Movement Market share trends confirm increasing premium brand penetration. ![Bar chart showing market share growth by cat food brand on Amazon UK highlighting premium and private label growth](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-11-e1772122835778-800x573.png "Cat Food Market Share Growth by Brand (Amazon UK) - Venture Forge")**Cat Food Market Share Growth by Brand Amazon UK** Premium and specialist brands are gaining share faster than traditional FMCG competitors. This reflects growing consumer demand for premium nutrition products. ### Premium Seller Growth Is Emerging Across both dog and cat food, the category has now split into two distinct operating models. **Vendor-Led Model:** - Prioritises scale - Driven by large FMCG brands - Lower pricing control - Greater margin pressure **Seller-Led Model:** - Prioritises control and profitability - Used by premium and specialist brands - Higher pricing power - Faster market share growth - Both models can succeed. However, the strategic implications differ significantly. ### Strategic Implications for Pet Food Brands The Amazon pet food category is no longer defined solely by brand size. Success now depends on: - Operating model - Pricing strategy - Portfolio efficiency - Commercial discipline Vendor continues to dominate total revenue. However, Seller-led brands are achieving faster growth and commanding higher prices. This shift is structurally reshaping how brands compete, grow, and protect profitability on Amazon. Brands that fail to actively manage their Amazon strategy risk losing market share to more commercially disciplined competitors. Amazon is now a structurally competitive environment where operating model choice directly influences profitability, not just revenue. Brands that treat Amazon as a passive retail account risk losing both margin and market share to more commercially disciplined competitors. ### Category Outlook Based on current trajectories, the category is expected to see: - Continued premiumisation - Increasing Seller adoption - Greater margin pressure on Vendor brands - Further competitive fragmentation The brands that win will be those that treat Amazon as a controlled commercial channel, not a passive retail account. Amazon is now a primary commercial battleground for pet food brands, not simply a distribution channel. ## Executive Conclusion The Amazon UK pet food category has entered a structurally mature phase. Vendor remains dominant in total revenue. However, Seller-led brands are gaining market share faster and achieving significantly higher price points. This reflects a shift from scale-driven growth to commercially driven growth. Success on Amazon is now determined by operating model design, pricing strategy, and commercial execution — not brand size alone. Brands that recognise and adapt to this shift will define the next phase of category leadership. ## Request Your Amazon Category Review Many brands are surprised by what the data reveals. Following this analysis, we are providing a limited number of Amazon category reviews for pet food brands. Using the same dataset, this shows: - Your market share position - How your pricing compares to competitors - Where margin is being gained or lost - Your Vendor vs Seller exposure risk [**Request Your Category Review**](https://venture-forge.com/contact/?utm_source=Dog%20and%20Cat%20Food%20Category%20Analysis%202026) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why your Amazon Content Strategy needs a reset in 2026…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-your-amazon-content-strategy-needs-a-reset-in-2026/) **Published:** March 2, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon content strategy influences conversion, reviews and advertising efficiency, making a reset essential. **Content:** And how our latest “Beyond the Listings” episode can help you sharpen your content for the year ahead… “I can’t think of any other retail channel in the world where on a single page you can see what the marketeer wants you to believe and what the customer really thinks,” muses our CEO, [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon "Andrew Banks"), in our latest “Beyond the Listings” episode in what is a must-see hour of content strategy gold. And this is such an important point, because it’s a dynamic that means content on Amazon stands outside normal ecomm rules, setting an immediate expectation that can be corrected by reviews – and fast. ## Why content now drives long-term performance We see brands invest heavily in advertising, scaling media budgets and refining targeting, and then overlook whether their content is actually giving customers the clarity and confidence they need before they buy. But that’s where performance is quietly won or lost. If your Product pages overpromise or under explain, the consequences show up in negative reviews – and they in turn mean: - Lower conversion rates - Higher return rates - Rising CPCs - And reduced advertising efficiency Clarity beats hype. As Lee Clowes, Managing Director at Trends UK, explains: “There’s a danger of overpromising and underdelivering if you give too much content – but the flipside is, if you give as much basic information as possible, say infographics with a video that just tells you the basic workings, you cut down on your returns and you cut down on, dare I say it, the p\*ss off factor.” ## Customer behaviour on Amazon is still evolving – and we’ve got the insights you need It’s a whole new landscape on Amazon in 2026, one where mobile-first shopping means customers see less before they decide, attention spans are shorter and trust signals matter more. It all means that many long-standing content structures just aren’t up to scratch. For established brands, content isn’t just a creative exercise; it’s got a direct influence on conversion, ads efficiency, customer trust and long-term growth. And this is why, in our new “Beyond the Listings” episode, “Refresh. Redesign. Convert: Amazon Content Strategies for 2026” we unpack: - Why listings stall even when ads are strong. - The content mistakes that can quietly damage conversions. - Why some launches struggle to gain traction. - How imagery, video and Brand Stores influence performance. - And what effective Amazon content really looks like heading into 2026 and beyond. [**WATCH NOW ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/refresh-redesign-convert-amazon-content-strategies-for-2026) ## The Bottom Line Amazon is the only place where your story and your customers’ verdict sit side by side – and if your content doesn’t set the right expectations? The reviews will. If Amazon is a meaningful revenue channel for your brand, [this episode of Beyond the Listings](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/refresh-redesign-convert-amazon-content-strategies-for-2026?utm_campaign=SLTLinkedIn) will help you understand what needs to change – and what to prioritise next… [**WATCH NOW ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/refresh-redesign-convert-amazon-content-strategies-for-2026) ## Useful Links - [Connect with our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon) - [Watch or listen to this “Beyond the Listings” episode](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/refresh-redesign-convert-amazon-content-strategies-for-2026) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is your Amazon Seller account moving to DD+7 Disbursement?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-your-amazon-seller-account-moving-to-dd7-disbursement/) **Published:** February 23, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s DD+7 disbursement delays Seller payments seven days after delivery, making cashflow planning critical. **Content:** We explore why the updated reserve policy is really a cashflow planning issue… Amazon is updating Seller account reserve settings to what it calls its standard DD+7 disbursement model, which means that funds will now be held for seven days after delivery before becoming available. For many Sellers, this won’t feel new – but for others, particularly older accounts, it could mark a meaningful shift in terms of working capital that will need planning for. ## What is DD+7? DD+7 acts as a buffer between customer payment and Seller disbursement, with Amazon saying it helps to make sure that any refunds and customer experience issues can be resolved before funds are released. And globally, it’s already the standard for most Seller accounts, so this change is more about alignment than something brand new. Under DD+7, Amazon holds payment for: - Seven days after confirmed delivery (for tracked shipments), or - Seven days after estimated delivery (for untracked shipments). Funds are only moved into the Seller’s available balance once that reserve window passes, which in practice can mean that disbursements might land 8-9+ days after shipment after you factor in handling time and carrier transit too. Importantly, Amazon is also applying DD+7 to FBA orders, so the reserve clock will be starting after delivery even where Amazon controls fulfilment and logistics. ## Why it matters It might be described as a “one-off cash flow impact,” but for those accounts moving onto DD+7, it can actually create an ongoing shift in working capital that brands need to adjust for strategically. The impact scales with revenue, so businesses with meaningful Amazon turnover are likely to find they have more capital tied up, less immediate liquidity at peak times – especially important in Q4, for example – and greater need for accurate forecasting. - More capital tied up in reserve. - Less immediate liquidity during peak trading. - Increased cashflow pressures when scaling seasonally. - Greater need for accurate forecasting ## Where Sellers need to focus now Amazon is being structured more and more around predictability and customer protection, and Sellers need to match that discipline on the financial side. DD+7 doesn’t change how much you earn, it changes when you receive it – so adjusting is all about forward planning. What do our experts suggest you do now? Sellers should: - Model your cash flow under DD+7 at seasonal peaks. - Stress-test how you’ll fund inventory through high-growth periods. - Align your stock ordering and supplier terms with a longer payment cycle. - Review your external funding or credit arrangements where needed. - And build longer reserve delays into your financial forecasting. And for FBA-heavy accounts in particular? A strong understanding of how Amazon-controlled delivery timelines affect the timing of your disbursements will be key. ## The Bottom Line DD+7 is a structural change that makes working capital management as important as traffic, conversion and media efficiency, especially for growing brands. We see the Sellers who continue to scale confidently through 2026 and beyond as those who plan their liquidity like they plan their growth. And if you’d like expert support to model the commercial impact of Amazon policy shifts on your business? Our team is here to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/ "get in touch today"). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Updates Digital Services Fees for Cross-Border Sellers in Europe](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-updates-digital-services-fees-for-cross-border-sellers-in-europe/) **Published:** March 5, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is increasing Digital Services Fees to 3% in key EU markets, impacting cross-border seller margins. **Content:** Cross-Border Sellers face new charges from March 2026 – we’ve got the lowdown you need… Amazon has announced a change to how its Digital Services Tax (DST) fee will be applied across European marketplaces – a change which, for some Sellers, will mean an increase in costs from 20 March 2026. Originally introduced in October 2024 at 2% in the UK, the Digital Services fee reflects national DST policies in countries including the UK, France, Italy and Spain. The upcoming change is that now, Amazon says it will align the fee to the DST rate in the country of sale – currently 3% in several EU markets. ## What’s changing? From 20 March 2026, cross-border selling into certain EU marketplaces will basically become more expensive: - UK-established Sellers will face a 3% digital services fee on Selling on Amazon and FBA fees for sales in France, Italy and Spain. - Italy- or Spain-established Sellers will face a 3% fee on UK and France store sales. - Sellers established elsewhere will see a 3% fee applied on Selling on Amazon fees for Italy, Spain and France, as well as on FBA fees in France. ## Why this matters It’s not a new tax, but the increase is a margin shift. Digital Services Tax was originally introduced by governments to address perceived tax imbalances for large digital platforms – and Amazon is applying the resulting cost to them as a separate fee to Sellers. For growing brands, this means: - Reduced net margin on those marketplaces affected. - More complexity in modelling profits across borders. - Increased importance of ASIN-level P&L visibility. - And perhaps even a need to revisit pricing strategy where necessary. At a 1% increase, it might look modest in isolation, but it’s the kind of increase that can compound quickly when layered on top of referral fees, FBA charges, media spend and rising operational costs. ## What Sellers should do now If your account will be affected, our experts suggest you should take time now to: - Review your cross-border profitability by marketplace. - Model the net PPM impact of the increase/s. - Assess whether you need to adjust your pricing. - Make sure you can see margin visibility at both ASIN and country levels. With margins squeezed tighter than ever before on the marketplace, this kind of commercial clarity and rigour are fundamental. ## The Bottom Line This is another example of Amazon standardising cost structures across regions – and shifting the commercial burden downstream and it means that, for brands trading across Europe, real discipline in how you manage your margins is non-negotiable. If you’d like support to review your marketplace profitability and fee exposure ahead of these changes, our team is here to help. [Get in touch today to book a call](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Creative Agent ushers in Amazon’s next Ads Evolution](https://venture-forge.com/blog/creative-agent-ushers-in-amazons-next-ads-evolution/) **Published:** February 19, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Creative Agent introduces AI-driven ad creation, enabling brands to produce video and display ads faster. **Content:** AI-led ad creation has accelerated again as Amazon’s agentic tool promises “professional quality” ads for all… Announced just ahead of unBoxed London 2026, Creative Agent is a new agentic AI tool designed to help Amazon advertisers create professional-quality video and display ads directly within Creative Studio. ## A quick lowdown on Creative Agent Available through a simple chat interface inside Creative Studio, Creative Agent has been designed to act as a conversational creative partner for advertisers. Powered by Amazon’s retail insights and customer shopping signals – alongside information drawn from product detail pages, Brand Stores and advertiser websites – it can: - Conduct product and audience research. - Generate creative concepts and taglines. - Develop storyboarded scripts. - Produce multi-scene video and display ads complete with animation, music and voiceovers. - And refine and iterate creative through conversational feedback. All within a single workflow, moving from initial idea through to finished advertising assets designed for use across Amazon’s ad formats. ## Why this matters Creative development has historically been one of the biggest barriers to scaling Amazon Ads properly, often requiring significant budget, time and external resource. Creative Agent is Amazon’s attempt to compress that cycle – lowering the cost and speed barriers to production to: - Encourage more frequent creative testing. - Reduce the friction between idea and execution. - Expand access to high-quality ad production. - Raise expectations around creative standards. And because it integrates across formats – from Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display to Streaming TV and Amazon DSP – it reinforces Amazon’s push towards full-funnel, multi-format campaigns. ## Levelling the playing field? Phil Christer, Managing Director of Amazon Ads UK, described the move as giving advertisers access to the kind of strategic creative support once reserved for larger brands. And that’s important because, as Amazon’s media ecosystem matures, creative quality increasingly influences performance outcomes – particularly in mid- and upper-funnel formats like Streaming TV and DSP. When creative becomes easier to produce at scale, three things happen: 1. The competitive bar rises. 2. Poor creative stands out faster. 3. But crucially, the quality of your input matters more than ever. ## Where the real opportunity – and risk – sits Creative Agent joins tools like Ads Agent and the consolidation of Campaign Manager and Amazon DSP as part of a broader shift towards reducing operational friction while increasing the necessity for real strategic direction. After all, when AI can generate the assets, propose the concepts and streamline the production, success is more about judgement than speed. Our take is that the competitive advantage moving forwards will sit more and more with the brands who: - Set clear commercial objectives before the creative process begins. - Define a strong, consistent creative direction. - Really understand how each format plays a role in the funnel. - Align their creative output to measurable business outcomes. - And apply good governance across every element, from campaigns, formats and budgets. Without commercial clarity and experienced oversight? Faster creative cycles just mean scaling activity – results aren’t guaranteed to follow. ## The Bottom Line AI can build the creative, but it still needs to be briefed, directed and evaluated properly. So, as with all AI tools, it’s not about whether your brand uses it or not, it’s about whether you’re using it strategically – and that means: - Having clear growth and profitability targets in place. - Defining your audience priorities and funnel roles and working towards them whether manually or using AI. - Making sure your PDP and Brand Store content is as strong as possible (because AI draws directly from it). - Structuring your creative testing around your business KPIs, not just outputs. - Keeping a stringent eye on all your Amazon Ads activity. The brands that win in this new Amazon landscape won’t be the ones who create more ads; they’ll be the ones who combine AI capability with commercial rigour and expert execution. And it’s here that experienced Paid Ads experts become even more valuable, not less. So if you’d like to ensure your Amazon Ads strategy harnesses these new tools without losing strategic control? [Our award-winning Paid Ads team is here to help – click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is Amazon on your Core EComm Calendar? Here’s why it should be…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-amazon-on-your-core-ecomm-calendar-heres-why-it-should-be/) **Published:** February 12, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Why including Amazon in ecommerce calendar improves alignment, execution, and performance in 2026. **Content:** We explore one of the simplest Amazon fixes – which just happens to also be one of the most overlooked… If your brand already plans promotions, launches and campaigns across your wider business and doesn’t include Amazon, there’s only one question to ask – why not? As [Emma Pickard](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/), our Head of Seller Services, says, “when you’re marketing Amazon, use the same marketing calendar that you’re using across the business – operationally, treat Amazon like it is your ecommerce store, it shouldn’t sit outside your core planning.” And in 2026? It’s a point that matters more than ever. ## Amazon isn’t different – it’s just faster Too many brands have a bad habit of treating Amazon as something separate – a channel that reacts to what’s happening elsewhere in the business rather than being planned alongside it. But the reality is both much simpler and less forgiving. Amazon is an ecommerce store, and it’s one with faster feedback loops and automated systems that mean there are almost immediate consequences when things don’t line up quite right. Where other channels tolerate misalignment over the shorter term, brands are punished far faster on the marketplace, with performance dropping quickly and recovery taking time. These are systems that reward clarity. But when teams aren’t working from a shared plan? The knock-on effects are something we’ve spotted over and over again – promotions launch without enough stock, media ramps up before availability is ready, launches miss crucial windows of visibility and teams react instead of leading the way. And because Amazon’s algorithm responds in near real-time, those gaps don’t stay hidden for long. As Emma says, “Amazon punishes misalignment faster than any other channel”. ## The power of even light planning What’s striking is that this doesn’t require a year-long masterplan to fix – even a 3–6 month forecast and a shared Amazon calendar can dramatically improve execution. Simply by: - Aligning your stock, promotions and media ahead of time. - Giving teams full clarity on priorities and timing. - Reducing last-minute firefighting. - And recognising Amazon as a commercial ecomm engine as opposed to a reactive channel… Your brand can make one of the lowest-effort changes around – and one with the potential for — and one of the highest-impact. ## The questions to ask now Heading into 2026, the questions we think brands should be asking are: - How can we make sure Amazon sits within our core planning? - Do our teams share one view of our launches, promotions and stock? - Are our media and availability planned together? - And do we have enough forward visibility to execute our plans with confidence? ## The Bottom Line It’s not that Amazon is special in your ecommerce mix, but it absolutely should be central. The brands that perform best in 2026 will be the ones who plan their marketplace strategy with the same discipline as the rest of their ecommerce business – and who grasp that alignment across the board is crucial to growth. If you want to go deeper on what real Amazon growth planning looks like in 2026, don’t miss our latest Beyond the Listings episode, where our expert panel dives into everything from how to use data insights to choose your “big bets” with confidence to how to stay strategic when Amazon throws you a surprise. [Watch or listen now to sharpen your 2026 Amazon plan](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan?utm_source=LinkedIn) ## Useful Links - [Connect with our Head of Seller, Emma Pickard, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/) - [Watch or listen to our latest “Beyond the Listings” episode](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan?utm_source=LinkedIn) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Venture Forge × The Light Fund: Our Charity of the Year for 2026](https://venture-forge.com/blog/venture-forge-x-the-light-fund-our-charity-of-the-year-for-2026/) **Published:** February 10, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Venture Forge launches Charity of the Year partnership with The Light Fund, supporting fundraising 2026. **Content:** [Venture Forge](https://www.linkedin.com/company/venture-forge "Venture Forge ") is proud to be supporting [The Light Fund](https://www.lightfund.org/?utm_source=Venture%20Forge "The Light Fund") as our Charity of the Year for 2026. Throughout the year, we will be backing The Light Fund through structured fundraising activity, participation in community events, and ongoing engagement with partners and supporters. This is a long-term commitment to support a charity delivering practical, high-impact projects for people and communities in need. Our partnership is built on consistent involvement, measurable contribution, and visible action, not one-off campaigns. ## Why We’re Supporting The Light Fund The Light Fund is a charity founded by members of the UK licensing industry to fund worthwhile projects that support children, women and men. Since 2004, the charity has raised over £2.6 million, supporting more than 200 charities and good causes. In 2025 alone, it raised £282,000 and supported 51 organisations, funding projects including neonatal equipment, cancer support services, mental health helplines, emergency disaster relief, and community programmes that protect and empower young people. As a business working closely with brands operating in and around the licensing ecosystem, supporting The Light Fund is a natural fit for Venture Forge and reflects our wider commitment to responsible, long-term partnership. ## Our Charity Partnership in 2026 Our Charity of the Year partnership is structured around consistent activity and clear outcomes. Across 2026, this will include: - Leadership-led and team-led fundraising challenges - Participation in The Light Fund’s community and events - Partner and community involvement through prizes, donations, and shared initiatives - Regular progress updates on funds raised and activity delivered We will share updates throughout the year to ensure transparency, momentum, and accountability. ## Our First Fundraiser: Mount Toubkal Our partnership launched in February with our first completed fundraising challenge. Venture Forge’s CEO [Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/ "Andy Banks’") completed the Mount Toubkal climb, the highest peak in North Africa, raising funds for The Light Fund and marking the start of our 2026 fundraising programme. The climb is a demanding physical and mental challenge, with altitude, cold temperatures, and steep terrain presenting significant difficulty. It provided a strong and credible way to launch our partnership with meaningful action from day one. This first fundraiser set the tone for how we intend to approach our charity partnership: with commitment, visibility, and follow-through. ## Latest Partnership Update Andy’s successful completion of the Mount Toubkal climb marked the first official milestone in our Charity of the Year programme. This initial fundraiser raised both funds and awareness for The Light Fund and established the foundation for our year-long programme of activity. We will continue to share updates on fundraising progress, upcoming initiatives, and wider team involvement throughout 2026. ## How You Can Support The Light Fund If this partnership resonates, you can support The Light Fund by contributing to our fundraising programme, amplifying the initiative within your network, or connecting with us at Light Fund events across 2026. Industry-wide awareness and participation are critical to sustaining long-term impact, and we welcome collaboration from partners and peers who share that commitment. [**Donate via JustGiving**](https://www.justgiving.com/page/ventureforge-thelightfund) ## Looking Ahead Andy’s climb marked the start of our partnership and throughout 2026, Venture Forge will continue to support The Light Fund through planned fundraising activity, community engagement, and partner collaboration. We look forward to building sustained momentum behind the charity and contributing to meaningful, long-term impact. Thank you to everyone who has supported our partnership so far. We will continue to share updates as the year progresses. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Lowdown on Amazon’s new “Frequently Returned Item” Badge](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-lowdown-on-amazons-new-frequently-returned-item-badge/) **Published:** February 16, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s frequently returned item badge makes returns visible, impacting trust, conversion, and performance. **Content:** Returns are about to become far more visible to shoppers… Here’s what you need to know. From 16 February 2026, Amazon is going to begin displaying a new “Frequently returned item” badge on some product listings where return rates are higher than similar products. From a marketplace point of view, the thinking behind the move is that it will help customers make more informed purchase decisions. For brands? This marks a clear shift for returns, moving them from an internal metric to a public signal of trust. ## What’s changing? The new badge is going to appear on listings where return behaviour is higher than comparable products in the same category. Designed as an amber warning, shoppers will see a message that says: “Frequently returned item. Check the product details and customer reviews to learn more about this item.” And this badge will sit alongside Amazon’s existing “lower than average return rate” indicator, meaning returns performance will now be signposted at both ends of the spectrum. ## Why it matters Returns have always carried a cost, from logistics and write-offs to customer dissatisfaction – but this move does up the ante. By flagging typical returns behaviour directly on the PDP, Amazon is effectively turning them into a conversion signal – with a likely influence on customer trust, conversion rates, advertising efficiency and even the long-term viability of a product. In a marketplace environment where purchase decisions are driven by consumer confidence and clarity, a visible returns warning has enough potential to interrupt intent at a critical moment in the buying process. ## What Amazon is really signalling Amazon has been clear about the steps brands should take if the badge appears, advising to: - Monitor customer reviews for feedback. - Review PDP accuracy (titles, imagery, descriptions, size charts). - Ensure product quality and packaging meet expectations. Taken altogether? This signals a familiar Amazon principle at the moment: returns are often a symptom of misalignment, with high rates pointing to mismatched expectations, ambiguous specifications, inconsistent content or claims and/or poor packaging. Given the marketplace is now an increasingly automated environment, and that naturally means there’s less tolerance for error, this is a move to encourage brands to tighten their presence across the board or be penalised for staying sloppy. ## Where brands are most exposed – and what to do about it Our experts think this update is likely to hit hardest for brands whose: - Products rely heavily on subjective interpretation (fit, size, colour, compatibility). - PDPs overpromise or lack clarity. - Review feedback highlights recurring issues or misunderstandings. - Returns are already eroding margins behind the scenes. If any of these issues sound familiar, here’s what you should do now: - Take this as your chance to audit and tighten up all the fundamentals on any affected products. - Analyse return rates by ASIN and category. - Cross-reference your high returns with any themes from customer reviews. - Test the accuracy of your PDP content against what your real customers are saying. - Review your imagery, size charts and specifications to make sure they’re completely clear. - And assess your packaging to identify whether it’s contributing to damage in transit or dissatisfaction on receipt. The ultimate goal is to find and remove the underlying friction behind your returns – and remove the badge in the process. ## The Bottom Line This new badge puts returns performance front and centre, in a retail world where trust signals are already such a key driver of conversions. Brands that invest now in clarity across their product pages, work on setting expectations that are both realistic and compelling and create a great product experience through every touchpoint will be the ones best placed to protect their profitability. And this is just another signal that Amazon is heading towards greater transparency, higher standards and less tolerance for misalignment. The brands that tighten the fundamentals now will be the ones best placed to protect performance and scale in 2026 – and if you want your brand to be in that position? Our team of experts are waiting to create and drive the winning strategy you need. [Get in touch today to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What’s the One Thing that will separate Amazon Vendors in 2026?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/whats-the-one-thing-that-will-separate-amazon-vendors-in-2026/) **Published:** February 5, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Precision and data accuracy will define which Amazon Vendors grow profitably and scale successfully in 2026. **Content:** Precision is the key to success this year, with tight data, clean execution and smart operations at the helm… “In 2026, precision will separate growth from grind for Amazon Vendors…” So said our Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell, [in conversation with our friends at Khoo Commerce](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/10-share-7421509238117621783-0mf8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), and we couldn’t agree more. As Amazon moves deeper into a world of automation and system-led decision making, the marketplace is becoming ever less forgiving, less manual and far more dependent on the quality of the inputs brands provide. For Vendors still relying on best guesses, workarounds or sloppy processes? The bad news is that this is an environment where the impacts will be felt, and fast. ## Why precision matters now In a more automated, rules-driven and data-led retail landscape, performance can’t be shaped by intent or effort; it needs to be shaped by accuracy. After all, machine-based systems are all about clean inputs and total clarity – there’s little room for nuance or negotiation. And this applies across the entire Vendor setup, from your commercial data and catalogue structure to the quality of your PDPs and your operational execution. ## It’s all about Commercial Clarity But then, this is nothing new – commercial clarity has been one of the driving forces behind Venture Forge from day one and we’ve been banging the drum for accuracy and crystal-clear data ever since. 2026 is the year these lessons are really coming home to roost. Now, successful Vendors will be the ones who truly know their numbers – real-time profitability, contribution margins, chargeback exposure\* and trading costs; this is all data that needs to be understood at ASIN level so that decisions can be made and action taken from the strongest strategic base possible. When it comes to catalogue and PDP discipline, clean titles, accurate attributes, clear bullets and strong visuals are fundamental, because they’re the basis for how Amazon understands, ranks and converts your products in an automated environment where ambiguity gets penalised. And the onus is no less fierce around operational accuracy – your pack sizes, lead times, routing requests, ASN data and availability all feed directly into compliance, chargebacks\* and momentum, so small inaccuracies compound quickly, especially as Amazon tightens thresholds and raises expectations. ## The shifts Vendors need to make now To drive growth this year, Vendors need to switch their focus onto working as cleanly as possible – and that means: - Running Amazon as a disciplined retail channel, not a side operation. - Treating data accuracy as the commercial lever it is. - Closing any gaps between sales, finance, ops and supply chain. - And implementing processes that hold up under automation – without human intervention. As Travis says, it’s time to “run Vendor accounts with intention, data and sharp execution.” ## \* Chargebacks – where Precision protects Profits One of the clearest places a lack of precision shows up is in chargebacks, with issues like late shipments, ASN mismatches, pack errors and compliance issues quietly draining margins in the background. And as Amazon continues to tighten its thresholds and shift more accountability onto Vendor data, that exposure is only increasing – which is why chargeback recovery and prevention needs to sit alongside operational precision in 2026. Designed not only to help you recover historic deductions but also to identify and solve the root causes, our Chargeback Recovery Service helps Vendors: - Identify and recover invalid or avoidable chargebacks. - Quantify where deductions are eroding Net PPM. - Fix the operational and data issues causing repeat losses. - And build governance that prevents future leakage. [If you’d like to discover how we can help you recover lost revenues and better protect your profits, get in touch with our experts today.](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) ## The Bottom Line Long gone are the days when Amazon offered the scope to smooth rough edges over time – and 2026 is the year to make precision the cornerstone of your strategies. Vendors who tighten their data, catalogue and operations now will find Amazon working with them, not against them – those who don’t? They may find themselves stuck in a cycle of chargebacks, suppressed performance and repeated recovery. If you’d like expert support to review your brand’s setup, data discipline or operational risk, our Vendor team is here to help – [click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Connect with our Head of Vendor, Travis Chappell, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BvrS3akvBQ2mroPOfx5DItg%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Ads gets more granular at Search Term level](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-ads-gets-more-granular-at-search-term-level/) **Published:** February 3, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ads introduces search term level bidding, giving advertisers greater precision, control, and optimisation. **Content:** We explore the subtle update that could change how we optimise performance… Spotted by Elfie Brocklehurst, one of our award-winning Amazon Ads team is an update that’s being quietly rolled out right now, and brings greater transparency and control at the search-term level, with target-level bidding now editable directly within search term reports. It’s not a flashy launch – but for teams focused on performance discipline? There’s no doubt that it’s a meaningful step forward. ## What’s changed? Historically, search term reports have been diagnostic rather than actionable, but with this update: - Advertisers can now adjust bids at the individual search-term level. - Bid control is visible and editable within search term reports. - There’s a clearer link between query performance and optimisation decisions. In short, Amazon is narrowing the gap between insight and action. ## Why it matters This is an update that subtly reframes how advertisers think about optimisation because, instead of it being a binary choice between to include or exclude, we can ask how aggressively we want to be competing for this query – and this opens the door to: - Retaining visibility on marginal or high-cost queries at controlled bids. - Reducing unnecessary negative targeting. - Preserving data and learning while protecting efficiency It’s a move towards precision over blunt exclusion – one which aligns perfectly with how Amazon Ads has been evolving in broader terms. ## Where the real opportunity lies As our Paid Ads expert Elfie Brocklehurst points out, the challenge now is in the execution. If bid updates remain manual and one-by-one, the value of this new level of control will be limited to teams who can operationalise it efficiently, with: - Clear rules for when and how search terms are adjusted. - Strong governance to avoid over-tinkering. - And systems and workflows that scale this level of granularity across accounts Without that structure, more control could easily turn into more complexity. Looking at what this signals from Amazon, it’s an update that fits a wider pattern – one showing a push towards greater transparency, more performance-led decision making and better control – all things that raise the bar for advertisers. And what should you do now? To make the most of the update, you can start: - Reviewing your search term reports with a bid-first mindset. - Revisiting the logic behind your negative targeting and assessing where bid modulation could make more sense. - Defining clear rules for bid adjustment at query level. - And making sure your teams have the time, tools and processes to manage this granularity so they can optimise as intelligently as possible. ## The Bottom Line This might not be a headline-grabbing change, but it is a meaningful one. It shows that Amazon Ads is continuing its shift towards precision, transparency and performance-driven optimisation, and it means that the advertisers who can operationalise that precision are the ones who’ll be best placed to benefit. If you’d like support building a scalable Amazon Ads strategy that will see your brand thrive through 2026 and beyond, our award-winning Paid Ads team is here to help – [book a strategy call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow Elfie on LinkedIn for more Amazon Ads troubleshooting and tips](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BEaxvjN7qT%2BqohZWUmTb%2FtQ%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Diversified Media is the key to real Amazon Growth](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-diversified-media-is-the-key-to-real-amazon-growth/) **Published:** January 29, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** How Amazon brands use diversified advertising strategies and multi-channel data to drive scalable, profitable growth. **Content:** We explore why relying on too few ad formats limits your scale, and how DSP can complete the picture… While we do know why so many Amazon Ads strategies are built entirely around one or two formats, this – as [our award-winning Paid Ads team](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-advertising/) explains – can often limit your brand’s long-term growth. While formats like Sponsored Products are familiar, measurable and often deliver strong short-term returns, this kind of strategy is exactly where many brands hit a growth ceiling. Because, no matter how efficient your lower-funnel activity is, relying on too few channels limits reach, restricts audience development and makes your performance more vulnerable – especially if the competition in your sector is fierce. ## The Case for Diversified Media This is why diversified media buying is so essential as a key requirement for sustainable growth. There’s been so much evolution across Amazon Ads that sticking to one or two formats just doesn’t work with the system anymore. Instead, strong performance in today’s marketplace environment is shaped by how well brands can: - Build awareness before shoppers search. - Warm audiences across multiple touchpoints. - Capture demand when intent is strong. - And measure incremental impact across the journey. [*Learn why incrementality is the performance metric you need here*](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/) And formats like Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) work well to strengthen Sponsored Ads; expanding reach, feeding the funnel and driving outcomes you just won’t see from search-only activity. Used strategically, DSP spend isn’t about scale for scale’s sake, it’s about unlocking demand that other formats can’t reach. *“This is why diversified media buying still matters: Strategic DSP spend amplifies reach, drives incremental clicks, and adds revenue you simply don’t capture elsewhere.”* [*Elfie Brocklehurst, Paid Ads Expert at Venture Forge*](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164_programmatic-advertising-amazonads-activity-7420011816107360256-X5b2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k) ## What Amazon DSP can deliver When DSP is used intentionally, working in harmony with Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, we see brands benefit from: - Incremental reach that goes beyond search-driven shoppers. - Stronger mid and upper-funnel engagement that helps prime audiences for conversion. - Incremental clicks and sales that don’t cannibalise existing demand. - And more resilient performance during competitive or high-CPC periods. In short: diversified media adds volume and stability, two things single-format strategies struggle to deliver over time. And the real opportunity isn’t even about budget size, it’s about media architecture. From the point of view of our experts, the brands that grow confidently on Amazon are the ones who stop treating DSP as an “extra”, design their media plans around the full customer journey, allocate spend strategically based on role as opposed to familiarity and [measure their success using incrementality](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/) rather than focusing on ROAS alone. ## The Bottom Line If your Amazon Ads strategy is still heavily concentrated around just one or two channels, now’s the time to: - Review where your current media mix could be limiting your reach. - Identify where DSP could support awareness, consideration or re-engagement for your brand. - Align your formats to funnel roles. - And start measuring your performance beyond last-click attribution. 2026 is the year to start thinking about diversified media buying in terms of unlocking growth that more concentrated channel strategies leave behind, and to stop viewing it as just another way to spend more\*. *\**[*For more on this, read this LinkedIn post from Venture Forge’s Elfie Brocklehurst*](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164_programmatic-advertising-amazonads-activity-7420011816107360256-X5b2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k) And if your team needs expert help to build out a commercially disciplined, full-funnel Amazon Ads strategy that’s made to deliver growth, resilience and incremental performance, we can help. [Click here to book a call with our award-winning Amazon Ads specialists today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon is changing how Vendor Reviews are shared across Variations](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-is-changing-how-vendor-reviews-are-shared-across-variations/) **Published:** January 27, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** How brands manage variations and reviews to improve catalogue accuracy, conversion, and long-term results. **Content:** From February 2026, review sharing will tighten – making variation accuracy more important than ever for Vendors… From 12 February 2026, Amazon is rolling out an update to how customer reviews are shared across Vendor product variations; a change that will put greater emphasis on how well Vendor catalogues are structured and products defined. ## What’s happening? This update isn’t a removal of review sharing, but it is a narrowing of when it will apply. From the rollout date through to an estimated completion in May 2026, reviews will only carry forward across variations that differ in minor, non-functional ways, while products with meaningful differences will stand alone. ## Why this matters Obviously, reviews are one of the strongest drivers of conversion on Amazon, and for Vendors with complex catalogues? This is an update that could have a real impact on how trust signals appear across your range, with the potential to affect star ratings, review volumes and performance across Buy Box, advertising and conversions. And because this change is being applied progressively by category, Vendors may see performance move unevenly across their catalogue. ## What Vendors can do now What Amazon is signalling is that variation structure has to reflect real product equivalence – not a Vendor’s commercial preferences. Our Vendor experts have flagged 4 key areas where ASINs are likely to be most exposed: - Where variations combine products with functional differences. - Where child ASINs differ materially in size, formulation, capacity or usage. - Where variation families were built for convenience rather than accuracy. - And where review aggregation has been propping up weaker SKUs. It will pay to act proactively now, so our team suggests that, ahead of your category’s rollout window, you should: - Audit your variation families for functional consistency. - Separate materially different products into standalone ASINs where needed. - Make sure attributes clearly reflect real product differences. - Align your internal teams on which SKUs are genuinely equivalent to others. - Prepare for potential shifts in your review counts and conversion metrics. ## The Bottom Line Marking another step toward stricter catalogue discipline, the ultimate aim for Vendors now is to make sure your catalogue is structurally sound and compliant as Amazon tightens the rules. Given its power to reshape conversions across your range, we see the brands that review and clean up their variation structures early will be the ones far better placed to protect their performance as this change rolls out. If you’d like expert support to audit your catalogue, restructure your variations or anything else Vendor related, our Vendor team is here to help – [click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why your Amazon Growth Strategies need a reset for 2026](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-your-amazon-growth-strategies-need-a-reset-for-2026/) **Published:** January 15, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** How Amazon brands are building profitable growth strategies for 2026 through data and execution. **Content:** Why disconnected plans across stock, data, teams and media are holding brands back – and how to fix it… For established brands, Amazon has become much more than a simple growth channel over the past few years. In fact, the marketplace is now a core P&L driver for many – but in the current environment, that changes everything when it comes to your strategies. As Amazon continues to mature, the brands that we see struggle aren’t usually the ones without ambition; they’re the ones running disconnected strategies; plans that look solid on paper, but fall apart in execution because stock, data, team structure and media are isolated from one another. And the cost can be significant, from quiet erosion of market share and a weaker negotiating position with Amazon to growth that’s much harder, and more expensive, to maintain. ## Why 2026 demands a different approach We’re in a whole new Amazon world now, where margins are tighter, automation is higher and the retail giant’s expectations of its brands are more taxing than ever. In this commercial reality, growth doesn’t come from simply spending more on ads or reacting faster to issues; it comes from alignment. For our expert team, the brands that will win on Amazon through 2026 and beyond are the ones who: - Set achievable growth targets using historical performance and market data. - Treat availability and stock as the crucial strategic levers they are. - Build Amazon teams for scale – knowing when to augment with agency expertise. - Put DSP, AMC and retail media to work after the fundamentals are in place, not before. And crucially, they stop firefighting and start planning Amazon as a long-term commercial engine. Wondering where to start? We’ve got just the thing… ## Inside the podcast: Strategic Growth on Amazon in 2026 In our latest [Beyond the Listings episode](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), our CEO Andrew Banks is joined by our Head of Vendor Travis Chappell and head of Seller Emma Pickard as well as Ros Haswell, Pooch & Mutt’s Head of Amazon to offer a brand-side perspective too. Together, they unpack what a real 2026 Amazon growth plan looks like and tackle the questions senior leaders are asking right now: - How do you set realistic growth and market share targets? - How do stock and cashflow decisions affect momentum and AVNs? - What does a scalable Amazon team structure actually look like? - And where do DSP, AMC and retail media fit once the basics are right? [**CATCH UP NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan) ## The Bottom Line If Amazon is a core revenue channel for your brand, your 2026 strategy needs commercial clarity, disciplined structure and leadership-level thinking – and that’s exactly what this episode of Beyond the Listings will help you plan. So if you’d like to step away from the disconnections and sharpen your strategy for this new Amazon environment, [hit the link and catch up now](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)! [**WATCH OR LISTEN HERE**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Seller-Set Holidays: Fixing one of FBM’s most frustrating risks](https://venture-forge.com/blog/seller-set-holidays-fixing-one-of-fbms-most-frustrating-risks/) **Published:** January 20, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** How Amazon FBM sellers manage peak season demand with smarter fulfilment, planning, and systems for growth. **Content:** A small Amazon update that eases a long-standing visibility and delivery dilemma for FBM sellers… For Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM) sellers, taking time off has traditionally come with a hidden cost – as switching on Vacation Mode made listings temporarily undiscoverable, disrupted sales momentum and often took time to recover from once normal service resumed. But Amazon’s newly introduced Seller-Set Holidays feature changes that dynamic, bringing a genuinely practical improvement for FBM sellers who want to protect their performance and operational reality while enjoying their break. ## So what’s changed exactly? With this new update, FBM sellers can now set specific holiday dates directly within their Shipping Settings – and during these seller-defined holidays: - Products will still be visible and buyable. - Amazon will automatically adjust delivery promises based on closure dates. - And that means customers will see more accurate delivery dates, and FBM Sellers can rest safe in the knowledge that they’re not returning to an uphill battle to rebuild their pre-break position. ## No more Accuracy vs Visibility For us, the most important benefit from this update is that it quietly removes one of FBM’s most frustrating trade-offs. Before the update, FBM sellers had two poor choices; to stay visible and risk late shipments and customer dissatisfaction or to go into Vacation Mode and sacrifice sales, ranking and momentum. Seller-Set Holidays means FBM sellers can set realistic expectations – which, after all, is what Amazon really wants – without any penalty in terms of discoverability. It’s a meaningful change in a retail environment where delivery accuracy, customer trust and operational discipline are under the spotlight more and more. ## Also – more transparency on delivery performance And it doesn’t end there because Amazon has also introduced enhanced delivery-date transparency for FBM sellers. How does this work? Well, new columns have been added to FBM order reports showing: - Handling time. - Transit time. - And how delivery dates are calculated per order. And FBM Sellers can also now: - View handling times at SKU level. Download handling time reports via the Product-Level Shipping Preferences dashboard. This makes it so much easier to identify where delivery promises are slipping, and to pinpoint whether any issues sit with internal handling, carrier performance or shipping settings. ## What brands should do now Like all things Amazon, this welcome update will deliver the most value if FBM Sellers use it intentionally, so now’s the time to: - Review and update your handling times by SKU. - Put processes in place to make sure you use Seller-Set Holidays proactively. - Align internal operations and customer service teams to any amended delivery promises. - Use the new reporting to identify recurring delivery risks. - And treat delivery accuracy as a commercial KPI as well as an operational one. ## The Bottom Line Used well, this feature promises to keep FBM sellers visible, credible and compliant while they’re away, without the disruption that’s affected performance in the past. And in an Amazon environment that increasingly rewards accuracy, reliability and discipline, this is a step toward more grown-up FBM management – removing a quiet structural risk that’s cost sellers sales, rank and customer trust for years. But the positive momentum needn’t end here! If you’d like our expert eyes on your FBM setup, delivery settings or operational risk ahead of peak periods, we’d love to help. To learn what we can do to boost your FBM brand to all-new heights in 2026, [speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are you tracking the right KPIs for your Amazon Ads in 2026?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-tracking-the-right-kpis-for-your-amazon-ads-in-2026/) **Published:** January 13, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Learn which Amazon Ads KPIs matter most in 2026 to drive growth, efficiency, and successful product launches. **Content:** Sometimes, the problem isn’t your performance, it’s the metrics you’re using to judge it… Paid strategies don’t fail as often as their measurement frameworks do. So often, we see brands tracking the wrong metrics, or judging them against the wrong goal. After all, growth strategies, efficiency strategies and launch strategies all behave very differently – and they should be assessed differently too. As [Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BEaxvjN7qT%2BqohZWUmTb%2FtQ%3D%3D), one of our brilliant Paid Ads experts puts it, KPIs should never exist in isolation. They have to align with the outcome you’re driving right now, or performance might look misleadingly weak when it’s actually doing exactly what it should. ## Amazon Ads isn’t one-size-fits-all When brands apply the same KPIs across every phase, they risk: - Pulling spend too early. - Over-optimising for profit before scale. - Writing off strategies that need time to mature. ## But what should you be monitoring? ### If your goal is Growth… Your focus should be on demand capture and scale, not short-term efficiency. That means watching: - Impressions & Clicks. Are you reaching enough relevant shoppers? - Share of Voice / Impression Share. Are you present where it matters? - CTR. Is your listing compelling enough to earn engagement? - New-to-Brand Sales. Are you genuinely expanding your customer base? ### If your goal is Efficiency This is where profitability and discipline come to the forefront. Key metrics include: - ACOS/ ROAS. Is your spend delivering the returns you need? - Conversion Rate (CVR). Is the traffic you’re paying for converting? - CPC. Are you paying a sensible price for each click? ### If you’re Launching Early performance is about learning more than profit and judging a launch on ROAS alone is one of the fastest ways to shut down potential too soon. Here, the KPIs that matter most are: - CTR & CVR. Are shoppers understanding, trusting and engaging with the product? - Search Term Data. What language and intent are customers responding best to? - Spend vs Learnings. Are you getting enough good data to help you optimise effectively? ## The Bottom Line There’s no such thing as “the best overall Amazon Ads KPIs” because the right metrics for you depend completely on what your current objective is. And if your KPIs aren’t properly aligned to your objectives? You’ll struggle to read performance clearly – and to make the right decisions. If you want your Amazon Ads to work harder and stay aligned with your commercial goals? Our award-winning Paid Ads team is here to help – [book a strategy call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow Elfie on LinkedIn for more Amazon Ads troubleshooting and tips](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BEaxvjN7qT%2BqohZWUmTb%2FtQ%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Buy for Me Trial offers a glimpse of Agentic Commerce](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-buy-for-me-trial-offers-a-glimpse-of-agentic-commerce/) **Published:** January 6, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Buy for Me trial reveals how agentic AI is reshaping commerce, platform control, and brand visibility. **Content:** This Amazon experiment peeks into a future where shoppers don’t choose where they buy from, the platforms do… Since April 2025, Amazon has been quietly testing a new feature called “Buy for Me”, which they’re positioning on two key benefits: - Reducing friction when customers can’t find what they’re looking for on the marketplace itself. - Expanding Amazon’s selection without the need to hold the stock. ## How does “Buy for Me” work? Currently in trial, “Buy for Me” is integrated into the Amazon Shopping app. Customers may see: - Amazon and marketplace listings as usual. - A separate section labelled “Shop brand sites directly”. In some cases, if a product isn’t available on Amazon, “Buy for Me” can offer to buy it on the shopper’s behalf from the brand’s own website. It then uses Agentic AI to complete the transaction, wrapping the whole experience as part of an Amazon-only purchase path: - Amazon takes payment within its own checkout. - Agentic AI completes the purchase on the brand’s website. - Fulfilment, delivery, returns and customer service remain with the brand. For customers, it’s designed to feel easy and seamless. But for brands? It raises some important strategic questions. ## Why it matters “Buy for Me” is a peep into a future where platforms are acting as purchasing agents as well as marketplaces – where almost the entire purchase path, from discovery through checkout to order management, rests with Amazon, even when the transaction itself happens somewhere else. And that has clear implications across a whole range of commercial considerations, from control of channels, pricing and availability to brand visibility, ownership and even customer relationships. ## The Opportunity – and the Risk For some brands, “Buy for Me” could: - Capture demand that would otherwise be lost. - Reduce friction for customers who default to Amazon. - Extend reach without listing inventory. But obviously there’s a flip side too, because brands could also: - Lose control over how and where their products surface. - Be exposed to pricing or availability mismatches. - See Amazon inserted into customer journeys they didn’t plan for. And critically for non-Amazon brands, this could all happen without any formal seller relationship in place. ## What this tells us about 2026 It’s an intriguing glimpse into a world of agentic commerce, with the shift already beginning towards AI not just recommending products, but actively completing purchases on a customer’s behalf. In this world, we see the brands who win out as the ones who can: - Pinpoint exactly where their products appear. - Have disciplined pricing and availability governance in place. - And grasp how platforms can interpret and surface their catalogue. - Manage their channels actively. ## What brands should be doing now Whether “Buy for Me” does scale or not, some form of Agentic AI is on the horizon. In our experts’ opinion, now’s the time for brands to audit where and how products currently appear beyond any Amazon listings and tighten pricing, availability and consistency of data across channels. The aim will be to keep as much control as possible, which can be done through: ### Data and availability Agentic AI can only act on what it can see and trust, so by deciding which SKUs are available where, keeping pricing, availability and attributes consistent (or deliberately not) and controlling which products are discoverable or eligible for recommendation, your brand can constrain AI’s decisions. ### Channel governance Brands will still have a choice over where their products are listed, and how tightly they manage pricing and promotions across all their channels, controlling where AI can buy from. ### Commercial Guardrails By defining acceptable price floors and ceilings as well as your own fulfilment and service expectations, you can make sure there are no gaps for AI to fill in. ### Clarity across the board Keeping your brand positioning clear, your messaging tight and your product hierarchies obvious will always pay dividends with an algorithmic system. ## The Bottom Line For Amazon, Agentic AI will see them own the customer decision moment, even when the inventory sits somewhere else. For brands? The answer lies in keeping deliberate control over every element possible, from tighter boundaries and stronger governance to crystal-clear messaging. If you need expert help to make sure your brand is ready for Agentic AI – and all the other Amazon shifts coming over the horizon – our award-winning team is here for you. [Get in touch today to learn more.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/ "Get in touch today to learn more.") **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon raises the bar on on-time Vendor shipments - are you ready?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-raises-the-bar-on-on-time-vendor-shipments-are-you-ready/) **Published:** January 8, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Logistics professional reviewing Amazon vendor shipment data on a tablet beside organised packages ready for dispatch. **Content:** Amazon has lifted its on-time shipment requirement for Vendors to 95%, but the real change lies around compliance… Effective early 2026, Amazon has announced an update to its Vendor supply policies, increasing the on-time shipment threshold from 90% to 95%. But actually? Our experts see the more meaningful shift sitting a little further behind the scenes, with Amazon also saying they’ll now judge compliance based primarily on your Advance Shipment Notifications (ASNs), not its own internal signals. And that change is one sure to quickly expose any weaknesses in your processes, data accuracy or operational speeds. ## What’s changing From January 19th 2026 (for reporting) and February 25th 2026 (for charging): - The on-time shipment requirement increases from 90% to 95%. - Amazon will assess performance using ASN data. - Two chargeback types are being merged: - Purchase order not on time - And PRO / BOL mismatch. - And the non-compliance chargeback remains at 3% of the purchase cost of goods Also, how “on time” is defined will now depend on your freight type: - WePay (Collect): will be measured by freight-ready date (freight must be ready and picked up within the ship window). - Prepaid: will be measured by the scheduled arrival time (appointments need to fall within the PO delivery window). ## Why it matters This change fundamentally shifts accountability onto Vendors, making your own systems the source of truth. And if your dates are wrong, late or inconsistent, you’re risking Amazon assuming non-compliance – and charging accordingly. This raises the bar across the board, covering everything from internal lead times, ASN accuracy and EDI reliability to the performance of your carriers and the responsiveness of your warehouse. After all, at 95%, there’s far less margin for error, and far more need to make agile decisions fast. ## Where you could be most exposed The biggest risks we’re seeing include: - ASNs submitted late or with inaccurate dates. - Slow internal processing between PO receipt and warehouse action. - Prepaid shipments using carriers that struggle with slot availability. - Delays in routing requests for WePay Vendors. - EDI setups that aren’t fully aligned with operational reality. ## What you should do now It’s time to tighten the basics: - Treat ASN accuracy as non-negotiable. - Review your lead times and internal handoffs to remove any lag. - Audit the performance of your carriers, not just their cost. - Submit routing requests (for WePay) immediately. - Audit your EDI setups, making sure dates, documents and flows are accurate end to end ## Most importantly? And if you can’t ship on time? Cancel early. As long as cancellation happens within five days of the shipping window opening, there’s no charge, while shipping late almost always costs more. ## Key dates for your diary - January 19 – February 24 2026: Defects reported for visibility only - From February 25 2026: Defects invoiced and chargebacks applied ## The Bottom Line Vendors need to see this as more of a strategic shift than a tougher target, because adjusting will require accounts to run faster, cleaner and with strong data discipline. Those with robust ASN processes and aligned operations? They’ll be the real winners, while those without might find they feel the pinch quite quickly. If you need support to review your Vendor ops, EDI setup or chargeback exposure ahead of these changes, [our expert team is here to help – click here to book a call today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [Connect with our Head of Vendor, Travis Chappell, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BvrS3akvBQ2mroPOfx5DItg%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Amazon stock should be your first thought in 2026](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-amazon-stock-should-be-your-first-thought-in-2026/) **Published:** January 23, 2026 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon stock planning underpins sustainable growth, protecting visibility, momentum, and performance in 2026. **Content:** You can’t sell what you don’t have. But the impact of out-of-stock on Amazon runs far deeper than missed orders… Lots of failed Amazon growth plans don’t simply crumble under the pressure, they unravel quietly through stock decisions that leave customers empty-handed – something always duly noted by the retail giant. And unlike elsewhere in retail, when your Amazon availability drops, the algorithm responds quickly, suppressing discoverability and weakening performance signals in ways that make it tough to regain both organic and paid momentum when stock returns. As our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BLAkOTIT8Rg%2B1%2B4S%2Be3a6CQ%3D%3D) explains, “In the Amazon world, one week out of stock will cost you six weeks’ worth of sales because your visibility and velocity will drop.” But worryingly? It’s still one of the most common pitfalls our experts see brands not planning for. ## Why it matters for 2026 Those of us well versed in the world of Amazon know that this isn’t a forgiving time for those looking for an easy ride – margins are tight, competition is intense and marketplace success depends on being relentlessly on top of the fundamentals. The brands that will win through 2026 and beyond will be the ones who run Amazon as a rigorously commercial channel, doing every element exceptionally well – and your inventory should be right at the top of the list. *“Amazon stock can’t be the afterthought, it has to be the first thought.”* *Emma Pickard, Head of Seller at Venture Forge* Why? Because if your stock runs out, Amazon will actively reset your performance. Rank slips, impetus stutters, ads lose their efficiency, Buy Box share weakens. So what are the biggest “don’ts” to watch out for, and what should your brand be doing instead? ## Where brands go wrong Most brands who struggle with stock planning do so because they’re treating it as something to “manage afterwards” and focusing first on other growth targets. For brands with an Amazon presence though, it’s a costly disconnect that leaves you vulnerable when demand spikes or your own supplies tighten and/or makes you less agile and able to react. Worse, some brands aren’t properly aware of just how punishing out-of-stocks can be on the marketplace, treating them more as short-term blips rather than the performance resets they actually are, with the potential to affect your Amazon account for months to come. The most common stock-related mistakes we see include: - Forecasts that don’t account for demand signals. - Inventory planned for “average weeks” rather than peak seasons. - Media plans that aren’t aligned with supply constraints. - Slow internal decision-making when demand spikes. - No clear ownership over Amazon availability. Each one increases your chances of running out of stock, and extends the recovery time when you do. ## How to do it right If Amazon is a priority channel for you in 2026, now’s the time to move stock to the top of your planning list so you can build your strategies around resilience rather than reaction. In real terms? That means: - Forecasting based on demand signals and velocity as well as revenue targets. - Aligning your inventory decisions with promotions, launches and media activity. - Stress-testing your availability around peak periods. - Creating clear ownership and paths for escalation when stock risks appear. - Measuring availability as a commercial KPI rather than something operational. The idea is to make sure that, even if risks do appear, you’re prepared for the unexpected – and agile enough to respond rapidly. ## The Bottom Line Availability is a key part of your strategy on Amazon, and the brands that treat their stock as foundational are the ones that can consistently protect their visibility, velocity and momentum. If you’d love to stay ahead of the curve and make sure your brand never spends months recovering ground you already held, our experts can help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). And for more growth insights for 2026? Don’t miss our upcoming Beyond the Listings episode – dropping at 10am on January 29th, we’ll be breaking down what a real Amazon growth plan looks like this year, from stock and forecasting to media, NPD and team structure. [Register for first access here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/strategic-growth-on-amazon-your-2026-plan?utm_source=LinkedIn) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Best strategy to launch New Product Development on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/best-strategy-to-launch-new-product-development-on-amazon/) **Published:** May 29, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Launching a new product on Amazon? Learn expert strategies to ensure success. **Content:** How to successfully launch a new product onto the marketplace? A question with no straightforward answer, we put it to our expert panel in our recent Live Q&A and the discussion was well worth diving into… Covering all angles, we posed the question of how you can best launch new product on Amazon to our Seller ([Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert/)), Vendor ([Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/)) and Amazon Ads ([Jake Browett](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-browett-21555343/)) experts – and this is what they said… ## The Seller view Becca begins NPD launches by first getting a really strong understanding of the foundations – the category, the competition and the context. By taking a long hard look at the category and gaining a good understanding of the key players, you’ll know what kind of RRP to set to be competitive. You’ll also be able to see how you can use your uniqueness – whether that’s your product or your selling position. ### And then? - Go in hard – be aggressive with Vine, be aggressive with your pricing. - If your product is eligible for subscribe and save, look to drive as many signups as possible with vouchers. - Implement a “really heavy” ads strategy in support of your efforts. In terms of your own expectations, Becca suggests you aim for breakeven or a loss for at least the first three months if you’re pushing hard on growth – then adapt your strategy for margin after. ## The Vendor perspective From a Vendor point of view, Ant said his approach would “not be too dissimilar” to Becca’s – but wanted to stress the importance of knowing exactly what you’re trying to achieve with this NPD before you put any strategy in place. Different objectives will call for different approaches – so determine what you’re looking to achieve, whether it’s driving profitability, pushing turnover, stealing market share or something else. And make sure your NPD is going to deliver against what you need. If not? Don’t launch. “You need to know what good looks like.” Ant emphasised. ### And then? - Nail the basics – content must look good, copy must read well, all must be fully optimised. - Engage Vine. - If you’ve got an existing product with good visibility you can link to, make use of it. - Use discounts – it’s always good to have the visibility of Best Deals on your side. - With all that in place, drive sales with ads. But the key to success for Ant is knowing exactly what you’re aiming for, right from the start. “It all has to play into your strategy to deliver what you need it to deliver for you.” ## The Amazon Ads Boost And how would our award-winning Amazon Ads mastermind Jake Browett approach the PPC side of the strategy? “Ads are the last piece of the puzzle,” he advises. “You need to get the foundations right before – the product needs to be retail ready, getting those reviews, that social proof needs to be spot on, content needs to be really good. “And it’s really important with NPD to evaluate the customer journey and the digital shelf on Amazon, making sure you’re putting a product in the market which customers will buy over some of the competition – so whether that’s competing on value or value proposition.” ### And then? As with all advertising on Amazon, there are a number of strategies depending on your objectives, but… - Focus initially on upper funnel strategies for your NPD to build brand awareness, looking to Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display formats with rich content like video and/or banner ads with custom messaging – it’s really important to put your new product in front of people. - Determine early on the main keywords you’re going for – then separate out the key 3 to 5 from your main strategy and do a big push on them. - Get your product in the right placements, don’t go too broad in the early stages. ## Ready to dive deeper? There’s even more value in [this 7-minute snippet](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_whats-the-best-way-to-launch-npd-on-amazon-activity-7192069877686259712-MffI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios) that our CEO Andrew Banks posted to LinkedIn – including the importance of ensuring your internal structure is also aligned to support your NPD launch. Want to chat through with our experts? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Are Amazon Shortage Claims getting you down? Another hot topic from our recent Q&A, we’re seeing lots of frustration with Sellers and Vendors receiving chargebacks and shortage claims from Amazon – sometimes multiple times on the same invoice. ## Our advice? As Vendor expert Ant Finch says, “Amazon is Amazon”. Their processes won’t change, so the key isn’t about changing your submission processes to try and mitigate how those chargebacks and shortage claims are being applied – it’s to solve the root cause. We’ve talked a lot recently about the importance of plugging profit gaps within your business and ensuring you’re not leaking profits from your back-of-house operations in the first place ([head to question 6 of this blog](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/)) – and our stance hasn’t changed. Even a great chargeback recovery service [like ours](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) can only recover a percentage of your claims. And, though that boost to your depleted profit line is helpful, it’s better to plug the leaks where they’re occurring. As our CEO Andy Banks says, “If you plug the gaps, your money stays in your P&L from the outset”. Struggling? Our specialists can give you the guidance you need to identify your underlying issues. And, with our “no win, no fee” shortage and chargeback recovery service, we can put some of your lost profits back where they belong. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to find out more. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Brand Licensing in 2026: Make Control your Competitive Advantage](https://venture-forge.com/blog/brand-licensing-strategy-2026/) **Published:** December 18, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Brand licensing strategy needs governance, aligned content and visibility so Amazon AI understands you. **Content:** As Amazon becomes more automated, AI-led and portfolio-driven, licensed brands need execution with structure… As 2026 sees us venture ever further into a world of AI-curated discovery, automated ads and outcome-led measurement, the brands who win will be the ones with clarity, consistency and disciplined governance. And that raises a hard truth for many licensed brands. After all, if your marketplace presence is split across multiple licensees, with inconsistent content, disconnected ads and unclear ownership, then Amazon, driven increasingly by AI, will struggle to understand your brand – and your performance will suffer as a result. The answer? It’s a brand licensing strategy designed to take control, and put the commercial advantage firmly back in your own hands. ## Why are Licensed Brands so exposed on Amazon now? With AI increasingly deciding which products surface, automation optimising campaigns behind-the-scenes and data measurement moving past ROAS to higher-level outcomes, the issue for licensed brands is that these are all systems that don’t respond well to a fragmented presence. Instead, they reward brands that present a single, coherent version of themselves – with consistent data, aligned execution and clarity across ASINs, Stores and campaigns. Traditionally, licensed brands sit outside this type of structure, with multiple partners, product ranges and even interpretations of their brand standards. And without a clear central framework, they risk: - Inconsistent content and messaging - Disjointed Storefronts - Uncoordinated launches and promotions - Diluted brand equity - And missed growth opportunities ## A new approach to Brand Licensing in 2026 This is why we’ve chosen this as the perfect moment to launch our new Brand Licensing Service, designed to meet all the challenges of this next phase of Amazon. ### How does our Brand Licensing Service work? Rather than treating Amazon as a series of disconnected seller accounts, we sit at the centre; aligning licensors and licensees around one disciplined, data-led framework. For licensors, that means: - Clear visibility by brand, category and licensee - Stronger governance and enforceable standards - Protected IP and reduced unauthorised selling - Portfolio-level performance insight And licensees benefit from: - Faster launches - Clearer approval pathways - Stronger commercial backing - Scalable growth aligned to licensor objectives [Learn more about our Brand Licensing Service here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-brand-licensing/) ## The Bottom Line With unified execution a must, 2026 is the year for Licensed Brands to: - Audit how consistently your brand appears across Amazon - Identify where execution is fragmented across licensees - Strengthen data, content and Storefront alignment - Put governance in place before AI-led systems scale further - And treat Amazon as a portfolio, not a set of accounts Our Brand Licensing Service is built to help your brand do just this – offering the control, clarity and alignment you need to win not just through 2026, but beyond as Amazon continues to evolve. [To learn how our team of experts can help you create the right structure and frameworks for consistent, sustainable growth, get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon success stories: A year on Amazon in 3 success stories](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-success-stories-2025/) **Published:** December 16, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** These Amazon success stories show how strategy, content and ads drive growth across Seller and Vendor brands. **Content:** From iconic IP to global brands, these client results show exactly what a great Amazon strategy can deliver… Through 2025, we’ve been thrilled to work with a whole host of brilliant brands at different levels of Amazon maturity, delivering great results for everyone from global licensors and established household names to performance-driven Sellers and complex Vendor ops. And what we’ve seen (as always!) is that success on Amazon comes down to one thing – structure. To win on the world’s biggest marketplace, you need real commercial rigour, vision and clarity; clear objectives, disciplined execution and strategies built for long-term performance. To give you a taste of what that looks like, here’s the tale of a year at Venture Forge through the lens of three very different brands with one consistent outcome – Amazon growth that’s measurable and scalable. ## The Amazon Ads Case Study: Paddington™ Working closely with STUDIOCANAL KIDS & FAMILY, we were tasked with elevating Paddington™’s Amazon presence, helping to translate this simply iconic global IP into tangible commercial performance on the marketplace. With a brief that centred on building a fully immersive Amazon Storefront that represented the brand’s 3 core pillars (Classic Paddington, TV Paddington and Movie Paddington), we also needed to develop a strategy that maximises licensee visibility and performance. ### The Results In a clear example of how brand storytelling, structure and performance thinking can coexist – and scale – on Amazon, we achieved… - 2,543x increase in sales - 20M+ Amazon Ads impressions - 409% growth in ad sales - 578% brand growth - 37x increase in new customers *“Venture Forge’s strategic approach to Amazon Ads elevated our brand’s visibility and engagement, driving exceptional growth. Their expertise in optimising ad performance and brand positioning delivered outstanding results, expanding our audience and maximising sales impact.”* – ***STUDIOCANAL KIDS & FAMILY*** [***Read the full case study here***](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/paddington/) ## The Seller Case Study: Kodak Batteries UK Kodak Batteries UK came to Venture Forge with a dual objective – to drive significant revenue growth while keeping TACoS tightly controlled, and to build stronger customer retention alongside acquisition. The strategy we created focused on incremental growth over cannibalisation, with everything from repeat purchase optimisation to B2B discounts and continuous performance management in the mix, all combining to deliver outstanding results. ### The Results Showing just how powerfully a strategy based on sustainable expansion and retention can unlock growth – without sacrificing profitability – we achieved: - A 27% increase in total revenue - 23% growth in units sold - 11% increase in Q4 seasonal sales - 2pp uplift in conversion rate - 806x growth in Subscribe & Save *“Venture Forge’s expertise in Amazon strategy and data-driven growth provided the perfect balance of expansion and profitability. Their structured approach to brand scaling, customer retention, and performance optimisation made a tangible impact, delivering sustainable success for our business.”* – ***Kodak Batteries UK*** [***Read the full case study here***](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/kodak-batteries-uk/) ## The Vendor Case Study: Instant Pot Brands Instant Pot Brands came to us to deliver a content-led transformation across their Amazon listings and Storefront, all aligned to a refreshed global brand identity to be rolled out across 5 key EU marketplaces. And the challenge here wasn’t just creative consistency – though clearly that was crucial – it was also the need to build content that was truly performance-driven, and able to scale across marketplaces, while freeing internal teams to focus on strategy. ### The Results In a clear showcase of exactly how content discipline drives commercial performance on Amazon, across the optimised listings we saw… - A 20% increase in product visibility (Glance Views) - 15% increase in units sold - 12% increase in conversion rate One hero product even saw a +197% uplift in glance views and +379% growth in units sold, with no increase in ad spend! *“Venture Forge delivered exactly what we needed. Strategic content at scale, executed quickly and to a high standard. Their team became a seamless extension of ours, helping us roll out consistent, high performing content across five markets. We are excited for the future and seeing what additional successes we can achieve together with Venture Forge.”* – ***Instant Pot Brands*** [***Read the full case study here***](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/instant-pot-brands/) ## The Bottom Line What can we learn to take into 2026? Well, these brands might differ in size, sector and selling model, but their results point to the same conclusion: - Brand without structure doesn’t scale - Performance without discipline doesn’t last - And Amazon growth is strongest when strategy, content, ads and operations move together Outcomes like this come from commercial clarity, rigour and execution, all built to hold up under scale. And this is where our award-winning team excels! [So, if you’re planning your next phase of marketplace growth, get in touch today to discover exactly what’s possible when Amazon is done right](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is your CPC problem down to your Product Detail Page?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-cpc-problem-product-detail-page/) **Published:** December 12, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** High CPCs often reflect weak PDP conversion. Fix relevance, imagery and A+ content first to lower costs. **Content:** Rising cost-per-click is often blamed on the market, but weak product pages are often the real culprit… When Amazon CPCs rise, lots of brands turn to the same explanation, blaming more competition, higher bids, tougher categories and Amazon’s increasing prices for the problem. But as Venture Forge Paid Ads specialist [Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3B0eOdZ6LlS7C7L42fhCxI8Q%3D%3D) points out, it’s an assumption that often misses the mark… Why? Because Amazon’s Ads system is ruthlessly logical, looking to reward relevance and conversion. So when your Product Detail Page (PDP) is underperforming, the algorithm compensates – by making traffic more expensive. And that means that high CPCs are often more of a symptom than the root cause. ## The Real Root of your CPC issue? If your PDP isn’t built to convert, no amount of bid management will fix your CPCs. And brands that focus only on bids and budgets when they should be optimising can end up paying more for the same traffic, seeing diminished returns on Sponsored Products and mistaking the feedback they’re getting from the algorithm for market pressures. But the truth is that a strong PDP doesn’t just boost your conversation rates – it will directly influence what Amazon is charging you to acquire that traffic in the first place. This is because Amazon evaluates Ads on relevance and expected performance, and when your PDP is weak, the system responds by increasing CPCs to offset the lower probability of conversion – it can even reduce efficiency on campaigns that are otherwise well-structured. ## What to fix before touching your Bids So what should you do first to change the situation? Here are 5 quick fixes that can make all the difference: - Make sure your PDP is as relevant as possible, with titles, bullets and attributes that clearly match the intent of your shoppers. - Use imagery that sells: strong hero images, clear, benefit-led visuals and lifestyle context are all proven to boost engagement. - A+ Content isn’t decoration, it converts. Think of it as a performance driver that supports buyer decisions. - Make your value proposition clear, with benefits, use cases and differentiators that are immediately obvious. - Be consistent across your Ads and PDPs, because misalignment between ad messaging and on-page content kills conversion, and that raises CPCs. ## The Bottom Line If your PDP doesn’t convert, Amazon will charge you for it. So, before blaming the market or increasing your bids, take a look at your fundamentals first – relevance, clarity and conversions – because in many cases? It’s the fastest way to bring CPCs back under control and restore the efficiency of your Ad campaigns. Want our expert help to create and implement a winning Amazon Ads strategy that will drive you to all-new heights in 2026? Our Paid Ads experts are waiting – [get in touch today to book a call with the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow Paid Ads specialist Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3B%2BepvEBTLSNG2F%2BgzGPzW4w%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Amazon AI Advances you should be scaling in 2026](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-ai-advances-2026/) **Published:** December 10, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s AI is reshaping discovery, ads and measurement; brands must prioritise clean data and clear goals. **Content:** Amazon AI advances 2026 are shifting how shoppers discover products, how ads are optimised, and how success is measured. From AI-led product recommendations through automated campaign management to deeper, simpler measurement, 2025 has seen the Amazon landscape move at a pace towards a more guided, less manual ecosystem. And as we move into 2026, the question isn’t whether AI will shape brands’ performance, it’s which of the latest shifts matter the most – the ones where your focus should go first. Here are the Amazon AI advances our experts have their eyes firmly fixed on… ## AI-led Product Selection Bye-bye manual comparisons – tools like Rufus and Help Me Decide show exactly where Amazon is heading, and it’s towards an ecosystem where shoppers will let Amazon choose for them based on their past behaviour, preferences and context, rather than searching through listings themselves. ### Why it Matters Rufus has already reached hundreds of millions of users and is driving higher conversion rates, while Help Me Decide reduces comparison overwhelm for shoppers with its “best match” products based on buyer signals – and this means that visibility and discovery are in a whole new ballpark. ### The New Parameters In an increasingly AI-curated world, it’s about whether Amazon’s systems can understand and categorise your products well enough to recommend them to the right people – calling for clear product data, consistent attributes and language that reflects how customers are using your products in real life. [*Read more about what Rufus tells us about today’s shoppers here*](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-rufus-ai-shopping/) ## Conversational & Contextual Shopping And with voice search in the mix too, these new shopping journeys are reliant on natural language over keywords, with your potential customers framing their searches as questions as opposed to search queries and letting Amazon interpret their intent. ### Why it Matters Products surface differently under a conversational lens. If your listings rely purely on keyword optimisation, you’re running the risk of them being sidelined in favour of those that clearly explain who the product is for, what problem it solves and how it fits into real-life use cases – all markers that AI will use to work out the best choice for a customer. ### The New Parameters Brands need to optimise for how people speak – and again, this calls for clarity and completeness in terms of product data, backed by reviews that demonstrate your products’ relevance to your buyers. ## The Automation of Amazon Ads From Campaign Manager to Ads Agent, the tools announced at unBoxed are all designed to make AI the heart of advertising for Amazon brands, with a heavy emphasis on reducing manual set-up and increasing system-led optimisation. ### Why it Matters As the operational burden of Ads shifts inexorably to machines, brands’ competitive advantage moves too – away from tweaking bids towards setting the clearest of objectives, the most robust of guardrails and the best of inputs as the AI’s basis for optimisation. ### The New Parameters Success now comes down to strategy, clarity and rigour. Brands in 2026 need defined commercial goals, clean data and real, disciplined structures to make sure the new AI tools are optimising towards the right outcomes for them. [*Read more in our Blog: “AI, Automation and the New Ads Era”*](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-unboxed-2025-ai-automation-the-new-ads-era/) ## Streaming TV Ads – from Reach to Outcomes Amazon Ads executives have signalled a move towards outcome-led Streaming TV (STV), where success is measured on sales, sign-ups and revenue, not just impressions, reach or frequency – and alongside this, new advances in contextual targeting are set to allow STV ads to respond to what viewers are watching in the moment. *“This shift will mean streaming TV ads will compete for performance as well as brand budgets…”* Phil Christer, Managing Director Amazon Ads UK ### Why it Matters These advances position STV as a performance-driving lever rather than a brand awareness channel, meaning it can now compete for budgets traditionally ringfenced for lower funnel activity. ### The New Parameters Brands will need clearer business objectives, better integration between STV and other Amazon formats and measurement frameworks that can link their exposure to real commercial impacts. ## Data Discipline is non-negotiable As Amazon automates more of the media process, really understanding what’s driving your incremental growth becomes harder – but so much more important. Luckily, tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) can help you do just this – helping to move past surface-level attribution and grasp the true value of your spend using event-level data. ### Why it Matters ROAS alone can’t explain whether ads are creating new demand or simply capturing existing intent – and without insights into incrementality? The risk is that you’ll scale your spend, without scaling your business. ### The New Parameters It’s all about being rigorous in terms of how you measure your success. Proving incremental impact, understanding cross-channel influences and validating your NTB growth will be essential to sustainable, confident growth in an ecosystem largely automated by AI. [*Learn more in our Blog: “Why Incrementality is the Amazon Ads Metric you need”*](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/) ## 5 things brands should focus on now - Make your product data easier for AI to understand through proper structuring and clear, consistent content. - Define your commercial North Stars, and use them to guide AI tools. - Make sure your strategies are full-funnel, not just dictated by format. - Strengthen how you measure success so you can prove real impact. - Treat AI as an enabler and growth tool, not a shortcut. Heading into 2026, control is shifting away from manual decision making for buyers and brands alike, and the brands that win out will be the ones who recognise that these new systems reward clarity, structure and discipline. Love to get your strategies ready for the AI ecosystem that’s already taking shape? [Speak to our award-winning experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Ads Execs on 2026: The Shifts Every Brand Should Plan For](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-ads-execs-on-2026-the-shifts-every-brand-should-plan-for/) **Published:** December 8, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ads 2026 trends from Amazon execs, covering creativity, streaming TV outcomes and AI optimisation. **Content:** Amazon Ads execs have lifted the lid on 2026, revealing the shifts that will reshape how brands advertise and grow… These insights come from the top, with both Phil Christer (Managing Director Amazon Ads UK) and Kate McCagg (Global Head of Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab) [outlining their expectations for the coming year to Channel X](https://channelx.world/2025/12/amazon-ads-execs-share-2026-predictions/). For brands, these insights point to a more connected, data-led and creatively rigorous future for Amazon Ads, with 3 key themes standing out: - Creativity driven by audience insight. - Streaming TV Ads success measured more by business outcome than traditional metrics. - AI will redefine campaign optimisation behind the scenes. Let’s dig a little deeper, and explore the moves your brand can take now. ## The evolution of Amazon Ads Amazon’s ad ecosystem continues to grow in complexity, but these expert predictions signal a move toward simplification with intent. The opportunity for brands lies in preparing early; aligning your creative with audience signals, building measurement frameworks that go deeper than just ROAS and treating AI as an operational advantage. ## But what key shifts are predicted? ### Customer insight will drive creative (not just validate it) > *“The ‘science’ of media and the ‘art’ of creativity are often considered separate things. But the most compelling campaigns I’m seeing are where audience signals actually inspire the creative process, not just validate it afterward.* > > *The breakthrough moments happen when creative teams genuinely embrace customer insights because they see how it unlocks ideas they wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. When we only create from our own perspective, we’re designing for a limited audience, assuming they will like something because we do.”* > > Kate McCagg, Global Head of Brand Innovation Lab, Amazon Kate goes on to say that, going forwards, it’s important to address real customer “passion points” and potential points of friction, staying grounded in what the customer is experiencing – this way, ads seem natural when they show up, rather than something “interruptive”. ### Our Takeaway Your creative and media planning must work closely together, building your ads from real customer behaviours rather than internal guesswork. ### Streaming TV Ads (STV) are much more than reach alone Phil Christer (MD of Amazon Ads UK) is predicting a “shift to outcome-led buying” for STV, with success measured by business outcomes like sales, sign-ups and revenue, rather than more traditional metrics like reach, frequency or favourability. > *“This shift will mean streaming TV ads will compete for performance as well as brand budgets…”* > > Phil Christer, Managing Director Amazon Ads UK ### Our Takeaway If you’re investing in STV, you’ll need clearer business objectives, integration with your full-funnel strategy and measurement that links your exposure to commercial impact. *[Learn why incrementality is key for 2026 – and how to get the data you need here](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/ "Learn why incrementality is key for 2026 - and how to get the data you need here")* ### Hyper-contextual STV is set to redefine relevance Advances in contextual targeting will allow advertisers to deliver scene-specific ads, reacting in real-time to what’s happening in the moment. > *“This means that if you pause your favourite action film mid-way through a scene showing the hero chasing a villain across an exotic island, you’ll be served an ad offering flights to that location with real time prices and flight times specific to your local airport and carriers.”* > > Phil Christer, Managing Director Amazon Ads UK ### Our Takeaway This kind of contextual creative will call for more modular assets, stronger brand storytelling and a high level of readiness across your product ranges. ### AI will optimise and highlight surface patterns humans might miss The power of AI within Amazon Ads is set to have a much bigger “behind the scenes impact”, helping to pinpoint perfect audiences, improving the performance of your campaigns and optimising continuously to deliver outcomes you can measure. More useful still, because these tools are able to quickly analyse and process the vast amounts of data that a campaign creates, AI can spot patterns far faster, making real-time recommendations that will help keep your campaigns on the right track throughout. > *“This will make advanced analytics accessible to more marketers through natural language and enable them to conduct complex campaign analysis faster.”* > > Phil Christer, Managing Director Amazon Ads UK ### Our Takeaway AI has the power to have a hugely positive impact on your Amazon Ads performance, conducting analyses in a fraction of the time and helping your brand react with more agility than ever before – but think of it as an enabler rather than a shortcut. You still need to deploy sharp commercial judgement, refer to clear, north-star metrics and come up with strong creative to unlock the impact that will set your brand ahead of the rest. ## What to do now - When it comes to aligning your creative and audience insights, now’s the time to start pinning down the things your customers really care about, not what your internal team might prefer. - Prepare to measure your success on a commercial outcome basis, shifting your focus beyond ROAS\* to include sales, NTB, sign-ups and repeat behaviour. - Start building modular creative for contextual and STV formats, delivering assets which can adapt to moment-specific placements and storytelling opportunities. - Strengthen your brand’s AI readiness by cleaning your product data, refining your attribution frameworks and making sure your team knows how to interpret AI-driven insight. - And if you haven’t already? It could be time to integrate STV into your full-funnel mix, treating it as a performance driver as well as a brand-building channel. *\* [Learn how AMC can bridge the incrementality gap for your brand here](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/ "Learn how AMC can bridge the incrementality gap for your brand here")* The brands that win in 2026 will be the ones who can combine strategic clarity with creative discipline – and who are planning for performance across every touchpoint, not just the bottom of the funnel. If you want to hit 2026 with more commercial clarity, rigour and vision than ever before, our award-winning Amazon Ads team is on hand to help – [get in touch today to book a call](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Make 2026 the Year you Reclaim Revenues lost to Amazon Chargebacks](https://venture-forge.com/blog/make-2026-the-year-you-reclaim-revenues-lost-to-amazon-chargebacks/) **Published:** December 5, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Make 2026 the year you recover Amazon chargebacks, protect margin and improve cashflow with recovery. **Content:** Chargebacks are the quiet assassins of margin. But, with the right process, you can recover those lost revenues… Don’t think of Amazon chargebacks as just another cost of doing business. The reality is that a large proportion of them are recoverable – and in fact, many never needed to happen in the first place, stemming from operational issues that are completely preventable. If you’re looking to face the New Year with commercial rigour and clarity, we can help you treat chargeback recovery as a core part of your profitability planning, lifting pressure on your budgets and giving your brand a real advantage over the competition. ## One of Amazon’s least understood Cost Drains Brands struggle to grasp the complexities of chargebacks, so it’s little wonder that many just leave the topic alone. But left unchecked, these fees have the power to erode contribution margins, distort Net PPM and undermine profitability models across entire ranges. Why? Because most brands underestimate not only how much revenue they’re really losing every year, but also: - How many errors sit hidden in the system. - How preventable many chargebacks actually are. - And how much working capital leakage they tolerate without realising. Having seen this happen time after time, [last year we launched a specialist Chargeback Recovery Service](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) – built to help our clients recover revenue that would otherwise stay lost. ## How we help you Recover those Revenues Our dedicated service combines audit, recovery and prevention, offering: - Detailed account audits to identify discrepancies, missed payments and chargeback errors. - Recovery of lost revenue, bringing those funds back into your business. - Analysis of root causes including fulfilment, invoicing, prep and compliance issues. - Help with the operational improvements needed to eliminate the root causes and ensure losses don’t reappear every quarter. - Ongoing monitoring and governance to help keep your cashflows healthy. And if you’re wondering how effective it is? As one client told us: “We had no idea how much revenue we were losing in chargebacks until Venture Forge stepped in.” ## Why now’s the time to act With cost pressures rising across Vendor and Seller businesses, reclaiming lost funds is one of the fastest ways to improve your margins without changing price, product or advertising spend. And, as we head into 2026, there’s no doubt that tighter operational discipline will be key to separating the brands that scale from the ones that stagnate. ## The Bottom Line Chargebacks are more than just an operational inconvenience, they’re a real profit drain – and fixing them is one of the fastest, cleanest ways to strengthen your bottom line and free up capital for growth. So if 2026 is the year you want better margins, stronger cashflow and a tighter operational foundation? Reclaiming what you’re owed is the smartest place to start. [Get in touch today to learn more about our Amazon Chargeback Recovery service, and make sure every penny contributes to your success](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How Cranswick unlocked 81% Amazon Growth with a Full-Funnel Reset](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-cranswick-unlocked-81-amazon-growth-with-a-full-funnel-reset/) **Published:** December 1, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** How Cranswick’s pet brands achieved 81% Amazon sales growth with full-funnel reset across brand, ads and ops. **Content:** Our structured strategy across brand, ads and ops helped Cranswick transform two pet brands into Amazon leaders… Already a leading name in the pet food industry, Cranswick Pet Products came to Venture Forge with a very clear objective – to accelerate their growth across two brands at different stages, but both with plenty of untapped potential. And when we looked at the challenge? It was one that’s very familiar to us here at Venture Forge; a small, stretched team, under-optimised listings, ads that weren’t scaling, operational blockers hampering FBA readiness and a brand presence that just didn’t reflect the quality of their products. They needed a partner who could take full ownership of their Amazon strategy, reset with strong foundations and deliver growth quickly and sustainably. > *“The best part of my role is seeing our clients succeed. Together, we built and executed a strategy that delivered – huge credit to their team for backing it and making it happen.”* > > *Andrew Banks, CEO – Venture Forge* ## Beginning at the Beginning… The truth is that Amazon growth rarely hinges on one lever – brands that scale do so because their commercial strategy, content, ads and operations are working well together. Venture Forge’s role was to work closely with the Cranswick team to build that structure, maintain trading discipline and turn two underperforming brand presences into sleek engines built to drive long-term growth. After we implemented our strategy (more on this below), Cranswick’s improved performance quickly spoke for itself, with… - 81% increase in total Amazon sales - 200% growth in ordered units - 125% uplift in repeat customers - 34% increase in average order value - 70% YoY sales growth for Alpha - 100% YoY sales growth for Vitalin - 100% increase in new customers for Vitalin - 100% Buy Box win rate These results are the perfect illustration of exactly what happens on Amazon when all four areas come into alignment: stronger visibility, better customer experience, reduced friction and – most importantly – repeatable performance gains. > *“Venture Forge quickly took control of our Amazon strategy and delivered real, measurable impact. We’ve seen strong growth across both brands and now have a solid foundation for the future.”* > > *Cranswick Pet Products* ## Our Approach in a Nutshell How exactly did we deliver performance gains like this? We dive deeper into the details [in our case study here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/cranswick/), but briefly, the key to this full-funnel transformation was built around 5 strategic pillars: ### Brand Transformation We drove a complete rebrand of Alpha’s Amazon presence, from imagery and copy to A+ content and storefront design. The result was a more credible, cohesive identity – and we then repeated the process for sister brand Vitalin, creating consistency across the portfolio and lifting brand quality signifiers across the board. ### Advertising Expansion & Performance Optimisation A staged increase in ad investment was implemented, alongside a reduction in dependence on branded terms and a reallocation of budget to high-intent category keywords. Each uplift strengthened performance and broadened visibility across both brands.. ### Operational Support We worked with Cranswick’s internal teams to support FBA setup, fulfilment processes and warehouse readiness, to remove the friction points that had limited scalability before. ### Retention Strategy We helped launch Subscribe & Save to drive recurring revenue and support a stronger lifetime value model; a key driver behind the uplift in repeat customers. ### Proactive Trading Support We monitored underperforming lines, launched tactical promotions and responded quickly to performance trends on the marketplace. And the result of this new strategy? A more consistent, better structured and commercially driven Amazon operation. [*Read more in our dedicated case study*](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/cranswick/) ## The Bottom Line Cranswick’s is a story about the real, positive impact of a well-structured Amazon strategy – a tale of what happens when brand, performance, trading and operations move in perfect sync. With the right foundations and ongoing discipline, these two pet brands haven’t just seen accelerated growth, but they both now stand on foundations that will help them continue to scale, consistently and profitably on Amazon. To read more of this and other client success stories, [head to our Case Studies page today](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/). And if you’d love to see what we could achieve for your Amazon brand? Our team of experts is waiting to talk – [just click here to book your call](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Incrementality is the Amazon Ads Metric you need…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-incrementality-is-the-amazon-ads-metric-you-need/) **Published:** December 3, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Why incrementality matters for Amazon Ads performance and how AMC reveals the true value of your spend. **Content:** And how to use AMC to measure it! Because ROAS alone can’t tell you whether your ads created new demand… For years, Amazon advertisers have relied on campaign-level metrics to gauge their performance on Amazon and while this is obviously useful, it’s not actually complete. Yes, traditional PPC reporting does show you what happened after your spend was deployed – the clicks, the conversions and the ROAS. But it trips at the hurdle of one of the most important commercial questions; “what would have happened if we hadn’t spent that money?” This is the incrementality gap – and it’s where Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is a gamechanger. Here, inspired by this post from [Venture Forge Paid Ads guru Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3B%2BepvEBTLSNG2F%2BgzGPzW4w%3D%3D), we explore how to quantify your incremental impact, and how those stats combine with your attributed impact so you can confidently judge the true value of your media mix. ## Why it Matters Without knowing whether those new sales would have happened whether you’d just spent on Ads or not, your brand risks: - Over-investing in tactics that inflate ROAS but don’t grow your business. - Under-investing in mid and upper-funnel activity that drives long-term scale. - And misreading your performance data because your attribution is too narrow. ## What AMC makes possible As Elfie points out, AMC gives you the tools to shift your reporting from performance to proven business impact. Because it connects signals across Sponsored Ads, DSP, audiences and conversions, you can use its event-level, privacy-safe data to bridge the incrementality gap and reveal real cause and effect – analysing in a way that’s just not possible inside the standard ads console. **With AMC, brands can:** - Measure incrementality by comparing exposed vs. unexposed audiences, helping to determine whether spend truly creates new demand. - Analyse cross-channel “halo effects” to understand how DSP, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products influence each other along the path to purchase. - Map multi-touch journeys, identifying the sequences of ad exposures that happen before a conversion. - Pinpoint inefficiencies and cannibalisation, spotting where spend captures demand that may have converted without paid media. - Test sequencing strategies, evaluating which combinations of ads move customers from first exposure to final purchase. - And validate new-to-brand performance, using clean-room data to assess which campaigns genuinely drive first-time buyers. ## What should you do now? ### Start measuring incrementality, not just ROAS Use AMC to understand what each pound of spend genuinely adds. ### Analyse audience journeys Identify which combinations of DSP, SB and SP move your customers through the funnel. ### Test media sequences Discover which order of exposures drives the highest incremental conversion. ### Reduce cannibalisation Spot campaigns that just harvest demand that’s already there, as opposed to generating new growth. ### Invest more confidently in Amazon Ads Use your AMC findings to scale the activities that are genuinely delivering you sales, not just good attribution numbers. ## The Bottom Line Incrementality is the metric that separates efficient advertising from genuinely effective advertising – and AMC has the tools you need to measure it properly, no guesswork needed. For advertisers serious about growth? We think it’s one of the key foundations of a smarter, commercially sharp media strategy. Need support to drive true impact from your Amazon Ads strategy? Our award-winning Paid Ads team is on hand to help – click here to get in touch today. ## Useful Links - [Follow Paid Ads specialist Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3B%2BepvEBTLSNG2F%2BgzGPzW4w%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon DSP hits new heights - and so should your strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-dsp-hits-new-heights-and-so-should-your-strategy/) **Published:** October 7, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon DSP advertising strategy essentials: scale reach, refine targeting, and drive measurable growth. **Content:** Amazon Ads now offers full-funnel advertising at scale, fuelled by first-party data no other platform can match… At this year’s Amazon Upfront UK event, one headline was crystal-clear: Amazon Ads has hit unprecedented scale. Now reaching over 22 million UK viewers (up 15% year-on-year), Prime Video’s ad-supported tier is allowing advertisers to access a massive 8 in 10 UK households through Amazon DSP. And for brands, that’s not just reach – it’s reach with intelligence, with DSP able to integrate signals from streaming, shopping and buying behaviour and combine them with exclusive inventory across Prime Video, Twitch and thousands of premium publishers. ## So what’s new? Alongside this expanded scale, Amazon is also pushing hard into interactive and shoppable formats, including interactive pause ads, which let customers discover and connect with brands when they take a break from streaming, and interactive video ads that let viewers click to learn more or add to cart without leaving their stream. Do they work? Well, US data from leading brands like giffgaff, Lenovo and Nestlé reported a 30% uplift in brand awareness and a 36% uplift in orders for campaigns that included interactive formats than those without, so there certainly seems to be potential. With Amazon confirming that they’re developing generative AI capabilities to make these video ads experiences even more relevant, these are definitely “watch this space” innovations. The retail giants are also extending programmatic buying into live sport – from the UEFA Champions League to the NBA on Prime – making premium audiences even more accessible to advertisers. And with Fire TV Channels launching in the UK next year? Ad-supported reach is only set to grow. > *“We’re helping to transform how brands connect with consumers by delivering full-funnel advertising at scale that brings together unmatched reach, audience signals, innovative ad tech capabilities and measurable performance – all in one place.* > > *With exclusive supply and access to more premium publishers than ever before, all fuelled by Amazon’s trillions of streaming, shopping, and buying signals, we’re making it easier for brands to connect with their consumers wherever they are in their viewing and shopping journey.”* > > *Piers Heaton-Armstrong, vice president of Amazon Ads Europe* ## Why it matters for brands With Amazon also revealing that audience engagement increased more than 25% in monthly ad-supported viewing hours compared to the same period last year, we think the opportunity for advertisers here is twofold: - Scale + signal: it’s a chance for the right brands to get unparalleled access to engaged audiences with the power of purchase intent baked in. - Format innovation: these are interactive, measurable ad formats designed to blur the line between entertainment and commerce, opening up a pathway to stronger engagement. But the challenge – as ever! – lies in your strategy. With so many tools now available to brands, and with budgets under pressure, those that win out will be the ones who plan their full-funnel mix with perfect precision. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s DSP now covers most of the UK household landscape, but brands will need more than scale alone to secure success. That’s why our award-winning Amazon Ads team is focusing on creating super-smart strategies that drill down with precision targeting and deliver creativity and relevance in a measurable way – making sure that every ad impression adds commercial value, not just visibility. If you’d like help building a high-performance Amazon Ads strategy that leverages this new reach while protecting your ROI? Our experts are ready to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Has your Seller account been moved to 0-Day Handling time?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/has-your-seller-account-been-moved-to-0-day-handling-time/) **Published:** October 27, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s 0-day handling time rollout affects Seller operations. Learn how to stay compliant and protect metrics. **Content:** In a move missed by many, Amazon is moving some Sellers to 0-day handling – here’s what you need to know… ## What’s changing Amazon has notified some “esteemed sellers” that their Default Handling Time will switch from 1-day to 0-day for FBM and Easy Ship orders from 27 October 2025, meaning that: - Orders received by 11:00am (default): must ship the same day. - Orders received 11:00am-06:00am (next day): must ship the following day. But don’t panic! You can still override your handling times at ASIN level for products that need longer. ## Why it matters, and who’s affected This shift matters because it increases the risk of late shipment spikes (if you fail to meet same-day cut-offs), avoidable cancellations (when your ops can’t keep up with the pace) and operational strains over carrier collection windows, weekend cover and pick/ pack capacities. These effects also come with potential costs for you as the Seller, whether that’s through new Amazon charges if you can’t cope with the new timeframes or loss of trust from buyers whose products don’t turn up when they’re told to expect them. But if your ops can support it? The pro is that 0-day shipping can be a real win for conversions. And because you have to set your preferences by SKU, it means you can separate out those you know will be able to cope. ### So does it affect you? - Yes – if you’re one of the FBM (Seller-Fulfilled) or Amazon Easy Ship service users that have been selected and notified. Time to check your emails! - No – if you use FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon). **Important: if you are affected, it’s up to you to change it back where you need to.** ## What to do now 1. Check your emails to confirm if your account is affected. 2. If yes, audit your catalogue, tagging SKUs that can truly meet a same-day cut-off vs those that can’t. 3. Set ASIN-level handling times for items that will cause you problems. 4. Align your shipping templates and lock in your carrier operations. 5. Tighten your picking and packing, prioritising same-day waves and adding earlier cut-off times for orders where needed. 6. Update order-cut-off in Seller Central if 11:00am is unrealistic for your operations. 7. Monitor metrics like Late Shipment Rate, Cancellation Rate and VTR daily so you can act before thresholds are breached. 8. And create a fall-back where you temporarily raise handling time at ASIN level to protect your account health. ## Where to edit handling times To tweak those times back to where they were, go to: - Seller Central → Manage All Inventory → Edit (per SKU) → set SKU-level Handling Time. ## The Bottom Line This shift could be good news for conversions where you can support it – but where you can’t. Our advice is not to risk your account health, setting ASIN-level handling times and cut-offs that are tuned to what you can deliver reliably. Need expert help to uplevel your logistics and keep your account in great health? [Our team can help – click here to get in touch.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [EPR Fees are changing in 2026 - Here’s the lowdown you need](https://venture-forge.com/blog/epr-fees-are-changing-in-2026-heres-the-lowdown-you-need/) **Published:** November 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** From 2026 Amazon’s EPR Pay on Behalf fees become fixed per category, helping you forecast margins accurately. **Content:** From 1 Jan 2026, Amazon is simplifying its EPR Pay on Behalf fees and shifting to fixed annual costs per category… This new, less complex fee structure for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Pay on Behalf service is good news for brands across the UK and Europe – but first, a quick recap. ## What is the EPR Pay on Behalf Scheme? If you use Amazon’s EPR Pay on Behalf service, it means that Amazon handles your EPR obligations; registering, reporting and paying your environmental fees for you. And until now, the cost has included: - A fixed annual fee per category, and - In some countries, an additional 3% variable fee. ## What’s changing? From 2026, the variable element disappears – Amazon is moving to one fixed annual fee per EPR category, with no percentage-based charges. The new fee structure is: United Kingdom - £20 per EPR category/per year Belgium, France, Italy, Spain - €25 per EPR category/per year In some markets, it does mean a tiny increase (€0.01) – but the 3% variable fee that previously applied in Spain and France will be gone. If you’re in the scheme, you don’t need to do anything unless you choose to opt out of Pay on Behalf. ## Why it’s good news EPR compliance isn’t optional, and the consequences for non-compliance are heavy – from de-listing and suppressed listings to blocked shipments. By shifting to fixed, predictable fees, brands will have a clearer control over their environmental compliance costs, especially for multi-category catalogues, and it also removes the variability that has made cost forecasts harder in some EU markets. For brands with complex portfolios, this is an opportunity to build cleaner, more accurate cost models for 2026 and understand exactly how EPR influences margins per ASIN, landed costs and the profitability of your catalogue as a whole. ## Some things to consider… Fixing the fees makes things simpler for brands, but the overall commercial picture is still complex. Brands still need to understand: - How many EPR categories their catalogue covers - The real margin impact for them across UK + EU markets - Whether Amazon Pay on Behalf or self-management is more cost-effective - And how and where their EPR fees intersect with pricing, contribution margin and Net PPM This is particularly relevant for brands operating across packaging-heavy categories or with products that span spanning multiple EPR classifications. Here’s a quick “do now” checklist: - Audit your EPR category footprint so you know which products fall under which category; packaging, WEEE, batteries, textiles etc. - Model the impact on your margins at a category-level, so you can build the fixed fees into your forecasts. - Decide whether to stay on Amazon Pay on Behalf. If you prefer to self-manage, you’ll need to opt out and provide valid ERNs. - Review your international expansion strategies, because EPR remains a barrier to EU scaling. - Strengthen your internal compliance governance, ensuring ownership for EPR reporting, cost monitoring and product classifications. ## How to opt out of the EPR Pay on Behalf Scheme If you want to manage EPR yourself? Submit your EPR Registration Number (ERN) through: - Account Health → Manage your Compliance → Submit compliance information. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s EPR changes make costs more predictable, but it’s still a complex landscape for brands that calls for clear governance, accurate category mapping and strong financial modelling. If you need support? Our Amazon experts can help you build strategies that help you expand internationally while protecting your margins – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Could a love for Sponsored Products limit your Long-Term Growth?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/could-a-love-for-sponsored-products-limit-your-long-term-growth/) **Published:** November 26, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Relying on Sponsored Products alone caps Amazon growth; full-funnel ads build resilience, equity and performance. **Content:** Yes, Sponsored Products deliver strong ROAS. But without full-funnel thinking? They can hinder performance too… It’s easy to see why Sponsored Products (SP) remain the default starting point for Amazon Ads for many advertisers – they’re predictable, they’re measurable and they often deliver the strongest ROAS in the short term. But as our own [Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3BPW88yC%2BNRwqKfxvTAB%2Bp9w%3D%3D) (Paid Ads Specialist) highlights, leaning too heavily on Sponsored Products can create a ceiling on your growth, causing your performance to plateau. Why? Because over time, an overreliance on SP campaigns limits your reach, narrows your audience mix and erodes your ability to build brand equity on Amazon. And it’s in the high-traffic periods, from seasonal events to launches and peak category moments, that this vulnerability gets exposed the fastest. When the competition ramps up, SP performance can quickly become more expensive, less efficient – and less able to deliver gains on its own. ## A future-ready strategy needs diversification What too many advertisers forget is that Sponsored Products are only one part of the equation. Brand-led growth on Amazon requires a balanced, full-funnel approach; one that warms your audience, protects your visibility and expands the reach of your catalogue to shoppers at all stages of intent. And it’s here, [Elfie says](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164_amazonadvertising-amazonppc-performancemarketing-activity-7398637315738312704-8NOk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), that Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Amazon TV (STV) come in too. These formats increase discoverability, build memory structures and lift conversion not just today, but over time, offering the kind of diversification that helps your brand futureproof its presence as the marketplace gets ever more competitive. ## How to think about Ads Diversification You can see it like this: ### Sponsored Brands (SB) These are your bridge between performance and brand building across the whole customer journey. A format that’s now matured to offer multiple campaign objectives and deeper integration into Amazon Marketing Cloud, Sponsored Brands have the ability to turn single-ASIN selling into a broader brand experience by: - Showcasing your range under one creative banner. - Driving traffic to your Amazon Store. - Increasing Average Selling Price (ASP) through multi-product exposure. - Strengthening brand trust at the point of consideration. ### Sponsored Display (SD) Perfect for recapturing interest, scaling your retargeting and protecting share against competitors, SD helps brands influence mid-funnel shoppers and defend your spend against high-intensity bidding environments. ### Sponsored TV (STV) Amazon’s streaming inventory is great for cost-efficient, brand-building at scale – a brilliant way to prime audiences long before they enter your conversion funnel. ## The Bottom Line Sponsored Products remain essential, but they can’t carry your long-term growth on their own. If you want to build brand resilience, scale and equity on Amazon, it’s time to diversify your ad mix, investing in upper and mid-funnel formats and using Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display to reach customers SP never touches. If you need support to build a stronger Amazon Ads strategy, our award-winning PPC team is here to help you unlock sustainable, profitable growth. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [“Help Me Decide” - How to get ready for Amazon’s Next AI Leap](https://venture-forge.com/blog/help-me-decide-how-to-get-ready-for-amazons-next-ai-leap/) **Published:** November 24, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Help Me Decide reshapes discoverability, data, strong reviews, and AI-ready product content. **Content:** The new “Help Me Decide” tool can reshape how products are chosen – and how we think about discoverability… Now live in the US store, Amazon’s latest consumer-facing AI leap is “Help Me Decide”, a one-tap assistant that picks out the “best” product for the buyer based on their browsing, buying and behavioural signals. Removing the need to manually compare products themselves, “Help Me Decide” analyses: - Items they’ve already viewed - Their past search behaviour - Their purchase history (and trends therein) - Any patterns from their preferences - And contextual signals, like family size, recent categories browsed It then recommends a single product deemed most suitable, alongside a clear rationale that highlights relevant features and customer reviews as well as why the product works for the potential buyer based on their past purchases and preferences. There’s also the option to view two alternatives – an upgrade and a budget pick. Less comparison and more delegation, this is Amazon using AI to dial buying friction right back, collapsing all the decision-making into a simpler, guided process based on the customer’s unique data. ## An example… How does it work in practice? Say a shopper has been comparing air fryers for a few days. They’ve viewed a few larger models, filtered for “easy to clean,” read reviews mentioning family-size cooking and recently bought oven trays and silicone liners. Help Me Decide might recommend a dual-drawer air fryer, explaining that: - It matches the family-sized portions indicated by their browsing. - The reviews highlight simple cleaning and dishwasher-safe baskets. - Dual drawers offer more flexibility than other products they’re viewed. - And it’s a good fit for the cooking habits suggested by their recent purchases. Alongside it, the AI might suggest an upgrade with smart presets and app control and a budget pick with fewer features but a similar capacity. ## Why it Matters This is a whole new layer of AI-driven discoverability for brands. The tool decides which products surface first, which brands get recommended – and which listings become invisible when customers rely on AI to make the decision for them. And because the assistant weighs behavioural signals alongside product content? The brands that win will be those with: - Strong, structured data. - Clear, complete product detail. - Reviews that back up the product’s relevance. - A consistent history of performance. - Listings written for human language, not just keyword matching. It’s another shift that moves towards optimising for understanding as opposed to search alone. ## The opportunity (and the risk) Help Me Decide uses LLMs to interpret what a customer signals about their intent and then reconcile it with your product data, reviews and content. The risk is that, if your listings aren’t clear enough, or they’re incomplete or inconsistent, you could be excluded from the recommendation set. The opportunity is that, for those whose products are optimised to show their relevance, with well-structured data, clear language and customer proof, there’s a much stronger chance of being selected as a “best match” for your product type. This makes AI optimisation a critical commercial priority, especially as it looks like Amazon will continue to lean further and further into guided buying experiences. ## What brands should do now Think of this as your non-negotiable AI optimisation checklist as you prepare for a wider rollout across Amazon stores: - Strengthen your product data, making every attribute machine-readable, understandable and complete. - Optimise for natural-language queries, because Help Me Decide uses conversational logic. - Leverage your reviews, because authentic customer language helps reinforce relevance for LLMs. - Optimise your detail pages with clean titles, clear benefits, strong imagery and precise feature explanations – all of these influence AI rankings. - Analyse cross-ASIN behavioural signals to understand how your catalogue fits together for customers, because Amazon’s AI certainly will. ## The Bottom Line “Help Me Decide” is a big acceleration in Amazon’s shift towards AI-curated shopping, where your customers are asking Amazon to choose rather than comparing the products themselves. And this is a whole new challenge for brands, meaning they need to stay visible for an AI assistant that will only recommend what it can clearly understand and “trust”. The brands who continue to surface as these innovations roll out? They’ll be the ones who invest now in great, well-structured data, clear content and AI-ready optimisation. And if you want your brand to be one of the ones staying visible from the start? [Our expert team is on hand to help – get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Smarter AVNs, Stronger Margins - Meet our New AVN Playbook](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-avn-playbook-annual-vendor-negotiations/) **Published:** November 20, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prepare smarter for Amazon AVNs with our practical playbook to protect margins and negotiate confidently. **Content:** Our must-have resource helps Amazon Vendor brands prepare with precision and negotiate from strength… For any Vendor, your Annual Vendor Negotiations (AVN) are one of your biggest profit levers – yet too many still approach them with incomplete data and/or no clear strategy and/or a lack of commercial alignment across the business. ## The AVN Playbook As Venture Forge CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) says, the most successful Vendors don’t treat AVNs as a meeting – they treat them as a year-round governance exercise backed by data, scenarios and internal alignment. And so our experts have created our new AVN Playbook: a practical, commercially-sharp guide that’s built on the exact structure, modelling frameworks, negotiation tactics and governance processes we use to gain success for our client brands. Inside, we break down everything from how to prepare with the data, detail and precision you need to how to push back, protect your margins and secure the strongest terms you can. [Download The AVN Playbook](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/?utm_source=blog "Download The AVN Playbook") ## Why it matters Your AVN sets the foundation for your Amazon profitability for the next 12 months. The Vendors who plan early, model multiple scenarios and negotiate based on the data are the ones who consistently emerge with stronger terms, reduced trading costs and their profitability intact. Those who arrive unprepared? They’re the ones accepting terms that erode their margins long after the negotiations are over. Downloading our Playbook gives you the tools you need to make sure you’re going in from the strongest possible position. ## You’ll learn how to… In The AVN Playbook, we show you how to: - Prepare properly before Amazon issues its opening proposal, with the data and alignment you need in place early. - Understand and assess the AVN terms that have the greatest impact on margin and overall profitability. - Build structured negotiation trade-offs that protect margin and give you room to push back confidently. - Learn from real cases where brands have secured multi-million-pound gains by negotiating with evidence. - Put governance in place to track, manage and enforce every commitment agreed during AVNs. ## The Bottom Line AVNs are no simple negotiation you can walk into – they’re a vital commercial discipline you need to be fully ready for. The brands that secure the strongest outcomes are the ones who negotiate with structure, evidence and internal alignment in their corner. And The AVN Playbook has been designed to help you do exactly that; with all the frameworks, data models, tactics and insights you need to stand firm on the numbers and make sure the terms you get work well for you and your margins. [Download The AVN Playbook](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/?utm_source=blog "Download The AVN Playbook") **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor Negotiations on the horizon? Vendor Brands this is for you…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-negotiations-on-the-horizon/) **Published:** October 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Build an Amazon Vendor negotiation strategy that protects margins, uses data, and strengthens your position. **Content:** AVNs are tougher than ever, so if yours are looming? Here’s how to defend your margins with data, not guesswork. We all know that your Annual Vendor Negotiations (AVN) set the tone for your entire year, but with rising asks and shifting Net PPM, how can you secure a win for your brand? Long experience tells us that, in a scenario where co-op pressures, MDF uplifts, super-picks and returns are on the up, the Vendors that win aren’t the loudest – they’re the best prepared. ## What’s really driving the ask When it comes to your AVN, Amazon will be basing its decisions on its view of profitability (Net PPM) – so, if it thinks that your catalogue is likely to weaken its margin picture in any way, you can expect price pressure, higher contributions or tighter terms. Your job? It’s to reshape that picture with credible, quantifiable value. ## Ways to reshape the picture ### Build a case that lands You should look to demonstrate the values that Amazon won’t see without you saying – any operational wins, packaging improvements, lower return rates, reductions to chargebacks, these can all work in your favour. Make sure you’ve got the data – in numbers – to back up your claims, and tie to specific ASINs. ### Attach conditions to spend If you’re funding co-op or AVS, tie it to deliverables (placements, coverage, service levels) and timelines – don’t make open-ended commitments. ### Frame pricing changes with offsets When you must move your cost price, you need to be strategic. Show how you’ll protect Amazon’s margin, for example by refining your Subscribe & Save strategy, or improving conversions with content upgrades. ### Turn deductions into leverage Shortages and chargebacks aren’t just cash leaks\* – they’re evidence you can use. Trend data will help you show the root causes that you’ve fixed, and you can then pair recovery requests with a forward trading plan. *\** [*Want help to plug the gaps? Click here to learn about our Chargeback Recovery Service*](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) ### Never forget that the goalposts only ever move up This year’s agreement? That’s next year’s bottom line. So make sure that you create the strongest case you possibly can, back everything up with quantifiable data and don’t be afraid to argue your points to secure a better deal. ## What good looks like in the room - Lead with facts, not feelings. Anchor all your points in data – then make the ask. - Keep it ASIN-specific, so you can negotiate better terms where you’ve got the most value. - Separate short-term fixes from long-term value. Logistical clean-ups (OTIF, labelling, ASN) are near-term; range expansion, media plans and programme pilots are strategic. - Tie everything back to the Joint Business Plan by framing your proposals as commitments within it: that way, “gives” and “gets” are trackable on both sides. - Align finance and leadership before the meeting so you can arrive with signed-off scenarios you can act on. - And document everything! Capture actions, owners and dates, record decisions and then circulate a recap with owners and timelines that you can follow up later. ## Love some Expert Advice from our Vendor Team? You’re in luck! We covered Vendor Negotiation Strategies in detail last month, and the full session is available to watch on demand through [our extensive Amazon Events library](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/). [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/vendor-negotiation-strategies-navigating-the-tough-talks) An hour’s watch, in it we cover: - How Amazon’s 2025 terms are shifting across co-op, MDF, AVS and logistics programmes – what’s standard, what’s negotiable and what’s new. - The data that wins the room, exploring which metrics strengthen your case and how to present them. - Where strong brands say “yes” and “no”, and why. - Exclusivity, hybrid models and JBP alignment: when they help, how to structure them and the guardrails to set. - And internal readiness: aligning your finance and leadership teams beforehand, modelling outcomes and setting red-lines you’ll actually keep. [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/vendor-negotiation-strategies-navigating-the-tough-talks) ## The Bottom Line To win your AVN, you need two key things – disciplined preparation and a value story Amazon can’t ignore. With these in hand, you can quantify your impact, attach conditions to investment and use deduction trends as proof of operational progress – protecting your margins and earning a more productive year. And if you need specialist help to craft your case and secure a position of strength for the year ahead? [Our brilliant Vendor team is here to help – get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon introduces €100 coupon fee cap to boost promo confidence](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-coupon-fee-cap/) **Published:** November 6, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new €100 coupon fee cap gives brands more control, forecasting and stronger promo opportunities. **Content:** Amazon’s new Amazon coupon fee cap introduces a €100 limit designed to give brands more predictable promo costs heading into Q4. A timely change for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this update could strengthen your peak-season promotional planning… ## What are the new fees? Already in effect (from 5 November 2025), Amazon is: - Capping its variable coupon fees at €100 per coupon - Halving the variable rate from 1.0% to 0.5%, while keeping the €2 upfront fee unchanged Amazon says the change follows feedback from brands struggling to predict costs under its previous structure – their goal is to make promotional spend more predictable, transparent and performance-focused during the busiest retail months of the year. ## What’s the opportunity? It might seem like just a small cost tweak, but it’s more than that – it’s an opportunity to better manage your margins. With fees now capped and rates lower, it means that coupons can play a bigger strategic role within your pricing and promotional mix, with a more controlled way for your brand to stimulate demand without eroding your profitability. Amazon’s own quotes around this move also signal an intent to help brands plan smarter as competition intensifies across the platform, saying: *“In March 2025, we announced new promotion structures to help you test different promotional strategies.* *We heard that the updated coupon structures made it hard to predict costs so we made this update to provide you with more predictability and transparency.”* ## How to use this to your advantage Coupons can be really powerful levers for visibility and conversion (where used strategically), but their economics have often deterred large-scale use. T This update has the potential to change that equation – particularly through peak retail times, when deal traffic surges and basket sensitivity spikes. Used intelligently, coupons can: - Boost search and category visibility – that green “Save” badge still drives higher click-through rates, especially on mobile. - Support product launches or slow-moving SKUs, where incremental visibility outweighs the modest fee. - Enhance Sponsored Ads performance – by combining coupons with Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display, you can lift CTR and conversion together. - Feed a full-funnel strategy because, when paired with DSP or off-Amazon campaigns, coupons can create compelling re-entry points for shoppers already exposed to your brand. - Improve forecasting and control – with capped fees, brands can now model promotional ROI with far greater confidence. But, as ever, the key is intent – you should never discount for the sake of it. Coupons only deliver lasting value when they’re applied with purpose; aligned to your brand, margin and performance objectives. ## And beyond peak? While the timing is clearly aimed at easing Q4 planning, the benefits extend for future planning too. Lower coupon costs offer the chance for brands to maintain promotional momentum year-round – not just during major events – and can help to support sustained visibility and price perception without compromising margin discipline. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s decision to lower and cap coupon fees brings a welcome dose of predictability to a key promotional tool, but the brands that gain most will be the ones who treat coupons as a strategic lever, not a last-minute discount. The key to using these discounts well? Our experts always advise integrating them as part of a measured, strategic and data-led approach to your conversions and profitability. [Get in touch today to discover how our team can help you refine your promotional strategy](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) – from modelling the new coupon economics and balancing discounts with ROI to planning peak campaigns that drive performance without draining margin. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [From hype to habit: what Rufus tells us about today’s shopper](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-rufus-ai-shopping/) **Published:** November 13, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Rufus shows AI shopping is now mainstream, with shoppers buying more through conversational search. **Content:** Stats around sales through Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus show this is no longer an experiment… In the clearest sign yet that shoppers are ready for AI-driven buying, there was one standout update in Amazon’s Q3 2025 earnings call – data showing that Rufus, the in-app shopping assistant, has made the move from early trial to mainstream habit, all in a matter of months. Used by more than 250 million customers in 2025 to date, year-on-year figures show monthly users up by 140% and interactions by 210%. But more importantly, the report finds that customers who use Rufus during a shopping trip are 60% more likely to complete a purchase. And the sales figures themselves? Rufus is on track to deliver around £8 billion ($10b) in incremental annualised sales. ## The Real Story For brands, the real story isn’t the technology, it’s the behaviour. AI has gone mainstream, acting as a normalised and trusted part of how people buy. Shoppers are growing comfortable letting Rufus help them choose; asking natural questions, browsing conversationally and potentially even making complete buying decisions without leaving the Amazon environment. And that’s a shift that changes the rules of discoverability because, in a conversation-driven search scenario, brands are competing for context: with success depending on how well Rufus – [similarly to voice search tools like Alexa+](https://venture-forge.com/blog/alexa-is-here-and-voice-commerce-just-got-a-whole-lot-smarter/) – understands, categorises and recommends your products based on language, data and relevance. ## The opportunity – and the challenge Rufus might still feel basic for complex searches, but these figures show that its influence on purchase journeys is undeniable. That means that the brands that adapt their listings, content and data around conversational intent will be the ones most visible to AI-guided customers. And that means it’s time to step beyond traditional SEO and start planning for AI-ready discoverability – where product clarity, brand consistency and structured data determine what gets surfaced, not just your keywords. ## What should brands do now? If your brand isn’t already, you need to start: - Optimising for natural language, thinking about how customers ask questions aloud, not just what they type. - Strengthening product data to ensure every listing is structured, consistent and machine-readable. - Leveraging your reviews and Q&As, because the authentic customer language you’ll find here can help you reinforce relevance for AI. - Tracking your Rufus exposure, looking at how visibility and conversion come together across your catalogue. - Building conversational continuity, aligning your tone, data and messaging across Rufus, Alexa+ and search. ## The Bottom Line Rufus’ success shows that AI-driven shopping is no future forecast, it’s current consumer behaviour. As Amazon continues to embed AI into every stage of discovery, the brands that win will be those who combine structured data with strategic storytelling – the kind that helps Rufus, and every shopper, find them first. Want to strengthen your brand’s AI-readiness? Our Amazon experts can help you optimise your content, data and discoverability for the era of AI-powered shopping. [Click here to speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon UnBoxed 2025: AI, Automation & the New Ads Era](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-unboxed-2025-ai-automation-the-new-ads-era/) **Published:** November 17, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon UnBoxed 2025 reveals a new AI-driven ads era built on automation, unified data and full-funnel integration. **Content:** Returning from Nashville for Amazon UnBoxed 2025, our CEO Andrew Banks shared the major shifts defining the future of Amazon Ads. Amazon unBoxed 2025 was much more than just another product showcase – it was where Amazon unveiled its vision for the future of advertising – and it’s a future powered by AI, unified data and full-funnel automation. In his reflections from the event ([read in full here](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reflecting-amazon-unboxed-2025-turning-point-andrew-banks-pgame/?trackingId=DJR5EiOkips1s19EKB7CEA%3D%3D)), our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3B6R3CzYMbRR%2BYEcERhQwXAQ%3D%3D) described it as “a fundamental shift in how advertising on Amazon, and across digital commerce, will work”, identifying 3 defining themes: - The convergence of brand and performance, with awareness and conversion becoming one connected system. - AI as the foundation of advertising, with an infrastructure based on automation. - And Simplification as sophistication, with success built on clarity and integration over complexity. ## What stood out Andrew’s piece highlights how fast Amazon is now driving towards a connected, AI-powered advertising ecosystem – with 6 launches showing just how deep that shift runs: ### Campaign Manager At last! Sponsored Ads and DSP now sit within a single console. With one workspace, one data view and one optimisation engine, it’s a major step in unifying awareness and conversion performance. ### Creative Agent AI-generated video and TV assets built in hours, not weeks? It’s more than efficiency – it’s a faster learning loop that will reward strategic clarity and distinctive brand storytelling. ### Full-Funnel Campaigns Launching next year, these will run across display, video and streaming TV from a single setup. Amazon’s AI will handle targeting and allocation, leaving brands to define the strategic north star – whether that’s growth, profitability or market share. ### Ads Agent Natural-language campaign control, where marketers can type questions or requests directly – a sign of the coming shift from planner and operator to strategist and director, and one where the right questions will matter. ### Sponsored Video, Collections and Rufus Prompts The line between advertising and shopping is fading further and faster as ads become part of the customer journey itself – a move from persuasion to participation. ### Unified Reporting and AMC enhancements Another first, with unified dashboards and natural language analytics coming to Amazon Marketing Cloud, bringing a more complete view of performance and attribution across Amazon Ads – but still one that needs combining with insights from brands’ owned data. [*Find Andrew’s in-depth, expert take here*](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reflecting-amazon-unboxed-2025-turning-point-andrew-banks-pgame/?trackingId=DJR5EiOkips1s19EKB7CEA%3D%3D) ## The AI/ Human Line Amazon is betting on AI to manage the complexity humans can’t – which is smart. But, as Andrew says, “AI will optimise campaigns. Humans must decide what to optimise *for*.” We think the winners will be those brands who pair the benefits of these new automations with their own strong, strategic judgement and data, using AI as a partner to think better, not less. ## What should you do now? A quick checklist – now’s the time to: - Review your advertising structure, planning full-funnel, not format-first. - Define your commercial north stars based on strategy and scenarios. - Make sure you can feed AI creative tools with strong brand stories, not generic assets. - Work on connecting Amazon data with your CRM and retail analytics for 360 degree visibility. - Upskill your teams for strategy and interpretation, not just execution. ## The Bottom Line The future of Amazon Ads is connected, conversational and creative at scale. And brands that embrace AI as an enabler – balanced with disciplined, data-led strategy? They’re the ones poised to lead a new era of ecommerce media. Want to make sense of Amazon’s next wave of advertising change? Our award-winning Ads specialists can help you translate innovation into commercial impact, and place your brand ahead of the curve. [Get in touch today to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn for more expert Amazon insights](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3B6R3CzYMbRR%2BYEcERhQwXAQ%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The best way to bring order to Amazon Brand Licensing Chaos?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-best-way-to-bring-order-to-amazon-brand-licensing-chaos/) **Published:** November 4, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Brand Licensing Service improving control, consistency and growth for licensors and licensees. **Content:** Our new Brand Licensing Service is here to help licensors and licensees regain control, clarity and growth… Formally introduced at the recent Brand Licensing Europe 2025 event, our new Brand Licensing Service brings a structured approach built by our experts to help you bring unity and performance to your Amazon efforts. ## Why it Matters Amazon offers enormous opportunities for licensed brands but, without the right governance and collaboration, even the strongest IPs underperform – which is why, for far too many licensed brands, Amazon has become a fragmented space. Multiple teams and complex agreements cause confusion, inconsistent content and unauthorised resellers erode equity and trust and disconnected storefronts, limited visibility and uncoordinated promotions leave growth potential on the table. Our new service changes that dynamic. For licensed brands, Amazon success depends on structure; on connecting the dots between brand owners and their partners and transforming the platform from a chaotic sales channel into a cohesive, profitable space. So our Brand Licensing Service is designed to unify and harmonise, helping both licensors and licensees align their strategies, protect their IP and drive growth across their entire portfolio. ## How our Brand Licensing Service works ### For Licensors For licensors, the focus is control, visibility and compliance – so we help brand owners audit their presence, standardise their content and manage their licensees with clear guardrails and insights. The results? Think category-by-category performance visibility, consistent brand representation, stronger portfolio management and proactive IP protection that keeps unauthorised sellers out. #### Solutions include: - Brand Auditing – identifying gaps, enforcing governance and building consistency. - Data & Performance – unlocking better visibility and sustainable growth with reporting by brand, category and licensee. - Content Guidelines – equipping licensees with ready-to-use tools to ensure brand consistency and best practice across all listings. - Training & Support – upskill your licensees with tailored training for improved compliance and execution. - IP Protection – safeguarding your brand equity through proactive IP monitoring and infringement removal, eliminating unauthorised sellers. - Licensee Management – bringing harmony across multiple licensees and maintaining portfolio-wide brand integrity. - Store Creation – designing and managing unified Amazon Brand Stores to deliver a consistent, impactful customer experience. - Product Launches – coordinating launch strategies across licensees to ensure every ASIN is retail-ready and aligned with your standards. - Promotions & Events – aligning licensors and licensees for coordinated campaigns and launches that maximise visibility and conversion. [Read more here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-brand-licensing/) ### For Licensees For licensees, the emphasis is on both accelerated growth and stronger partnerships. We equip teams with strategies that align to licensor objectives, streamline approval processes and bring speed and scale to product launches, content and campaigns – harnessing the combined powers of Brand Registry, tailored training, paid media and conversion optimisation to drive growth faster and more profitably – keeping brand integrity intact all the while. #### Solutions include: - Amazon Strategy – creating tailored strategies aligned with licensor goals to identify opportunities and drive sustainable growth. - Licensor Liaison – streamlining communication and approvals to accelerate launches and keep growth on track. - Brand Registry – managing setup and protection to reduce risk, ensure compliance and safeguard brand equity. - Advertising & DSP – building data-driven campaigns that expand reach, capture demand and drive long-term profitability. - Retail ASINs – ensuring products launch fully retail-ready to meet licensor, Amazon and customer requirements. - Review Management – strengthening trust and reputation through proactive review strategies and feedback management. - Reporting & Insights – delivering portfolio-level visibility and analytics to guide strategic decision-making. - Chargebacks – protecting profit through proactive deduction management and process improvement. - Content Optimisation – boosting visibility and conversion with optimised SEO, imagery, A+ content and storefronts. [Read more here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-brand-licensing/) ### And for everyone? Best of all, because we sit at the centre, we can turn what has historically been a disconnected process into a commercially disciplined, data-driven partnership that benefits all involved. ## The Bottom Line Amazon can be a complex environment for licensed brands, but with the right strategy? It’s one of the most powerful commercial channels available. Our Brand Licensing Service is designed to deliver the structure you need, bringing licensors and licensees together under one disciplined framework to protect your brand equity, accelerate your growth and create lasting commercial impact across every product, partner and region. Need a hand? [Get in touch today to discuss how we can help you build control, clarity and growth across your Amazon presence](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Heading into AVN? Protect profit and strengthen your Amazon position](https://venture-forge.com/blog/heading-into-avn-protect-profit-and-strengthen-your-amazon-position/) **Published:** November 11, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover data-driven strategies to protect profit, model terms, and govern smarter in your Amazon Vendor Negotiations. **Content:** Annual Vendor Negotiations (AVN) are one of the most important milestones in an Amazon Vendor brand’s commercial calendar. Yet too often, even established brands enter discussions without a clear, data-backed plan. Amazon’s objective is simple — protect their margins. Yours should be equally clear: protect yours. At Venture Forge, we work with midsize to large enterprise brands trading over £5M on Amazon to help them prepare, negotiate smarter, and secure commercially stronger terms. **[The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/ "The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations")** gives you the data models, negotiation frameworks, and governance tools used by leading Vendor brands to protect millions in annual margin. ## Why AVN Matters More Than You Think These negotiations are not a formality. They shape your cost prices, co-op terms, payment structures, and marketing commitments — all of which directly impact your profitability. Amazon’s approach is data-driven, benchmarked, and often aggressive. Brands that enter discussions with financial models and structured trade-offs turn negotiation into opportunity. Those that don’t risk giving away hard-earned profit. ## What Amazon Will Ask For and How to Respond Amazon’s negotiation playbook typically includes requests for: - Price reductions tied to category “benchmarks” - Increased co-op or freight allowances - Extended payment terms - Marketing commitments without performance KPIs To protect your position, every response must be backed by data. Profitability models, chargeback analysis, and clear trade-off frameworks allow you to push back effectively and negotiate on equal footing. ## The Cost of Walking in Unprepared Even small changes can have significant commercial impact. A 2% reduction in cost prices or extended payment terms can erase hundreds of thousands in annual profit. Internal alignment between your Commercial, Finance, and Operations teams is critical before discussions begin — ensuring one consistent position when Amazon comes to the table. ## Preparing Your Brand for AVN Success A strong negotiation starts long before the first call. Begin with: - **Audit your P&L** — understand where margin leakage occurs. - **Analyse chargebacks** — identify patterns to challenge or recover. - **Build profitability scenarios** — know what you can concede or counter. - **Align your teams** — Finance, Ops, and Commercial must speak with one voice. This preparation turns reactive negotiation into proactive strategy — positioning your brand as commercially credible and data-driven. ## Governance After AVN The work doesn’t end when the contract is signed. Governance is what protects your profit across the year. Track invoicing accuracy, co-op spend, and Amazon’s delivery on marketing commitments. Regular reviews prevent silent margin erosion and ensure the terms you negotiated deliver the profit you modelled. **[The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/ "The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations")** includes a post-AVN governance checklist to help your team monitor, measure, and enforce commitments effectively. ## Real Results: £1.2M in Margin Protected In one recent negotiation, a leading Vendor brand avoided a 2pp co-op increase and secured Amazon-funded marketing commitments — protecting £1.2m in annual profit. By entering discussions with data-led counterarguments, scenario models, and structured trade-offs, the brand turned a potential loss into a profitable outcome. ## Access the AVN Playbook Your next AVN will define your profitability for the year ahead. The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations outlines practical frameworks, financial modelling examples, and governance strategies to help your brand prepare, negotiate, and govern with confidence. Access your copy of **[The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/ "The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations")**. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How to get better Amazon Ads results? Choose better ASINs…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-to-get-better-amazon-ads-results-choose-better-asins/) **Published:** October 23, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Better Amazon Ads results start with smarter ASIN choices. Use a data-driven strategy to improve ROAS and growth. **Content:** Suffering with poor ROAS? It’s not always a targeting problem, so is it time to look at your product selections? It sounds so simple! But you’d be surprised how often brands miss this easy fix – as Elfie Brocklehurst, Paid Ads Manager here at Venture Forge says, picking the right ASINS is half the battle. Here’s our editorial take on her playbook – and how you can turn her tips into performance. ## Why product choice trumps tinkering Another Elfie quote, “Successful Amazon advertising starts before the ad”. Basically, if you push the wrong SKU, no amount of bid tweaks will fix weak conversions, poor reviews or a flaky price point, and that’s why the best brands prioritise ad-ready products – and then optimise their media. ## How to pick ASINs that win ### Run a fast product audit Unless it’s a test, you never want to launch ads with an entire catalogue. Instead, filter your ASINS in Campaign Manager + Brand Analytics, then create a shortlist based on: - Above-average CVR and CTR for your account (using rolling 30-day baselines). - Consistent sales velocity (not just promo spikes). - Retail readiness: strong images and reviews/ratings, competitive pricing, clear bullets and optimised A+. - Operational fit: sufficient stock, margin for ads, a clean buy box. Finally, cross-check your results against the historical data to avoid one-hit wonders. ### Map your ASINs to intent – and pick the right format for your buyers Use: - Sponsored Products for SKUs that are already converting and ranking. - Sponsored Brands (incl. Video) for ranges with strong visuals, solid reviews and a clear story. Pro tip – feature the hero SKU in Video ads to anchor attention and lift CTR. - Sponsored Display is great for ASINs with the margins and dwell time to support retargeting/prospecting. Use audience refinement and test creatives to lift return visits, view-through and conversions. ### Scale with evidence, not hope Then: - Track incremental performance by ASIN + placement + objective – no guesswork should be involved at this stage! - Set guardrails (CPC ceilings, ACoS/TACoS ranges, minimum CVR) so your budgets follow the proof. - Refresh your creatives seasonally, not structurally, to protect rank while improving engagement. ### Avoid these common pitfalls Don’t… - Launch untested “whole catalogue” campaigns that let weak SKUs drain the budget. - Chase low ACoS while shrinking your total sales (keep an eye on TACoS and rank). - Retarget low-intent visitors with low-margin ASINs. - Swap your listing copy mid-peak; you risk resetting momentum. ## The Bottom Line Winning Amazon ads begins with being disciplined about your product selections. Choose to focus on the ASINs that deserve it, matching your format to buyer intent and scaling what the data proves works – this was your bid and budget tweaks have the potential for real impact. Want our award-winning Amazon Ads team to build you an Ads strategy around the true winners in your range? Our experts are ready to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [More like this? Follow Elfie on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BOOk5LiVXThqCNH0yVl5PQw%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Golden Quarter Playbook Part Two: Amazon Q4 Advertising Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/golden-quarter-playbook-part-two-amazon-q4-advertising-strategy/) **Published:** October 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Explore our Amazon Q4 advertising strategy insights to stay visible, protect ROI, and drive peak-season conversions. **Content:** With Q4 well and truly underway, our Playbook pt2 shows how to stay visible, convert and protect ROI… ## But first – Missed Part One? Here’s the foundation we built… Playbook Part One ([watch on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-winning-strategies-for-amazons-biggest-sales-season-new?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)) saw us cover the full Golden Quarter arc, from how to structure promotions and design ad strategies that cut through the noise to the ops disciplines that keep your stock (and your promises!) tight, and the post-event moves that turn seasonal shoppers into long-term customers. ## Part Two goes deeper, with a focus on Amazon Ads… And this focus is exactly where it should be, with ad costs rising and competition fiercer than ever through Q4. In this episode, our expert panel dive into how high-performing brands plan, execute and adapt in real time – without burning margin, covering topics like… - How to plan like a Pro, using past data and “always-on” planning to structure your strategy like the top brands. - Ways to warm up your audiences for stronger conversions during peak. - The real-time adjustments that will keep you competitive when CPCs surge, stock runs low and other brands push harder. - Visibility vs discounting: why owning the aisle beats cutting the price during peak periods. - Turning insights into action, using Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) data and brand metrics to truly grasp your performance, attribution and growth opportunities. ## Who it’s for, and who it features This hour-long podcast is for Seller and Vendor brands who want practical, proven tactics they can plug in with confidence and sharpen their Q4 performance. On the mic we’ve got: - [Emma Pickard](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eepickard/) (Venture Forge Head of Seller Services) - [Michael Godsiff](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-godsiff-290087163/) (Venture Forge Head of Advertising & Media) - [Josh McNeice](https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-mcneice-57b66ba7/) (Venture Forge Growth Director) - And our guest, the brilliant [Bella Monton](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellamonton/), Global Amazon Advertising Manager at Tetrosyl Group. ## Practical takeaways you can action today - Lock your structure in now; separating evergreen and Q4 campaigns, pinpointing hero ASINs and ringfencing budgets for your top search terms. - Set your guardrails, considering your CPC ceilings, target ranges for ACoS/TACoS and the thresholds that should trigger a rethink. - Build a reaction plan, because, like the most successful brands, it will help you stay agile through peak season. It’s a good idea to have bid and budget playbooks for common scenarios – from sudden CPC spikes and competitor voucher drops to stock constraints. - Make your creative seasonal, not structural, refreshing your headlines/assets for Sponsored Brands and Store without resetting the momentum of your listings. - And make sure to measure what matters so you can see when you’re winning the category, not just the day. ## The Bottom Line Q4 rewards brands that plan ahead and react fast, and Part Two of our Golden Quarter Playbook gives you the blueprint you need to stay visible when peak season peaks, protect your profitability when competition gets fierce and turn seasonal traffic into sustainable growth. [Watch now](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-part-two?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) to sharpen your ad game before the next spike – and if you’d like our team to translate these tactics into strategy for your account? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Golden Quarter Playbook, Part One](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-winning-strategies-for-amazons-biggest-sales-season-new?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Golden Quarter Playbook: Live Q&A with Amazon Experts](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-live-q-and-a-with-amazon-experts) - [Golden Quarter Playbook, Part Two](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-part-two?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Prefer to listen? Find our podcast versions here](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/beyond-the-listings/id1824290056) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [An overlooked Amazon Growth Hack? Human Connection](https://venture-forge.com/blog/an-overlooked-amazon-growth-hack-human-connection/) **Published:** September 16, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Strong relationships drive Amazon growth—building trust, collaboration, and sustainable commercial gains. **Content:** Data matters on Amazon, but never underestimate the power of good working relationships in driving real growth. Amazon runs on numbers, yes – but it’s not numbers alone that shape your outcomes. [As pointed out by our Head of Vendor, Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/travischappelluk_amazon-amazonvendor-amazonseller-activity-7373672020007469056-KEu6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), there are still people behind every portal – and the relationships you build with them? They can make a real difference to your brand’s performance. ## The benefits of great working relationships Treating your Amazon point of contact as more than just an email address or ticket system can unlock lots of advantages for your brand – think: - Advance notice about upcoming programmes and opportunities. - Clarity on the reasons behind Amazon’s requests. - Practical help and even faster resolutions when operational challenges crop up. - A collaborative partnership that supports sustainable, long-term growth. The reality? Whether they’re an advocate for your brand or not often comes down to how you choose to engage. And the brands that invest time and effort in these connections often find Amazon less transactional, and more co-operative. ## How to build your Amazon Relationship We’re not saying you need to make endless smalltalk or over-engineer every interaction – it’s just about communicating with intention. - Don’t just reach out when there’s a problem, share updates on progress and wins too – and thank them when their help has given you an extra edge. - Show that you value their perspective – Amazon teams see patterns across multiple categories and brands, and their insight can be invaluable in guiding your decisions. - Be proactive – if you know a challenge is coming, flag it early. Collaborative problem-solving always trumps last-minute firefighting. - And keep it clear, consistent and professional – reliable, constructive interactions go a long way in building credibility and trust. ## The Bottom Line In a retail landscape built on data, it’s easy to forget the human layer. But in our experience? The brands that nurture their Amazon relationships with care are the ones who end up best placed to gain context, unlock support and build a more sustainable Amazon strategy. And if you’d like some expert assistance to drive long-term, sustainable growth from outside the Amazon ecosystem too? Our award-winning teams are ready to help – [click here to get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon and Vendor tips, connect with Travis Chappell, our Head of Vendor Services](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAbDH6wjhQ9yJlo8vS8fO%2Fw%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Alexa+ is here - and Voice Commerce just got a whole lot smarter…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/alexa-is-here-and-voice-commerce-just-got-a-whole-lot-smarter/) **Published:** October 10, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Alexa+ transforms voice shopping. Build an Alexa voice commerce strategy to boost visibility and stay ahead. **Content:** Amazon’s new Echo range has the power to reshape how shoppers discover your products… The latest generation of Echo devices has landed, powered by Alexa+, Amazon’s newly upgraded AI assistant. And while the headlines focus on faster chips and sleeker hardware, the real story for brands lies in what this means for shopping behaviour. Built on custom AZ3 chips with Omnisense sensors, the new Echo range (Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11) makes Alexa faster, more conversational and more context-aware than ever before – an evolution which means that Alexa+ is now more than a voice assistant, it’s a discovery engine in its own right. ## Shopping by conversation, not keyword It’s an ultimate upgrade that’s been on the cards for a long time – Alexa+ now understands natural, open-ended questions; the kind your buyers might ask a friend, not a search bar. Instead of keyword-based results, these new devices are able to serve up curated product suggestions based on purchase history, reviews and voice patterns, and they remember context across devices too. Say your consumer starts a query on their Echo, picks it up in their car and finishes it on their phone – Alexa+ can carry the thread right through. There’s even a new on-screen shopping widget on Echo displays that lets users track orders, reorder favourites or explore recommendations – all without lifting a finger. ## What this means for brands For Amazon brands, Alexa+ represents a subtle but significant shift in how discoverability works on Amazon, with far more emphasis on voice optimisation than ever before. And how do you prepare for voice-driven shopping? Well, with the emphasis on context, conversation and completeness, we think early movers will benefit most by: - Optimising listings for broad questions and natural language, building copy that matches how customers speak, not just what they type. - Integrating question-based long-tail keywords: “Best gifts for…” or “Which brand of…” can help align listings with Alexa+’s conversational logic. - Creating bundles and add-ons: Alexa+ now recommends complementary products, opening new paths to boost AOV. - Preparing for cross-platform reach: Alexa+ integrates with third-party services like Uber, Grubhub and Fandango, so smart brands are thinking beyond Amazon alone. ## The Bottom Line As it gets ever-more sophisticated, voice commerce is set to become part of everyday shopping behaviour – and the launch of these new Alexa+ devices looks set to push that frontier faster than ever. For brands, this is a great time to futureproof your presence, refining your listings now so when shoppers start talking instead of typing, your products are ready to go. If you’d like to understand how to optimise for voice search, hone your catalogue for AI-driven discovery and/or build listings that stay visible as the retail setting continues to evolve, our experts can help you get ahead of the curve. [To learn more, get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendor Central: Smarter Pay and Shortage Claims](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-central-smarter-pay-and-shortage-claims/) **Published:** October 14, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor Central updates bring clearer shortages, smarter payments, and greater visibility for Vendors. **Content:** Two key upgrades could reduce invoice disputes and give Vendors more control over payment timelines… Amazon has rolled out new transparency features inside Vendor Central, designed to tackle two of the biggest pain points Vendors face – unclear shortage deductions and limited visibility into payment timelines. Together, these updates mark a small but meaningful shift toward greater accountability from Amazon, with Vendors gaining more data, faster dispute resolution and a clearer understanding of how operational decisions translate into financial outcomes that affect Vendor accounts. ## 1. Clearer Shortage Reasons Vendors have long struggled with vague shortage codes that left them guessing why Amazon had deducted or delayed payment, so it’s great news to find that the Invoice Management page will now display detailed shortage reasons, root causes and recommended fixes. You’ll now be able to see specific categories like: - Duplicate or overbilled invoices, where invoiced quantity exceeds PO totals. - Deleted or missed appointments, where delivery windows not met. - Product or ASIN mismatches, with catalogue errors or unmapped variants. - Late shipping, where items have arrived more than 14 days after PO due date. - Price variances, where invoiced prices don’t align with POs. Each shortage type now links to an explanation and suggested corrective action, accessible directly through the “More Info” tab. Offering the data Vendors need to interpret their Financial Scorecards more easily, the result should be less ambiguity and faster root-cause identification, which should in turn lead to fewer manual disputes – good news now that shortage disputes are limited to two years, putting the onus on Vendors to stay proactive. ## 2. Invoice Payments Report brings end-to-end traceability In Financial Reports, the second update – a new Invoices Payments Report – promises to be just as useful, allowing Vendors to: - Track every invoice and see when and how each one was paid. - Filter and analyse payments, customising by store, payee code or date range. - And export bulk data to CSVs to reconcile payments at scale. This new visibility means you can now link shortages, deductions and payment delays in one place, making it much easier to spot and solve issues like systemic overbilling, catalogue mismatches or late carrier deliveries. ## The Bottom Line For Amazon Vendors, payment transparency has long been a sticking point – so these updates represent a step towards resolving that… … they also raise the bar for internal discipline. With detailed shortage reasoning and traceable payment data available, Amazon is signalling a shift: the responsibility for accuracy is now shared. And that means that Vendors who want to protect their cashflow need to: - Tighten their catalogue data to avoid ASIN and product mismatches. - Align their invoicing and shipping schedules with PO accuracy. - And use the new reports proactively to spot recurring defects before they compound. But the ultimate reward for smart Vendors? Cleaner ops, more accurate data and stronger financial governance. If you want to understand how to turn these updates into gains for your Amazon business, our Vendor experts are on hand to help you take full advantage – [speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Your Go-To Hub for Amazon Expertise: Live & On-Demand](https://venture-forge.com/blog/your-go-to-hub-for-amazon-expertise-live-on-demand/) **Published:** September 19, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Events Hub, your go-to space for live learning, on-demand webinars, and expert-led growth insights. **Content:** Our events hub isn’t just a list of sign-ups – it’s a free resource jam-packed with value for you… If you’re looking for the answer to that niggling Amazon question? Chances are we’ve got just what you need in [our Events hub](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/), an online space where you can access links to all our upcoming sessions – plus replays of past webinars. Designed to make sure you can catch up on the insights you need, when you need them, here’s just a taster of what you’ll find… ## What’s Coming Up: Golden Quarter Playbook – Part Two **When: Thursday 30 October 2025, 10:00 AM (GMT)** It’s that time of year again! The winter peak has the power to make or break your Amazon sales, and of course, at the heart of it all sits your advertising strategy. So, in this 1-hour live session for Sellers and Vendors alike, our panel of experts will be sharing top tips and proven tactics on how to structure, optimise and manage your campaigns during Q4 to protect your ROI and maximise results. ### You’ll gain… - Insights into campaign structures that convert under peak-season pressure. - Real-time optimisation tactics you can adapt when it matters most; and - An insider perspective from a leading female brand representative on navigating Q4 challenges. ### On the Panel - Emma Pickard (Head of Seller Services, Venture Forge) - Mike Godsiff (Head of Advertising & Media, Venture Forge) - Josh McNeice (Growth Director, Venture Forge) - Guest expert – Bella Monton (Global Amazon Advertising Manager, Tetrosyl Group) Spaces are limited, so act now to secure your spot. [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-part-two) ## Did you miss it? Vendor Negotiation Strategies – Navigating the Tough Talks **When: Recorded September 2025 (available now on catch-up)** Our September event was all about Vendor negotiations – and it’s a timely topic because right now? These conversations are more challenging than ever, what with rising co-op demands, shifting Net PPM and tougher terms across both logistics and returns. This 1-hour session unpacks how leading Vendor brands are approaching negotiations today, full of practical strategies to protect your profitability and strengthen your Amazon relationships. ### You’ll gain… - A breakdown of the biggest shifts in Amazon’s Vendor terms this year across co-op, MDF, AVF and logistics. - The key data points that give your brand leverage in negotiations – and how to use them properly. - How exclusivity, hybrid models and JBP alignment can help secure stronger outcomes. - First-hand insights into what other brands are pushing back on, what they’re not – and why. - Guidance on getting finance and leadership aligned before you enter the room. ### On the Panel - Andrew Banks (Venture Forge CEO) - Travis Chappell (Venture Forge Head of Vendor Services) - Guest expert – James Prewitt (Head of Ecommerce, Paladone) - Guest expert – Chris Khoo (Director, KhooCommerce) [**WATCH ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/vendor-negotiation-strategies-navigating-the-tough-talks) ## Evergreen Insights: Mastering Amazon’s Biggest Sales Events for Maximum Seasonal Sales **When: Recorded May 2025 (available now on catch-up)** From Prime Days to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon’s major shopping events aren’t just bursts of discounting – they’re high-stakes commercial moments that can shape your revenue trajectory for the entire year. In this session, our expert panel explored how to prepare, execute and capitalise on Amazon’s biggest sales windows, with all the insights you need to make the most of your seasonal performance – and then sustain your growth long after the event ends. ### You’ll gain… - Actionable advice on building seasonal sales plans that balance pricing, inventory and promotion. - Winning ad tactics designed to help you rise above peak-season competition. - Post-event strategies to turn one-off shoppers into long-term customers. - And real Q&A questions from brands facing the same challenges you are. ### On the Panel - Andrew Banks (Venture Forge CEO) - Travis Chappell (Venture Forge Head of Vendor Services) - Rachel Blackburn (Venture Forge Senior Account Manager) - Guest expert – Antonella Argenziano (Co-Founder & CEO, AMZ North Star LTD) [**WATCH ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-amazons-biggest-sales-events-for-maximum-seasonal-sales) ## Your very own Amazon Knowledge Library Whether you can join us live or catch up on demand, our events are built to give Amazon brands practical, commercially-sharp insights you can put to work straight away, with every session designed and delivered by our specialists – people who spend every day inside the marketplace. The result? A whole treasure-trove of knowledge that’s designed to keep your brand ahead of the curve, with expert advice that’s grounded in real-world experience, not theory. Better still? It’s all available for free – in a way that suits your schedule. Use the links below to take a look at what’s coming up, explore past sessions, and make sure your team has the strategies it needs to stay ahead. ## Useful Links - [Find our Events master page, with all upcoming and on-demand events, here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/) - [Sign up for Golden Quarter Playbook (Part 2) here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/golden-quarter-playbook-part-two) - [Watch “Vendor Negotiation Strategies: Navigating the Tough Talks” here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/vendor-negotiation-strategies-navigating-the-tough-talks) - [Watch “Mastering Amazon’s Biggest Sales Events for Maximum Seasonal Sales” here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-amazons-biggest-sales-events-for-maximum-seasonal-sales) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [A Masterclass in Strategic Vendor Scaling with Trends UK](https://venture-forge.com/blog/a-masterclass-in-strategic-vendor-scaling-with-trends-uk/) **Published:** October 2, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** See how our Amazon Vendor scaling strategy helped Trends UK achieve 46% YoY growth and stronger margins. **Content:** A 46% YOY sales lift, 30% growth in POs, #1 category spot and stronger margins? Here’s how… When leading toy and arts brand Trends UK partnered with our award-winning team, their ambition was clear – they wanted to strengthen their Vendor position, to increase their sales and to build a sustainable foundation for future expansion. The results have been nothing short of exceptional, seeing them exceed the original targets with 46% year-on-year sales growth, grow their purchase orders by 30%, improve NetPPM by 17+ points and hit the No.1 category spot for their key product – preparing all the while for further international growth into Amazon Germany. ## Focus on… Our Approach What’s the secret to such a spectacular outcome? It all comes down to finding the sweet spot of commercial clarity and disciplined execution. When you’re scaling a Vendor account, you don’t want to be relying on short-term spikes. You need to be making every move count, for your sales, for your margins and for your market share. That’s why our experts built a rigorous framework around 5 key pillars: - Ads that deliver – We scaled ad investment while keeping ACoS below 20%, using data-driven targeting and precise optimisation. - Owning key retail moments – Backed by tailored deals and high-impact creative, we helped Trends UK drive strong month-on-month uplifts through Amazon events, seeing an average 78% month-on-month growth across Prime Day and Black Friday. - Super-smart catalogue expansion – Launching new SKUs to reinforce category dominance and honing in on products with potential; achieving category dominance with #1 category placements for Paint Pop Paint Sticks. - Content that converts – Strengthening SEO, imagery and A+ content so it was better able to drive discoverability and foster trust. - Optimising Vendor Terms – We helped Trends UK negotiate better terms and secure AVS support to enhance their profitability. [*Read the full case study here*](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/trends-uk/) ## What it meant for Trends UK The beauty of these types of transformation is that they’re both commercial and operational, leaving brands with stronger fundamentals all round to support sustainable growth. Here, with a clear strategy and firm framework in place, the Trends UK team could make decisions faster, invest better and plan further ahead. And by effectively connecting their paid media performance with real retail outcomes? They’ve built a repeatable model for category dominance; one that’s scalable, measurable and aligned with long-term growth. ## The Bottom Line This case study proves what we tell every Amazon brand – performance follows process. By combining commercial rigour with smart, creative execution, Trends UK didn’t just hit their targets – they redefined what good looks like in their category and set their brand up for even greater results going forwards. If your brand wants to achieve the same as Trends UK and scale profitably while strengthening brand position, our team would love to help you build a winning strategy too – [get in touch today to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Read the full Trends UK Case Study here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/trends-uk/) - [Browse our entire Case Study bank here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [From Chaos to Control: The Amazon Playbook for Licensed Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-amazon-playbook-for-licensed-brands/) **Published:** October 16, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Expert insights from Venture Forge’s CEO Andy Banks on how licensed brands can take control of Amazon. **Content:** ## How licensed brands can bring structure, collaboration and profitability to Amazon At Brand Licensing Europe 2025, Venture Forge CEO Andy Banks took to the stage to share a message that resonated across the licensing industry: Amazon can be chaotic for licensed brands — but it doesn’t have to be. For licensors and licensees alike, Amazon represents huge commercial potential. Yet, it’s also a complex and fragmented channel where brand ownership is unclear, pricing is inconsistent, and control often feels out of reach. Andy’s session, *From Chaos to Control – The Amazon Playbook for Licensed Brands*, explored how licensing teams can take back control of their Amazon presence, strengthen collaboration, and drive measurable growth. ## The Challenge for Licensed Brands on Amazon Amazon plays a critical role in the licensed sector — driving visibility, awareness and sales across multiple categories. In fact, Venture Forge’s analysis of the top 20 licensed brands on Amazon UK revealed more than £333 million in annual retail sales. But that growth comes with challenges. For many licensed brands, Amazon is an ecosystem of fragmented content, competing sellers, and inconsistent brand representation. Common problems include: - No single owner of the brand experience across Amazon. - Multiple resellers driving price erosion and profit loss. - Inconsistent listings and creative standards that confuse customers. - Uncoordinated advertising efforts where licensees compete against each other for the same keywords. The result? Missed opportunities, wasted ad spend, and diluted brand equity. ## Three Steps to Move from Chaos to Control ### 1. Control Drives Performance Licensors should own and understand their Amazon presence in detail. That means clear oversight of who’s selling what, how products are priced, and how the brand appears to customers. Establishing proactive control ensures sales data is reliable and brand equity protected. ### 2. Unify the Brand Experience Customers don’t think in licence silos — they shop by brand. Unified brand storefronts, consistent content and coordinated advertising create a seamless shopping experience that boosts conversion and loyalty. As Andy shared, brands like JCB that align categories under one storefront deliver a far stronger customer experience. ### 3. Use Data to Lead Strategy Real-time reporting and marketplace data are key to smarter decision-making. From understanding category opportunities to monitoring price erosion, data empowers both licensors and licensees to make commercial decisions that drive profitability and growth. ## The Paddington™ Example To show what’s possible, Andy highlighted Venture Forge’s work with STUDIOCANAL KIDS & FAMILY on the Paddington™ brand. Starting with fragmented listings and inconsistent presentation, the team created a unified brand storefront and coordinated advertising strategy that brought all licensees together under one cohesive brand experience. The results speak for themselves: - 2,500x growth in key product sales. - 37x increase in new-to-brand customers. - 570% uplift in brand awareness on Amazon. - Over 20 million Ad impressions delivered. A clear demonstration that structure, strategy and collaboration drive results for both licensors and licensees. ## Taking Control of Your Amazon Channel The Amazon opportunity for licensed brands is significant — but real success requires alignment, visibility and commercial discipline. At Venture Forge, we help licensed brands take back control, building unified Amazon strategies that deliver measurable growth, structure and profitability. Learn more about our Brand Licensing Services: **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Game for Amazon Ads](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-the-game-for-amazon-ads/) **Published:** September 30, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** AI is reshaping Amazon Ads—enhancing strategy, creativity, and performance through smarter automation and insight. **Content:** AI is definitely helping Amazon brands and businesses go faster, but there’s still value in a human touch… [New research from Amazon Ads](https://advertising.amazon.com/en-gb/library/news/smb-ai-research) shows that nearly 70% of UK SMEs are already testing or using AI tools in their advertising – and 87% believe it’ll be a key support factor in their growth over the next few years. And clearly, there’s good reason to think like this because those that are using AI are enjoying: - Less time spent on manual tasks like reporting and creative. - Faster campaign delivery with auto-generated visuals and copy. - Improved performance predictions using first-party data. In fact, Amazon estimates that AI could give SME marketers back 5.5 hours a week – that’s around 30 working days a year, a massive return of valuable time. ## But it’s not just plug and play It sounds super-exciting but you guessed it, the reality is a bit more complex. The research also found that: - 35% of respondents said they feel overwhelmed by the number of tools available. - 43% were “excited”, but didn’t know where to start; and - 30% admitted to feeling like they were “faking it” when using AI tools. Crucially, when it comes to final decisions, trust still sits with humans – and in our opinion, that’s exactly how it should be! AI just can’t fully handle things like creative approval, budget allocation and cultural nuance. ## So what can we take from this research? If you’re already running Amazon Ads, or starting to scale them, here are the practicalities to take from this information: ### Review your current processes Which parts of your ad workflow are eating up the most time? Can AI help you by streamlining the likes of reporting, testing or creative builds? ### Test, don’t just adopt AI tools everywhere are getting stronger fast, but there are always limitations that call for human input. Never just implement and run with it – always start small, test everything and make sure you’ve got the results you want in the bag before you roll out to a wider audience. ### Stay close to your data AI can help interpret the numbers, but it’s on you to say what matters. If you’re chasing lower ACoS but losing organic visibility? That’s for you to flag. ### Maintain strategic oversight Let AI do the heavy lifting on execution, but stay hands-on with things like budget allocation, creative angles and brand positioning – these still need human experience. ### Build internal knowledge If your team is saying they “feel like they’re faking it”, it’s time to make sure they know how to use AI properly – before you lose your competitive edge to those picking up these tools in a smart way. Invest in training or work with specialists if you need to, because it’s important. If your team is “faking it,” that’s a flag. Invest in training or work with a specialist — because knowing how to use AI well is now a competitive advantage. ## The Bottom Line AI is absolutely unlocking more performance with less legwork – but it’s no silver bullet. Knowing when to trust automation and when you – or the experts – should step in is just as crucial as it’s always been. And if you’re looking for that specialist help? Our award-winning Paid Ads team is here, ready and waiting to help you blend machine efficiency with sharp commercial strategy. [To learn more, get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon US pilots new Virtual Multipacks for 3P Sellers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-us-pilots-new-virtual-multipacks-for-3p-sellers/) **Published:** September 2, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Virtual Multipack pilot gives US Sellers a simple way to boost sales, test demand, and grow. **Content:** Selling in the US store? Amazon’s pilot for virtual multipacks could boost AOV without any changes to your ops… Already available for Vendor products, Amazon is piloting a new Virtual Multipack feature for US-based 3P Sellers, giving brands a way to offer multi-unit listings without changing their operations. Instead of physically bundling items, Amazon creates a new variation ASIN from your existing single-pack inventory – which they then fulfill as normal. And for brands? It means no new packaging, no operational changes – but the chance to test multipack demand without paying any extra fees. ## How will the Pilot Scheme work? Going live on Amazon US on 13 October 2025, Amazon is using an automated process to select ASINs for the scheme (you can’t manually join or opt in to the pilot at the moment), and will be focusing on FBA brand-owned products with “strong customer demand for multi-unit purchases”. If your ASINs are chosen for the Pilot: - Amazon creates virtual multipack listings on your behalf. - They’ll appear as part of the same variation family as the single-pack ASIN. - All listings will be created by the 26th of September 2025. - To “maintain quality standards and prevent errors”, Amazon will validate all virtual multipacks that they create during this pilot to verify successful detail page generation. If there’s an error, they’ll automatically remove the affected virtual multipack both from your “Manage All Inventory” page and the pilot programme itself – you don’t need to take any action. - Virtual multipack SKUs appear as part of your product’s variation family, marked with a VMP\_ prefix in Seller Central. - The virtual multipacks will be made available for purchase on 13 October 2025 – detail pages and virtual multipack images will go live then too. If the pilot is successful, expect to see this roll out further – both within the US and to International stores too. ## And assuming it rolls out, what’s in it for brands? It’s essentially a great way to meet multi-unit demand, without adding SKU complexity or packaging time onto your teams’ workloads. Brands will benefit from: - Higher basket sizes, with no extra effort. - Increased visibility through added variations. - Quickly see whether multipacks are a good move for your business. - And no operational impact, because Amazon handles listings and fulfilment ## The Bottom Line With the caveat that Sellers need to keep an eye on how their listings operate and not put complete trust in Amazon, we think this has great potential for Sellers – making it easier to meet your customer’s buying behaviours and boosting sales with minimal effort required. If multipacks are a win for your product line? This one’s worth watching for sure. And if you need any support with your setup or strategy for selling on Amazon US? [Get in touch with the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Second Chance Deal Days: What It Means for Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-second-chance-deal-days/) **Published:** September 5, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Second Chance Deal Days marks a shift toward resale, sustainability, and growth for brands. **Content:** Amazon Second Chance Deal Days has officially wrapped—and while it delivered great discounts, the real story is strategic. Running from 3–8 September 2025, the event signals Amazon’s growing focus on resale, sustainability, and circular commerce. ## Not just a new Promo format Why do we say that? We see this as a clear strategic move from the retail giants – one based on structuring and scaling Amazon’s resale operations. After all, more than 30 million second-hand items are already available through Amazon UK, and with cost of living, selection and sustainability all fuelling buyer demand? This event was about unlocking that behaviour at scale – putting serious promotional weight behind a growing customer trend and building trust while doing it. ## What’s the upside for Amazon? Let’s cover this quickly here, because it always pays to have a grasp on what Amazon sees as a win from every scenario. The upside for the marketplace from pushing second-hand sales is: - It’s a powerful place to meet demand from value-driven shoppers in a tight economy. - It presents more ways to extend product life and reduce waste; a clear nod to circular economy goals. - And it offers a structured route to monetise returns without damaging customer experience or impacting on delivery speeds. And how about for Brands? The pros and cons for brands are where it gets a little more nuanced, and might call for some creative thought. ### The upsides - Better sell-through of returns can boost your margins, especially for categories with high return rates, like fashion or consumer electronics. - Second-hand visibility might bring new, value-led customers to your brand, building long-term awareness among those who might never have purchased from you otherwise. - Participating in resale is great for both ESG and circular economy goals and messaging. ### The trade-offs - Deeply discounted resale listings may undercut full-price product sales, especially without clear messaging. - It’s unclear how (or if) brands will get visibility into the resale lifecycle of their products – which raises commercial questions around attribution, pricing strategy and assortment planning. - Resale presence can dilute premium positioning if it’s not managed properly. ## What should Brands do now? Amazon hasn’t confirmed if Second Chance Deal Days will return, but this felt like a pilot with intent. So we’d say it’s a smart time to: - Audit your returns process – are there SKUs that could be made resale ready with just a light refurb? And if so, what operations do you need to put in place to make that happen? - Model the potential impact on your pricing strategy. Where might resales affect or undercut new sales or pricing perceptions, and how can you reduce the impact? - Start thinking circular, especially if your D2C site – or your competitors – are already leaning in. - Plan for future events – because if this does become a regular fixture, you’ll need strategies around stock and messaging with commercial guardrails in place. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s “Prime Day for Pre-Loved” is a sign of what’s coming – a resale economy with structure, marketing and growing customer appetite. Our take? Those that treat it like a new retail lever – and prepare accordingly – are the ones that will find themselves ahead of the curve when Second Chance rolls around again. If your brand wants to make the smart move and get resale-ready on your own terms? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Shopify, Walmart, SHEIN: Amazon’s Next Big US Step for MCF](https://venture-forge.com/blog/shopify-walmart-shein-amazons-next-big-us-step-for-mcf/) **Published:** September 26, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s MCF expansion is redefining logistics, helping brands streamline operations and accelerate global growth. **Content:** Amazon’s MCF (Multi-Channel Fulfilment) is levelling up again, extending support to these 3 popular platforms in the US… Beginning, as ever, with the US market, the retail giant has announced expanded support for merchants selling on Shopify and Walmart now, with SHEIN to follow before the end of 2025. Building on existing integrations with eBay, Etsy, Temu and TikTok Shop, the move means these merchants can run one shared inventory pool through FBA, with Amazon handling pick, pack and ship for these non-Amazon channels too. The advantages are obvious – less operational complexity, faster launches into new channels and a more consistent customer delivery experience. And, with the move likely to be rolled out internationally in due course, it’s also worth noting Amazon’s stats – citing benefits like lower out-of-stock rates (–19%), improved turnover (+12%) and average sales uplifts of nearly +19% for those integrating MCF into off-Amazon channels. ## Should you get prepared – and how? Even assuming your brand isn’t US-based, this move is a clear signal of where Amazon’s fulfilment strategy is heading. But the lesson here isn’t just “use MCF” – it’s more nuanced than that, based more on being operationally savvy and with the necessary know-how to understand whether it’s the right move for your brand. ## Here’s what we think smart brands should be doing now: ### Model the impact on your margins MCF might simplify ops, but don’t forget the fees. Run the numbers now so you know whether multipurpose fulfilment supports your profitability. ### Audit your inventory flows Could your current supply chain support a single shared pool across Amazon and other channels? If not, where are the pinch points? Would a unified pool reduce enough cost and complexity to make it worthwhile? ### Prioritise your channels If you got MCF for Shopify, Walmart and/or SHEIN tomorrow, which would deliver the greatest commercial returns for your brand? ### Check your customer promises Delivery speed, tracking and consistency are Amazon’s calling cards. If that’s coming more widely, is it time to steal a march on your competition and extend that standard beyond Amazon? It could be what sets you ahead of the crowd. ### Keep your options open Make sure you understand the commercial trade-offs of putting more of your logistics in Amazon’s hands. A shared fulfilment pool makes sense, but it’s still key to make sure you’ve got commercial guardrails in place – don’t let Amazon’s convenience compromise your control. ### It’s about balance You want to build strategies that balance reach and resilience, making sure your growth isn’t dependent on any one single provider. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s MCF expansion into SHEIN, Shopify and Walmart is a fascinating glimpse into the future of how fulfilment might work across all channels, on an international basis. And MCF can be a powerful growth lever, but only when it’s deployed as part of a wider strategy that keeps operations, profitability and brand control in alignment. If you’re weighing up the potential of MCF – or looking at how to streamline your multichannel fulfilment strategy – our specialist team can help you run the numbers, manage the risks and harness Amazon’s scale for your brand. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [8 Expert Tips to Optimise Your Amazon Advertising Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/8-expert-tips-to-optimise-your-amazon-ads-strategy/) **Published:** September 12, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Venture Forge shares expert Amazon Ads optimisation tips to improve performance, strategy, and ROI. **Content:** Amazon ads aren’t fire-and-forget, they need tuning. Here’s how to stay sharp, spend smart and get results… Our Paid Ads Manager, Elfie Brocklehurst, recently shared 8 of her favourite performance tips for Sponsored Products, Brands and Display – each one built around hands-on experience and real-world results. ## Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know ### 1. Structure first, always Your campaign structure is your strategic foundation, so segment by product, match type or goal – whatever best reflects how you want to manage, scale and report over time. Clean structure = clearer insights. ### 2. Use the Search Term Report (but carefully) Search term reports are pure optimisation gold, but tread carefully with negatives. If you’re constantly excluding terms, it might not be a keyword problem – it might be your content. ### 3. Adjust Bids like you mean it If your listings are strong and your data’s flowing, you should be adjusting bids regularly – even multiple times a day. Upweight high-converting keywords, trim poor performers and use dynamic bidding and placement multipliers to maximise visibility where it counts. And if you’re new to this? Get your listings right before playing too hard with bids – that foundation needs to be solid. ### 4. Let Amazon suggest… then refine Amazon’s suggested bids are a solid starting point, especially on new campaigns or tight budgets – but you should always test and tweak based on real performance. ### 5. Don’t obsess over ACoS until you’ve checked CTR & CVR A bad ACoS doesn’t always mean bad ads. Check your CTR first, because a low CTR might point instead to irrelevant keywords, weak titles, unappealing pricing or even bad reviews. And if you’ve got a high CTR but low CVR? Check for stock issues or aggressive competition on your listing. ### 6. Track TACoS as well as ACoS ACoS = Ad profitability TACoS = Ad impact on total growth If you’ve got a falling TACoS while ACoS stays steady? That’s a great sign – it means ads are lifting your organic too. But don’t chase a low ACoS at the expense of overall growth. ### 7. When it comes to Creative? Test and test again A/B testing for your Sponsored Brand Campaigns = better insights, sharper messages and higher returns, so get testing. Try different headlines, product sets, brand logos and imagery. Over time, you’ll learn what works with your customer base, and that will help you drive better results. ### 8. Budget strategically Use your budget wisely, shifting it into what’s working in terms of your structure and your strategy. And never let weak campaigns quietly drain spend – simply, it’s one of the fastest ways to lose efficiency. ## The Bottom Line There’s no one trick that makes Amazon Ads work – but small, regular changes do. The key is to keep reviewing, keep testing and keep asking “what’s the data telling me”? And if you’d like our award-winning touch to level up your Amazon Ads strategy? Elfie and the Paid team are just a call away – [click here to get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon PPC tips, connect with Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACc0Ct8B_43Lu9omdebv9WicMHt_8Zb4r6E&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAbDH6wjhQ9yJlo8vS8fO%2Fw%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Ads Turns Live Sport into a Shoppable Experience](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-ads-turns-live-sport-into-a-shoppable-experience/) **Published:** September 9, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ads is transforming live sport with interactive ads, remarketing, and measurable campaign tools. **Content:** Live Sport is getting shoppable on Amazon Ads – here’s what you need to know… As the new UEFA Champions League season kicks off – with 6 English teams in the mix for the first time – Amazon Ads is launching a major play of its own. This one? It’s all about turning attention into conversions. Bringing a whole set of new ad tools to Prime Video’s Tuesday night fixtures (plus all those NBA games), Amazon is aiming to make live sport a place where ads don’t just get seen – they actually convert. And it matters to brands because Amazon says Champions League viewers spend 140% more on Amazon than other customers do during the same period. So what we’re looking at is a high-emotion environment and a rare moment of undivided attention, now paired with smart ads that can inspire immediate action. So what’s new? ## There are 4 new Amazon Ads innovations set for launch: ### 1. Interactive Video Ads Probably the biggest news – Viewers can now click to add to cart or sign up to a brand’s email list without leaving the stream, doing everything directly from their remote. Amazon says these interactive ads deliver: - +27% increase in Detail Page View Rate - +28% increase in Purchase Rate Available from early October, this could be a game-changer for brands wanting to close the gap between TV exposure and ecommerce sales. ### 2. Audience-based Creatives A single ad slot, with different messages for different viewers? Yes please. This tech is already live for US Thursday Night Football coverage – where it’s been shown to deliver a massive 83% boost in purchase rate. Basically, using Amazon’s first-party signals (geo, demo, behaviour), brands will be able to dynamically tailor ad creatives to specific segments. So you could show: - Hatchbacks to 20-somethings. - SUVs to outdoorsy families. - A brand campaign to everyone else. ### 3. Remarketing after the whistle Your Ads won’t end when the match does – brands will be able to reconnect with match-day viewers 24 hours later across Fire TV, Twitch, on the Amazon store and across web/mobile, directing buyers to your brand store on Amazon or to your own website directly. And, like all smart remarketing, it’s powerful – a brilliant way to drive repeat engagement and conversions, Amazon past stats showed these remarketed audiences demonstrate a 21% higher new-to-brand purchase rate when compared to all other display ad audiences. ### 4. Enhanced Measurement Amazon is also expanding access to measurement tools to include third-party offerings, including: - Brand lift studies (Dynata) - Attention studies (Lumen) - Reach/frequency studies (Audience Project) - Creative Sentiment analysis (Latitude) Together with Amazon’s in-house metrics, these will give brands a much more holistic view of campaign effectiveness across the funnel. ## What Smart Brands should do next If your audience watches live sport – especially younger, mobile-first or male-skewed groups – these are absolutely what you should be testing next. Take the time now to: - Review your media mix, and consider reallocating brand budget toward live sport formats with better performance tracking. - Start building segmented creative assets – the new tools reward dynamic thinking. - Prepare for October’s interactive rollout, and work out how your messaging translates to live, clickable moments. ## The Bottom Line This move will make live sport on Prime Video shoppable, personalised and measurable. And the brands who act first? They’ll be the ones who learn the fastest and win the most. If you’d like help to get set up, segment smartly and make every second count, our award-winning Amazon Ads team is here! [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Q4 is nearly here – is your Amazon strategy ready?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-q4-strategy-webinar/) **Published:** August 14, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Our experts break down your Amazon Q4 strategy—from promotions to retention. Watch the full webinar now. **Content:** Miss our webinar, “Getting Ready for Q4 on Amazon”? Here’s the lowdown, the links – and what to do now. The final quarter of the year (aka the Golden Quarter) brings Amazon’s most competitive and high-opportunity sales window. From Prime Big Deal Days through Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the Christmas rush, the peak season offers the best chances on the calendar to convert, grow and retain at scale – but the stakes are high! Success during this period doesn’t come from throwing budget at last-minute ads or slashing prices blindly. It comes from strategy. And that’s why, in our recent expert webinar, we brought our Amazon experts together and teamed them with a leading brand-side guest so they could share secrets from our proven playbook for peak-season performance across both Seller and Vendor setups. **WATCH NOW** ## What did we cover? Our specialists talked about… - How to plan promotions for Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond – breaking down how to structure your promotional calendar, align with Amazon’s key windows and protect margins, staying visible all the while. - Advertising strategies that drive conversion – with tactics to help your ads rise above the seasonal noise, optimise your budgets across Q4 and stay relevant even as competition surges. - Operational tips to avoid costly disruption, from forecasting and stock allocation to managing delivery promises and back-end compliance, we explored how to keep your logistics watertight. - Smart retention moves post-peak – because Q4 isn’t just about acquisition, it’s about turning those new customers into long-term buyers through smart re-engagement and remarketing tactics. - And with real-world insight from brand-side experience, because we were joined by Tom Doherty, Amazon & International Marketplace Manager at Tetrosyl, who shared what Q4 really looks like behind the scenes – and how his teams are preparing to stay ahead. ## The message was clear – and you can catch up now If you want a winning Q4, the work starts now – and, whether you’re still refining your Q4 plan or running behind on prep, it’s not too late, but that clock is definitely ticking! If you missed the live webinar, we’ve got you – you can watch the 60-minute session, which is packed end to end with value, here: **WATCH NOW** And if you need our expert support to turn these insights into action across your Seller or Vendor accounts? [Let’s talk – click here to speak to the team today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor Deductions hurt more than your margins - here’s why](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-deductions-hurt-more-than-your-margins-heres-why/) **Published:** August 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor deductions hurt. They signal risk to your account. Learn fixes to protect profit and performance. **Content:** Deductions aren’t just frustrating and costly – they can even show when your Amazon Vendor account might be at risk… While chargebacks and shortages are generally seen as an annoying cost of doing business on Amazon, unfortunately their impact can go even further than your profitability – undermining your operational performance and even affecting your Amazon relationship. Here, pulled together by [our expert Vendor team](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor/), are 5 of the most common issues we see – plus practical ways to fix them before they become a problem. ## High Chargeback Volumes Chargebacks don’t just hit your P&L – they’re Amazon’s way of flagging friction in your supply chain. And when they mount up? High chargeback rates are one of the retail giant’s key indicators of a high-risk Vendor partner. ### What to do Keep a close eye on patterns. Are the same errors repeating? Are chargebacks tied to specific ASINs, warehouses or workflows? Root cause analysis is really important here – you’re not only looking to reclaim what’s owed ([enlist our experts for this here](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/)), but stopping the issue for good. ## Late or Partial Purchase Order Fulfilment Missed or under-fulfilled POs disrupt Amazon’s inventory flow and impact the customer experience – a big no-no for Amazon, so repeat occurrences can affect your standing as a Vendor. ### What to do Only confirm POs you can realistically fulfil, and work closely with your ops teams to ensure lead times are accurate. If delays hit? Update Amazon with revised ETAs as soon as possible. ## Inaccurate or Late ASNs Advance Shipment Notifications are the foundation of Amazon’s receiving process, so if they’re late or don’t match the goods you risk shortages and processing delays – and this can even lead to your Vendor account being suspended. ### What to do Automate your ASN process where possible, and double-check that details (PO numbers, quantities, tracking codes) match the physical shipment exactly. ## Packaging & Labelling Issues [We talked about how tiny labelling errors can cost your brand big on Amazon recently](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-tiny-labelling-errors-costing-your-brand-big-on-amazon/) and it’s true, incorrect or inconsistent packaging and labels can lead to manual processing, delays – and more and more chargebacks eating into your profits. ### What to do Run periodic packaging audits, especially ahead of peak season. If your range has grown quickly, make sure every product is still compliant. And if those chargebacks have totted up? [Speak to our Chargeback Recovery team](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) for expert help to return those monies back to your bottom line. ## Safety & Compliance Gaps For Amazon, product safety is non-negotiable – even minor issues with labelling, documentation or warnings can result in swift account action and suspensions. ### What to do Ensure your listings and products meet all safety requirements for your category, including up-to-date documentation, warning labels, and accurate shelf life where needed. [*Not sure what to do? Speak to our experts*](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## The Bottom Line Treating deduction management as an afterthought could cost more than margin – and that’s bad enough! – it could put your account at risk. But, with the right processes and visibility in place, these issues are all fixable; and often avoidable. Want our Vendor team to conduct an Account Health audit, advise on operational strategies or help you recover those chargebacks? [Get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [New Q4 Amazon Fees are incoming - here’s what you need to know now](https://venture-forge.com/blog/new-q4-amazon-fees-are-incoming-heres-what-you-need-to-know-now/) **Published:** August 26, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new Q4 fulfilment fees impact margins. Brands must model costs, adjust pricing, and protect profitability. **Content:** Here’s what the new Q4 fulfilment fees mean for your margins – and the steps you can take now to get ready… It’s official – Amazon is introducing a Holiday Peak Fulfilment Fee for Q4 2025. And while the charges are modest, it’s still a cost that could quietly eat into your margins if you’re not prepared. ### The Lowdown From 15 October 2025 to 14 January 2026, a new per-item fulfilment fee will apply on items delivered to UK buyers as follows: - Small & standard parcels: Average fees of £0.10 per item. - Large or extra-large envelopes: Average fees of £0.05 per item. - No fees on oversize items and Low-Price FBA items. - Applies across local FBA and Remote Fulfilment (EU to UK). - Will also apply to select FBA orders delivered to buyers in Germany. ### And why are Amazon introducing extra fulfillment fees? Amazon cites “industry-wide increased operational costs” and says these fees are to help them maintain service levels during the peak retail season. *“Our selling partners are incredibly important to us, and this is not a decision we made lightly. The entire industry experiences increased operational costs over the festive season, and this change enables us to maintain delivery speed, expand fulfilment capacity, and support customer demand during this busy period.”* *– Amazon* ### What should you do now? It’s not a huge fee – but it is one that will add up across thousands of units. To protect your margins through Q4, you should factor this in now by: - Reforecasting your profitability across key ASINs. - Reviewing your pricing strategies to protect your margins. - Using the Revenue Calculator and FBA Fee Preview report to model the impact by SKU (available from 1 October 2025) ## The Bottom Line This new Holiday Peak Fulfillment Fee might be small per unit – but for high-volume brands, especially those working within tight margins, it’s one more variable that matters. And after all, a great Q4 strategy isn’t just about sales – it’s about protecting your profitability through every stage of the process. Want us to throw some commercial clarity on your Amazon approach? We’re always happy to help – [get in touch today to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Q4 Creative Changes on Amazon: Get Seasonal, not Structural](https://venture-forge.com/blog/q4-amazon-creative-changes/) **Published:** August 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Seasonal creative updates lift Amazon conversions in Q4. Protect rankings while tailoring content to shopper behaviour. **Content:** If you’re wondering whether to update your Amazon creative for Q4 or stick with evergreen content, read on… A recent webinar question that got our Head of Seller, Emma Pickard, thinking, the dilemma over updating content for peak retail season is really common. [But as she says](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eangeljonesseamstress_amazonmarketing-q4strategy-apluscontent-activity-7364275523427999747-N8nj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k) – and as all the best performing brands know – it’s not a “one or the other” choice. Your evergreen content is your foundation – it’s what drives ranking, relevance and long-term performance. And if your titles, bullets and backend keywords are already optimised and performing? It’s not worth messing with that successful structure if it risks losing momentum and undoing months of organic growth. But then, Q4 isn’t business as usual – shoppers behave differently, urgency strikes and context matters, so there is a place to be earned by seasonal creative. The trick then is to evolve for Q4 without resetting your hard-won performance – but how? These are Emma’s expert tips… ## Brand Store Your Brand Store’s not just a showcase, it’s a sales tool – and Q4 is the perfect time to create seasonal landing experiences that reflect how people actually shop this time of year. You can safely update it by: - Adding gift guides, bundled collections or use-case pages (“For the Host”, “Stocking Fillers”) - Swapping in holiday-themed banners or headers to signal relevance the moment someone lands. These are changes that won’t affect your ranking, but will absolutely help shape browning behaviour, time on page and conversions when it counts. ## A+ Content Your A+ is your on-page storytelling layer, so it’s where seasonal visual cues will go a long way. - Refresh lifestyle imagery and banners to reflect real Q4 use cases: gifting, family gatherings, holiday settings. - Highlight value and emotional connection – think “the perfect gift for…” or “a must-have for festive hosting” – even if those lines live in your images, not the text. This way, you’re not changing anything within your ASINs, but you’re making sure your brand story is delivering what customers are expecting from their Q4 buying experience. ## Sponsored Brand Ads This is one of the lowest-risk and simplest seasonal updates you can make – and it offers one of the highest returns too. - Keep your high-performing keywords and structure intact, but update your creative and/or headlines to bring in holiday visuals, product line-ups or messaging that aligns with the moment. - CTR typically lifts when the visuals feel fresh, relevant and tailored to the season. ## Deals & Badges No, they’re not creative, technically, but timing deals and badges alongside your refreshed seasonal assets is a great way to boost impact and drive conversions without touching listing content. These visual triggers (badges, pricing cues) work hardest when they feel timely and supported by the rest of your content, so try pairing Lightning Deals or vouchers with updated Store pages or A+ content for a more cohesive customer journey. ## The Bottom Line? It’s important to nod to the season for Q4 because it’s such a strong retail opportunity – but the key is to make light-touch changes that keep your evergreen Amazon foundations intact. This means you can stay relevant throughout the peak, without compromising your brand’s momentum – showing up in a way that reflects what Q4 shoppers are looking for while protecting your rank. Want help creating a sharp content strategy that ensures you always show up at your best – especially when the stakes are at their highest? [Get in touch with our team today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s margin matters to you - more than you might think](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-margin-matters-to-you-more-than-you-might-think/) **Published:** August 19, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** To grow on Amazon, brands must understand Net PPM and use it to guide strategy, spend, and content. **Content:** Your margin matters too, of course – but Amazon’s margin view is what really dictates your brand’s performance… And the brands who are winning out on the marketplace? They’re the ones who have learned to factor that into every decision. To thrive on Amazon, smart brands need to be fluent in Net PPM – Net Pure Product Margin – because this is what drives their key decisions around your ASINs, from your cost price pressures and marketing contributions to your ad visibility and even your stock availability. [As our CEO, Andrew Banks, puts it](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_amazon-doesnt-care-about-your-margin-but-activity-7363837546100887552-iVIf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), “If you don’t understand Amazon’s margin, you can’t control your performance.” ## So – what do leading brands do differently? ### They model both sides of the margin equation Yes, you should care about your landed cost and contribution. But you should also model Amazon’s margin through a Net PPM lens – because that’s what Amazon is optimising for. Use an understanding of how Amazon sees margin on every ASIN to shape pricing, promotional plans and trading conversations. ### They align spend where it counts Rather than spreading Co-Op or ad budget thinly, they invest where Amazon margin is strong – making smart choices on where to push growth and where not to bother. Think: - Investing promo and ad spend behind your high Net PPM SKUs – the ones that are serving both sides. - Negotiating Co-Op with contribution to Net PPM in mind all the while. - Evaluating which of your ASINs drive profitable growth vs those growing at the cost of margin. ### They prioritise by commercial potential Net PPM isn’t just a finance metric – it should also shape your content roadmap, your advertising priorities and even your SEO. High PPM? Worth investing in with content updates, SEO investment, A+ and ads. Low PPM? Approach with purpose, not pressure and think twice before sinking resources into trying to make it fly when it’s just not commercially viable for Amazon. ## The Bottom Line Amazon doesn’t care about your internal benchmarks, only its own. And the better you understand how your catalogue performs from their side? The less you’ll have to fight for visibility – and the better you can plan, negotiate and grow. Need help surfacing those margin insights and using them to shape smarter strategies? [Let’s talk – our award-winning team is here to show you the full picture](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more Amazon expertise, make sure you’re following our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Star-only Seller Ratings are here - this is what it means for you](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-seller-star-ratings-update/) **Published:** August 12, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new seller star ratings are live. Here’s what it means for your brand, reputation, and revenue. **Content:** Amazon has rolled out a simplified Seller feedback experience – but what impact might it have for your brand? As of 4 August 2025, buyers can leave star-only ratings for Sellers, without needing to write a comment (though they can if they wish). Amazon says the change is designed to boost participation and help Sellers gather more ratings, more quickly by giving customers a quicker and easier way to mark their experience, separate from the product itself. Anything that helps Sellers grow their ratings is a good thing, in our opinion. But, like all things Amazon, there are some things you’ll need to monitor too – let’s take a deeper dive… ## The Upside - Get more ratings, faster – a simpler process is likely to see more customers taking the time to rate, especially if their experience with you was smooth and uneventful. - Increased visibility because Seller ratings contribute to trust and can influence Buy Box outcomes – especially important in categories with high competition. - A better picture of recent performance – more frequent ratings can help flag patterns in customer experience faster, even if some don’t have the written context behind them. ## The Watchouts - You’ll likely get less context when things go wrong – a low star rating with no explanation can be harder to act on or fix. - There’s no appeals process for star-only feedback – unlike written comments, these ratings can’t be disputed through Feedback Manager. Amazon says that only violations reported via “Report a Violation” will be considered. - Customer trust could take a hit if you get a string of unexplained low scores – this may impact how shoppers perceive your service, even if your product reviews are positive. ## What Sellers Should Do Now - Start monitoring your seller rating closely because, with the potential for more incoming feedback, any changes in average rating may happen faster. - Strengthen your post-purchase service – your delivery speeds, comms and issue resolution procedures are now more exposed than ever before. - Continue to encourage written feedback where possible – even incentivising it, if possible – because even a brief comment still adds context and credibility, and helps potential customers make better-informed choices. ## The Bottom Line Amazon wants more seller feedback – and this update is a clear step in that direction, and something that could really benefit your account. But though the volume of ratings is likely to rise, the lack of written context brings new challenges for brands trying to protect their reputation and showcase their service standards. Smart sellers should take this as an opportunity to benefit from the uptake in feedback while they tighten operations to keep customer experience sharp, especially as peak season approaches. Love an expert eye on your customer experience process, procedures and incentives? Our team is on hand to approach your account with our customary commercial rigour, focus and clarity – [get in touch today to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Prime Day plus - Here’s how to tap into Amazon’s event halos](https://venture-forge.com/blog/prime-day-plus-heres-how-to-tap-into-amazons-event-halos/) **Published:** August 7, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover how to use the Prime Day halo effect to boost multichannel sales and build long-term retail impact. **Content:** Prime Day is now a full-blown retail moment. Here’s how to harness the halo effect for gains across all channels… Amazon might run the headline events, but they don’t own all the upside. And if your brand sells both on and beyond the marketplace? You’ve got more to gain than ever. New data from ecommerce platform Visualsoft confirms what multichannel operators have been seeing on the ground for years: the halo effect of the Amazon event lifts sales across the whole of retail – something which smart Amazon brands can turn to their advantage across every channel. ## It’s official – Prime Day makes us buy from everywhere The figures show that this year, sales surged across a wide range of categories and channels during the Prime Day window – with average uplifts hitting +53.8% in top-performing sectors. And it’s not a one-off – Visualsoft’s data runs across a 10-year period, and shows an average uplift of 45.8% across seven top-performing categories: - Lighting: +75.3% average uplift - Sports, outdoors and recreation: +43.7% - Pet and equine: +42.6% - Music peripherals (e.g. speakers, headphones): +42.5% - Lingerie and underwear: +41.6% - Opticians and eyewear: +39.5% - Office and stationery supplies: +35.4% These are clear surges in consumer intent across the board – not just Amazon sales spikes. ## What does that mean for Amazon-first brands? It means your Prime Day plan shouldn’t just stop at Amazon. Amazon may drive the traffic spike, but brands with multichannel strategies are seeing that traffic convert across their D2C sites, retail partners and even other marketplaces like eBay – so timing campaigns right is crucial. And why is purchase intent being so widely spread? It’s because today’s shoppers like to compare – using Amazon to browse and then often checking prices and offers elsewhere before they commit. That opens the door for you to: - Launch parallel offers across Amazon and D2C. - Create bundles, value packs or loyalty perks exclusive to your own site. - Use retargeting and CRM to capture Prime-driven traffic. - Extend promos just beyond Amazon’s window to capture late-stage intent. ## And it’s not all impulse anymore This year’s uplifted categories signal a shift, with buyers using Prime Day to buy smarter, not just cheaper – focusing on functional, value-led products like home upgrades, wellness items and pet essentials. Think practicality and purpose over indulgence and gimmicks. This mindset shift gives premium, solution-focused brands a real edge, especially if your content and positioning reflect the value you offer across all channels and touchpoints. ## The Bottom Line If you’re an Amazon brand with a wider retail or D2C footprint, Prime Day (and other Amazon events) are now a retail-wide opportunity – so use it! As we come close to Q4, now’s the time to start building campaigns that go beyond the marketplace and meet shoppers wherever they’re browsing, so you can use Amazon momentum to fuel growth across your entire commercial strategy. Want help building a multichannel strategy that connects your Amazon performance with the rest of your retail world? [Speak to our award-winning team today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendors here's 5 actionable wins to master Q4 - and beyond](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendors-heres-5-actionable-wins-to-master-q4-and-beyond/) **Published:** August 5, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Get Q4-ready with 5 actionable Amazon Vendor strategies to protect margins, drive visibility and increase sales. **Content:** As all Amazon Vendors know: Q4 isn’t just busy – it’s brutal. Here are 5 simple but effective strategies to keep you ahead… Margins are tightening, demand is spiking – and Amazon’s rules don’t bend, especially in peak season. So, if you’re hoping for a strong Q4? You need to do as the big boys do – don’t wait for October to get things in place; act now, and act smart. Here are 5 quick wins we’re helping our high-performing Vendors nail down ahead of time: ## They’re… Locking in Internal Stock so Amazon can meet their demand forecast You might not control Amazon’s demand forecasts – but you can be ready for them. The smartest Vendors know that, if stock isn’t in place when the PO lands, you risk missing critical sales. Q4-ready teams ringfence inventory early, building in enough flexibility to respond fast and stay in stock when it counts – whether that’s securing product ahead of time or working closely with ops to avoid late deliveries and missed revenue. It’s not about predicting the PO; it’s about removing the blockers that might stop you fulfilling it when it comes. ## They’re… Planning Co-Op and Promotions early to secure visibility Getting visibility in Q4 doesn’t happen by accident – and nor does it need you to just throw money at Amazon when peak season starts. Vendors set to win the visibility game are agreeing their Co-Op terms early, as well as locking in well-timed promos that give them exposure and protect their margins. (And yes, it does mean thinking beyond Black Friday) Now’s the time to plan with purpose. Use promotional spend to drive your most profitable SKUs, align your marketing calendar with Amazon’s events and ensure every £ of Co-Op is tied to a measurable commercial return for you. Visibility in Q4 is always expensive, but starting now means you’ll be spending better – not more. ## They’re… Tightening their Content to maximise Q4 Conversions Of course, visibility is only half the battle – and, more than ever in Q4, once those shoppers land on your page? Your listing needs to go into overdrive to convert them. That’s why Q4-ready Vendors are making sure every element – titles, bullets, images, A+ – is primed and ready to put in the graft; clearly communicating value, answering questions and objections and showcasing those products in action. For a successful Vendor, the basics will already be there – this is about sharpening and optimising to the max so you’re not wasting a single click when conversion potential peaks. what’s already there so you don’t waste a single click when the conversion opportunity is at its peak. ## They’re… Clearing Chargebacks before they erode Margin Chargebacks might feel like background admin, but left unchecked? They’ve got real power to eat a worrying chunk into your peak season profits. Now’s the time that top Vendors treat as a clean-up window; digging into the causes, resolving disputes and plugging gaps to prevent repeat issues. Doing this will see you move into Q4 with a clean slate, full margin clarity and – [with expert recovery help](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) – potentially with some recovered chargebacks returned to your bottom line. It’s worth it – you’re working hard to build your Q4 volume; don’t let deductions undermine your efforts. [Have you heard about our market-leading Chargeback Recovery Service? Click here to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) ## They’re… Locking Down Distribution to Protect Price and Margin Q4 is when off-Amazon price activity has the potential to do the most damage, triggering price drops and slashing Buy Box margins. And price erosion in peak season doesn’t just hit your profitability, it compromises your competitive edge too. So smart Vendors are setting clear boundaries now – reviewing distribution channels and agreements, making sure pricing strategies are aligned across retailers and acting swiftly if unauthorised sellers or pricing inconsistencies rear their ugly heads. ## The Bottom Line A successful Q4 starts early, and it starts with strategy – one that balances supply and demand; profits and promotion and is in place before peak season kicks in. Amazon won’t make it any easier, and your firefighting as a Vendor won’t ease. But the right moves now can set you up to not just survive the season, but to win out. As [Travis Chappell, our Head of Vendor](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABmmRRYBDY1ZW5Ofqh0W7wgeIFB1-FcDEJs&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3Bzp26%2Fi6fTGKRZSKavnCqaA%3D%3D), says, “Amazon is ruthless in Q4 – but with a clear Vendor plan, you can make it your most profitable quarter of the year”. [Ready to learn how? Get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [For more Vendor insights, follow our Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABmmRRYBDY1ZW5Ofqh0W7wgeIFB1-FcDEJs&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_recent_activity_content_view%3Bzp26%2Fi6fTGKRZSKavnCqaA%3D%3D) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why better products lose on Amazon - and what you can do to win](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-better-products-lose-on-amazon-and-what-you-can-do-to-win/) **Published:** July 31, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon strategy for premium brands means outmanoeuvring rivals with smart pricing, content, and positioning. **Content:** On Amazon, sales momentum can trump quality. Here’s how premium brands can stay visible – and win out… If you think your biggest Amazon competitor isn’t a threat because their product’s worse than yours, you might – sadly – be in for a shock. As [our CEO, Andrew Banks, explains on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/), “It’s something we hear from brands time and time again. And outside Amazon, it might be true.” “But on Amazon, inferior doesn’t mean irrelevant – because Amazon isn’t judging quality. It’s judging what sells.” ## Yes, you can be outsold by an inferior product – here’s why Customers don’t see quality craftsmanship in a thumbnail, they see price tags. And, unless your product visibly proves its value? Many will default to the cheaper option in their cart. Fast-moving, lower-priced products often: - Climb search rankings faster - Convert at higher rates purely on price - Dominate visibility, making it harder for higher-quality alternatives to break through And once they’ve taken the top spots, it costs more – in ads, time and margin – to claw your way back. ## So what can Premium Brands do? Winning on Amazon means playing the game strategically – even if you are super-proud of your product. If this is a pain point for you right now, you can compete by: ### 1. Rethinking your pricing for Amazon We’re not saying cut your prices – just be smart. Use promotional spikes (like Prime Day or brand-led events) to drive velocity, not to permanently lower your positioning. A high-low model lets you compete without compromising perception. ### 2. Build Amazon-only SKUs Custom packs, bundles and/or exclusive variants make comparison harder for shoppers, and give you a competitive edge. They also allow you to tailor your range to Amazon without impacting your broader product line. ### 3. Dial up your Value Messaging Don’t assume your brand speaks for itself. Your content needs to clearly show why your product is worth the higher price – with storytelling in your bullets, lifestyle-led imagery and A+ that’s focused on benefits, not reputation. ### 4. Know who you’re really competing against Your real competitors on Amazon aren’t the brands you battle for retail shelf space – they’re the ones who sit next to you in search. So if they’re undercutting you and converting better? That’s who you need to outmanoeuvre. ## The Bottom Line Quality always counts, of course – but on Amazon, it doesn’t sell itself. To compete and convert, premium brands need to lean into strategy, not superiority – and that means understanding how Amazon works, shaping your offer accordingly and building a value proposition that holds up under real-world scrutiny – not just retail reputation. Need a commercially-sharp, competitive Amazon strategy that keeps your brand in pole position? [Let’s talk.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [For more Amazon expertise, make sure to follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Premium Shipping Rules are changing – Here's what you need to know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/premium-shipping-rules-are-changing-heres-what-you-need-to-know/) **Published:** July 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is changing Premium Shipping rules from July 2025—are you prepared to stay compliant and competitive? **Content:** Tighter timelines but looser targets – here’s what the latest Premium Shipping Options update means for you… From 31 July 2025, Amazon is applying new eligibility rules to Sellers offering Premium Shipping Options. And while the headline might sound easier; “moving focus to your recent shipping performance and giving you more flexibility to maintain programme eligibility”, there is – as ever – nuance you should understand. ## What’s changing? ### The On-Time Delivery Rate is being lowered The required on-time delivery rate will drop from 97% to 92% – good news if you’ve been close-but-not-quite hitting the mark. ### The Performance Evaluation Period is being shortened Amazon will now assess you based on the last 7 days (between day -14 and day -7), not the previous 30 days. That means both that: - Slips are more visible. A few bad days can have a bigger short-term impact. - But recovery is quicker. If you’ve had a rough patch, it’s out of the picture faster. Amazon says this new approach “reflects your current operational performance more accurately” – and they’re not wrong. But it does also ramp up the pressure on brands. ## Other criteria you still need to meet To remain eligible for Premium Shipping, you also need to maintain: - A Valid Tracking Rate: 100% for Premium Shipping orders using Amazon-approved carriers. - Seller-Initiated Cancellation Rate: Below 0.5% for Premium Shipping orders. Fall short, and Amazon will notify you. Keep falling short? And you risk losing your Premium Shipping status altogether. ## What you should do now If Premium Shipping is a lever in your Amazon strategy, now’s the time to: - Monitor your metrics more frequently – weekly performance is now the key to eligibility. - Spot trends early and use the 7-day window to course-correct quickly if needed. - Optimise your fulfilment ops, because you’ll need to maintain consistency week after week to retain access. And remember – Premium Shipping isn’t just a perk, it drives Buy Box wins, boosts trust and keeps conversion rates high, especially for high-intent shoppers. ## The Bottom Line This new update will make Amazon’s Premium Shipping eligibility more flexible – but also more reactive. It’ll be the Sellers who show they can deliver reliably, week in, week out, that will keep their edge against the competition. To make sure that’s you, our experts can support you to optimise your processes or scale up your fulfilment game – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor & Sellers: Are you ready for Ireland’s new Prime rules?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-sellers-are-you-ready-for-irelands-new-prime-rules/) **Published:** July 25, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ireland Prime rules are changing. Learn what brands must do now to stay eligible and competitive. **Content:** From August 7, Amazon is updating Prime requirements for the Irish store. Here’s what brands need to know/do now… If you’re selling on [Amazon.ie](http://amazon.ie) and count on the Prime badge to drive visibility, conversion and trust, we hope you know that the rules are about to change. In line with Amazon’s agreement with the European Commission, stricter Prime eligibility standards will apply to all Sellers in the Irish store from 7 August 2025 – and that’s the same whether you’re using FBA or fulfilling orders yourself (FBM). And, as with all things Amazon, if you don’t meet those new eligibility rules? You risk losing your Prime status in this market. # What’s changing? From 7 August on, your offers need to meet 3 core criteria to stay eligible for Prime in Ireland: - Nationwide availability - Free shipping - Free returns for Prime members (with limited exceptions) Your products also need to consistently meet performance benchmarks, including: - **Delivery Speed Promise:** Must be within the fastest 90% of store offers - **On-Time Delivery:** 92% or higher - **Valid Tracking Rate (VTR):** 99% minimum - **Cancellation Rate:** Less than or equal to 0.5%. If you’re an FBM seller, you’ll need to be enrolled in Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP) and meet these standards at a product tier level to qualify. ## Why It Matters for Brands We’re sure you know! But to reiterate, Prime is much more than just a badge, it’s a trust signal, a conversion booster and a vital part of many brands’ Buy Box strategies. If your offers lose Prime eligibility in Ireland: - You could see lower visibility on key listings. - Your conversion rates may drop, especially in competitive categories. - You’ll be excluded from fast-delivery options Prime shoppers expect. ## What you should do now ### Audit your Irish offer setup Make sure you’re offering free shipping and returns, and that your inventory is available nationwide. ### Check performance metrics Head to your Seller Fulfilled Prime dashboard or your FBA analytics to ensure you’re meeting thresholds for on-time delivery, VTR, and cancellation rate. ### Review your delivery speed promise Your delivery promise needs to match or beat 90% of offers — if you’re lagging, it may impact your badge. ## The Bottom Line These aren’t minor changes; they raise the bar for what it takes to carry the Prime badge in Ireland. But they could also be a commercial opportunity – for brands who can meet these new standards, it’s a chance to stand out with less competition for Prime’s high-converting shoppers. Need an expert hand to navigate the new rules or protect your Prime presence across stores? Our specialists are here to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are tiny Labelling Errors costing your Brand big on Amazon?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-tiny-labelling-errors-costing-your-brand-big-on-amazon/) **Published:** July 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Barcode and labelling errors on Amazon? Our chargebacks service helps recover lost revenue and prevent repeat losses. **Content:** In Amazon’s tightly controlled ecosystem, the smallest oversight can quietly drain thousands from your profits… And the worst part? Many Vendor brands don’t even realise it’s happening until the deductions have already hit their statements. ## Let’s take ASIN stickering as one example… When a product arrives at an Amazon fulfilment centre without a valid, scannable barcode, it disrupts the automation Amazon relies on – and that triggers a whole cascade of problems: - Items can get delayed or lost during intake - Shortage claims start stacking up - Your stock isn’t made available for sale quickly - And you’re charged fees for non-compliance While these chargebacks might look small on paper, the downstream impact is anything but – eroding margins, undermining operational efficiency and increasing friction in your Amazon relationship. These are quiet leaks that add up fast – and there are lots of points of failure, not just stickering. We see brands who have been repeatedly hit by chargebacks and deductions covering everything from fulfilment errors to non-compliant barcodes. ## The cost of doing business? No. Far too often, brands dismiss this revenue loss as just part and parcel of selling on Amazon – but there’s no reason to write these charges off. In fact, we built a whole service – [our Chargeback & Cash Recovery Service](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) – for precisely this reason; to stop your profits from slipping through the cracks. ## How does it work? First, our experts audit your Amazon account in forensic detail to uncover: - Deductions you can reclaim - Operational patterns that are driving penalties; and - Hidden holes in your processes Then, we work to recover your lost revenue and help you prevent future deductions – protecting your margins and giving you more capital to reinvest in growth. *“We had no idea how much revenue we were losing in chargebacks until Venture Forge stepped in. Their expertise in claim recovery helped us reclaim lost funds and optimise our processes to prevent future losses.”* ## The Bottom Line Operational oversights don’t just hurt efficiency – they hit your bottom line directly. And if you’re not regularly reviewing your chargebacks and deductions? You could be leaving serious money on the table. If this sounds familiar, we can help you take it back, with past clients having recovered up to £150,000 in lost revenues. Sound good? [Speak to our specialist team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are Returns quietly killing your Amazon Prime Day profits?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-returns-quietly-killing-your-amazon-prime-day-profits/) **Published:** July 18, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day sales are up but so are returns. Learn how to reduce return rates and protect your profit. **Content:** Massive sales – great. Massive returns, not so much. Is it time to rethink your post-Prime Day logistics? With Prime Day 2025 breaking records, you’d be forgiven for focusing only on what went out the door. But the volume of what comes back in? That’s the part many brands overlook – and new research from supply chain experts [Manhattan Associates](https://www.manh.com/en-gb) shows there’s a bigger cost than many realise. ## The Real Cost of Prime Day Purchase Guilt Polling both buyers and retailers, [Manhattan Associates’ study](https://www.manh.com/en-gb/our-insights/resource-types/research-reports/prime-day-return-to-sender-infographic) shows that: - Over half (55%) of UK consumers return Prime Day purchases. - Over a third (33%) of consumers typically return 1-3 items. - 39% expect a refund or exchange within 72 hours – and 28% are frustrated when that doesn’t happen. - And a massive 61% experience purchase guilt, saying they “wish they could cancel or edit an order before it ships”. With their high expectations for speed, clarity and convenience… - 45% of consumers polled said they wouldn’t shop again after a bad return experience. - And 38% expressed frustration with shipping or restocking fees. Worse, for retailers receiving returns, it’s often the case that only a small proportion can be resold at full value – and there’s all the processing costs too… It all means that returns aren’t an admin issue – they’re a frontline commercial and operational challenge that can directly impact your margins, the accuracy of your stock management and even customer loyalty. ## What can Amazon Brands do FBA users might not control the Amazon customer service environment, but you can – and should – influence: - The clarity of your listings – reduce the risk of returns with well optimised, comprehensive and compelling product detail pages complete with easy-to-understand sizing/usage info. - The reasons for your returns: Dig deep into why customers are returning your products, spotting the patterns and implementing solutions. And if you’re fulfilling orders yourself (FBM or Vendor)? Make sure your own reverse logistics are watertight – from returns handling to restocking and refund speed. ## The Bottom Line You should be treating this as more than a simple logistics problem. If you’re finding your brand impacted by an influx of post-event returns, now’s the time to analyse the reasons why your buyers aren’t satisfied – and to build strategies that protect your margins, preserve customer satisfaction and turn one-off buyers into repeat customers. Need help diagnosing where your post-purchase processes are letting you down? [Let’s take a look together – speak to the team today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Prime Day 2025 roundup - and what Smart Brands should do now](https://venture-forge.com/blog/prime-day-2025-roundup-and-what-smart-brands-should-do-now/) **Published:** July 14, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day 2025 set new records. But real success lies in how you use the data that follows. **Content:** Prime Day 2025 broke records. But for clever brands? The real value isn’t in the hype – it’s in the insights… Yes, Amazon says it was the biggest Prime Day ever and indeed “bigger than any previous four-day period that included a Prime Day event”. But, as our CEO Andrew Banks puts it, “Prime Day is a moment – your approach to it reveals your strategy, or lack of one.” So what can smart brands learn and implement now? Here’s what stood out to us – and what it means for your brand… ## Key Takeaways ### It’s a marathon, not a sprint In response to Amazon stretching the event over 4 days this year, we saw deliberate, spread-out buyer behaviour in response: - Day 1 did bring a jump vs normal trading days (+56.6% sales, +10.5% AOV), but sales were still -17% vs Day 1 2024 showing less urgency to buy so early in the event. - After lagging in the morning, a post-lunch push saw Day 2 beat Day 1 (+0.8% in sales, +11% AOV), signalling more considered shopping and bigger baskets. - Day 3 held steady with Day 2 – marked by consistent volume, stable conversion and strong engagement. - And Day 4 opened ahead again of Day 3, with strong early sales and bigger intent pointing to a successful shift toward this more sustained sales period. ### Performance vs. last year? Mixed Sales were down on 2024’s Prime Day 1 – but that’s the trap of short-term comparisons. With 4 full days now in the mix, shopper urgency is spread out – think longer funnel, higher intent. ### AI assistants (Rufus, Alexa+) were in full swing This Prime Day saw AI-powered tools like Rufus playing a meaningful role in search and discovery for the first time through an event – and that means: - Your product content matters more than ever. - Your listings need to answer shopper questions before they’re even asked. [Learn how to boost your product visibility in the Amazon AI era](https://venture-forge.com/blog/rufus-is-reshaping-search-heres-what-amazon-brands-must-do/) ### It’s never just about the deals Smart brands don’t just cut prices for an Amazon event – they also focus on: - Driving new-to-brand customers. - Winning the aisle visually and verbally. - Owning a satisfactory+ share of search. ## What should your Brand do now? Post–Prime Day analysis should be as important as the prep, so now is the time to ask: - Did you acquire new customers or just repeat sales? - Which of your creative assets actually converted? - Where did you win – and where did you lose position? - Which SKUs deserve to enter your peak playbook? ## The Bottom Line The best-performing brands treat Prime Day like a performance lab – a test of strategy, systems and shopper relevance. If longer events are now officially an Amazon “thing”, adjust for more considered, deliberate spending patterns over the early stages and think “more days, more data, more growth”. That data? Use it wisely, building the learnings into your always-on plan. And if you want help turning your Prime Day performance into long-term growth? [We’re ready when you are – let’s talk.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon insights, follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Beyond the Listings: Our New Amazon Podcast is Live](https://venture-forge.com/blog/beyond-the-listings-our-new-amazon-podcast-is-live/) **Published:** July 11, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Beyond the Listings is live! Stream our Amazon podcast for strategies, expert insights, and real brand stories. **Content:** Real Amazon stories, challenges and strategies to drive success. It’s all here – and episode 1 is ready to stream… After years of leading the marketplace conversation through webinars, consulting and content, we’re bringing our commercial insights to a whole new format with our new podcast, Beyond the Listings! Going deeper into the real-world experience of building success on Amazon, each month we’re bringing ecommerce leaders, operators and experts together to lift the lid on what’s working, what’s not – and how to win in a marketplace that moves fast and rewards smart. And we’re thrilled to share that episode 1 is live now… ## Episode 1: Amazon Compliance – What you need to know in 2025 Amazon’s compliance landscape is tightening – with one misstep having the potential to put your listings, or even your entire account, at risk. We know it can get complicated so, for our first episode, we decided to cut through the noise with a straight-talking deep dive into: - Product safety and regulatory risks - The dangers of false claims and review manipulation - Barcoding, labelling and packaging requirements - Logistics compliance – and where brands slip up most - Enforcement hotspots for 2025 and how to prepare And to do this, a Venture Forge duo of [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) (CEO) and [Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/) (Head of Vendor) was joined by the brilliant pairing of [Christopher Khoo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-khoo-commerce/) (Co-Founder, Khoo Commerce) and [James Prewitt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-prewitt/) (Head of Ecommerce, Paladone). The result? Well, whether you’re a Seller or a Vendor; in one market or many – this episode arms you with the clarity and actions to stay compliant, competitive, and penalty-free. ## Where to Listen or Watch Beyond the Listings is available on all major platforms now: - [Spotify (Video & Audio)](https://open.spotify.com/show/6sCo8UoLyec53DWfYbqmLh?si=0h2PxC7kRdGZgYC8AEcjwQ) - [YouTube (Video & Audio)](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFLJtG-PpKxyvGNe-R8RsaZwJSygXnvSZ&si=CRgJb4TaxymI1-rH) - [Apple Podcasts (Audio)](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/beyond-the-listings/id1824290056) - [Amazon Music (Audio)](https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/6ca30dce-d1ed-4e7d-a72a-224d4acdbb4e/beyond-the-listings) (Plus Deezer, Pandora, TuneIn, Pocket Casts – and everywhere else you find podcasts.) ## The Bottom Line This is no surface-level Amazon podcast – Beyond The Listings brings you inside the decisions, dilemmas and breakthroughs that are shaping the most successful brands on Amazon today – with monthly episodes designed to equip you with practical ideas and sharp commercial insight. Episode 1 is live now, and we’d love you to go give it a listen and let us know what you think. And if there’s someone you’d love to hear from in a future episode? [Drop us a message](https://venture-forge.com/contact/ "Drop us an email") ## Those listen links again… - [Spotify (Video & Audio)](https://open.spotify.com/show/6sCo8UoLyec53DWfYbqmLh?si=0h2PxC7kRdGZgYC8AEcjwQ) - [YouTube (Video & Audio)](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFLJtG-PpKxyvGNe-R8RsaZwJSygXnvSZ&si=CRgJb4TaxymI1-rH) - [Apple Podcasts (Audio)](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/beyond-the-listings/id1824290056) - [Amazon Music (Audio)](https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/6ca30dce-d1ed-4e7d-a72a-224d4acdbb4e/beyond-the-listings) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Spend Smarter, not Wider - the Amazon Ads fix that works](https://venture-forge.com/blog/spend-smarter-not-wider-the-amazon-ads-fix-that-works/) **Published:** June 27, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Struggling with Amazon Ads? Learn how smarter strategy, focus and spend can unlock better results—fast. **Content:** Frustrated with flatlining Amazon Ads? You’re not alone — but the cause might not be what you think… Every week, we speak to brands who, convinced that their Amazon Ads aren’t performing, want us to cast our award-winning eyes over their strategies. But when we dig a little deeper, you’d be surprised how many times we find that the strategy holds up, and the actual issue is spread. Here’s the problem in a nutshell – too many campaigns + too little budget = no real impact. ## Spreading your Budget too thin hampers your Results Here’s what we see all too often – brands trying to support every SKU, target every keyword, test every format. The intention is broad coverage, but the result is often poor performance – across the board. Why is this? It’s because, when you spread your ads budget too thinly: - Your campaigns don’t get enough visibility. - You can’t outbid your competitors on high-value terms. - You’re not creating any momentum, so your results are giving you very little to learn from. The consequence is a set of campaigns that aren’t *quite* failing – but they’re definitely not delivering how you want them to. ## Amazon Ads Success is built on Real Data No marketing strategy can succeed without feedback – and on Amazon, feedback comes from data. And data takes budget. When you dilute your media spend across too many campaigns: - You don’t generate enough clicks to spot trends. - You can’t see clearly which tactics are working. - You lose the ability to fail fast and course-correct. Instead of creating clear winners and losers, you end up in a holding pattern where everything underperforms – and nothing scales. ## The Smarter Way: Focus, Learn, Scale The most successful brands we work with achieve growth on Amazon because they’ve got one thing in common – strategic focus. They: - Back hero SKUs with proven traction or strategic value. - Invest strongly in high-volume, high-intent search terms. - Collect data fast by spending enough to reveal insights quickly. - Let results lead – making bold decisions to double down where the return is strong, and exiting where it’s not. The key is that Amazon Ads success is about spending smarter – not broader. You can’t solve issues by just throwing more money at your problem. ## So what should you do now? With this in mind, here are 4 actionable insights from our experts that you can implement across your Amazon Ads strategy right now: 1. Pick your winners: Identify 3–5 SKUs with the highest commercial potential or strategic importance. 2. Prioritise intent: Focus your keyword targeting on high-converting, high-volume terms. 3. Spend with purpose: Invest enough budget to actually see performance trends – then you can make confident and informed decisions. 4. Scale with insight: Once you’ve seen what works, build from that success – not from guesswork. ## The Bottom Line If your Amazon ads aren’t delivering, don’t immediately rush to blame your strategy – take a long, hard look at your spread. You might just find that it’s not your planning that’s failing – it’s your resourcing that’s stretched too thin to succeed. Want a second opinion on where to focus, how to get more from your Ads budget or how to achieve Amazon success driven by commercial insights, rigour and clarity? Our award-winning Amazon Ads team is just an email away – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon Ads insights like this, follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Rufus is reshaping Search – Here’s what Amazon Brands must do](https://venture-forge.com/blog/rufus-is-reshaping-search-heres-what-amazon-brands-must-do/) **Published:** June 24, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Rufus is changing Amazon search. Here’s how to boost product visibility with better, smarter content. **Content:** Rufus is already reshaping how shoppers discover products – we look at how to keep your content visible… Launched last year, Amazon’s generative AI assistant is now powering a significant and growing share of search on the platform. And, while that might not sound groundbreaking at first glance, it does mark a really fundamental shift in how consumers discover and interact with your brand. Let’s dig deeper into why it matters – and what you should be doing next. ## Generative AI is changing how we shop AI-powered tools aren’t a novelty anymore – they’ve fast become a growing part of the shopping journey. Research suggests that more than half of adults are now using generative AI tools like ChatGPT – or Rufus – for product research, and it’s clear that Amazon sees a big future here, with Rufus now integrated into the main search bar. The retail giants haven’t shared exact usage figures yet, but there are plenty of cues suggesting significant traction. Calculations based on [this AWS blog last October](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/scaling-rufus-the-amazon-generative-ai-powered-conversational-shopping-assistant-with-over-80000-aws-inferentia-and-aws-trainium-chips-for-prime-day/) point to more than 270 million Rufus queries per day which, based on Amazon’s 2 billion per day search totals, accounts for just under 14% of all Amazon searches at the time – a figure some analysts think might grow to a third of Amazon queries by the end of 2025. ## What makes AI Search different from traditional SEO? Unlike the keyword-led searches of the past, AI search: - Interprets conversational queries and purchase intent. - Shows results based on their relevance to the wording and context of the query. - Prioritises rich, detailed product data and diverse content types. This means that the content formats that best power your discoverability are changing fast – and relying on basic titles, bullets and white-background images just won’t cut it. ## Rich Content is your new SEO Fuel To be visible in AI-powered search like Rufus, your product content needs to do more than tick Amazon’s usual boxes. This is because Rufus doesn’t just match keywords – it interprets intent, makes contextual suggestions and takes shoppers through a more intuitive and personalised journey. To win visibility now, you should focus on: ### Contextual storytelling in titles, bullets and A+ content Rufus is built to respond to questions with helpful, curated answers that can also be informed by past purchases – so a shopper with plenty of family buys in their history who asks “what’s the right air fryer for me” could be guided to larger sized models, for example. This means that your content now needs to spell out use cases, key features and customer benefits clearly – making sure it’s obvious who your product is for. ### Lifestyle imagery that shows how and where products are used Search is becoming occasion and purpose-led, with Rufus understanding prompts like “what do I need for camping” or “help me buy back-to-school stationery”. And the right images? They help AI to better grasp usage and match your product to the right moments. ### User reviews that reinforce product benefits and performance Rufus is being trained to interpret sentiment and prioritise products with verified, relevant feedback first, so make sure your reviews tell the right story and are grounded in your product’s real-life strengths. ### Clear comparisons and differentiators Rufus can now break down the pros and cons of products against similar offerings, so your listings need to communicate what sets you apart in simple, scannable language. ### Consistent data across platforms AI relies on pattern recognition – so use consistent titles, attributes and content across Amazon, DTC and retail partners to improve your discoverability everywhere. ### Go for keywords with intent, not just volume Like voice search optimisation, you need to focus on real, search-driven phrasing that reflects how customers talk and shop – not just high-volume terms that tick SEO boxes. ## 4 ways to optimise for Rufus now It looks like AI is going to be another storefront for the future, so now’s the time to revisit your optimisation strategy. Here are a few key steps our experts suggest you take now: - Audit your listings for content richness. - Expand your image stacks – add in-situ shots, lifestyle visuals and annotated features. - Update your PDP copy to reflect how real people describe and use your product/s. - Think cross-channel – richer content helps AI beyond Amazon too, from Google Shopping to Meta AI and ChatGPT. ## The Bottom Line AI assistants like Rufus aren’t a future trend – they’re already shaping how at least 1 in 7 Amazon searches happen today. For brands, it’s time to rethink discoverability through an AI lens, doubling down on richer content, smarter structuring and better alignment with how people browse for and ask queries. And if you need an expert hand to update your Amazon content strategy for the AI age? Our team is here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Selling on Amazon IT or DE? Voluntary Returns are changing… ](https://venture-forge.com/blog/selling-on-amazon-it-or-de-voluntary-returns-are-changing/) **Published:** July 4, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is changing Voluntary Returns in Germany and Italy this July. Here’s how it impacts your brand. **Content:** In July, Amazon is relaxing its Voluntary Returns Rules in Germany and Italy – is it good news for your margins? While Amazon’s 30-day Voluntary Returns Guarantee is great for building shopper trust, it can be a bit of a thorn in the side for brands, opening the door to abuse, inflated returns rates and added fulfilment costs. But things are changing… ## What’s happening? It actually started in May, with Amazon announcing that some product categories would no longer be covered by the voluntary 30-day returns window on Amazon.de and Amazon.it, including: - Camera & Photo - Electronics - Computer - Wireless - Office supplies & stationery - Music - Videos & DVDs - Video games Instead, returns in these categories now follow standard EU withdrawal rights – offering buyers 14 days to request a return, plus 14 to send an item back. And from 23 July 2025, more categories are to follow suit, including: - Books - Software - Games & Toys - DIY - Video - Kitchen - Car & Motorcycle - Electronic devices for personal care - Home Entertainment - Large electrical appliances ## And there are some total exemptions too Some product types were already fully exempt from the voluntary returns guarantee – including: - Customised or personalised items - Opened hygiene products - Perishables - Downloaded eBooks or unsealed software - Certain alcoholic goods - Newspapers and magazines Unless defective, these items can’t be returned under the voluntary scheme at all. ## Why this matters to Brands This move is likely to benefit many brands selling in Italy and Germany in the affected categories – especially those who’ve faced return fraud, product devaluation or hygiene concerns from lenient return windows. And does it also signal a subtle shift in Amazon’s approach to one that balances customer experience with seller protection? We’re watching closely to see how this rolls out… ## So what should you do now? If you’re selling on Amazon IT or DE: - Reassess your return rates in affected categories – you may see improvements over the coming months. - We anticipate more buyer confusion though, so review your product detail pages to make sure your new return policies are clearly stated and buyer expectations are managed, especially for repeat purchase products. - Check your reverse logistics to ensure returns can be handled quickly and cost-effectively. - Use this as leverage when forecasting your margins or setting policies across EU marketplaces ## The Bottom Line If you’re selling on Amazon.it or Amazon.de, this could be a pretty meaningful change – with the potential for fewer unnecessary returns – and more control over your post-purchase costs. But don’t forget to update your return policies to make them crystal clear, so you can mitigate friction from confused buyers – especially those who might have bought from and returned to you in the past. If you’d like an expert opinion on how this might impact your listings? Our award-winning team is here to cast their commercially-focused eyes over your account, helping you to protect your margins and preserve your growth. [Get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is Amazon about to override your set Transit Times?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-amazon-about-to-override-your-set-transit-times/) **Published:** July 7, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is adjusting delivery estimates. Sellers must monitor shipping templates and carrier performance. **Content:** These updates auto-edit your own delivery estimates – and might mean more pressure and less buffer for you… If you’ve padded your Amazon shipping templates to give yourself a little breathing space on delivery, this is for you. Amazon has started to notify some Sellers that they’ll soon begin automatically adjusting the standard transit time ranges in domestic shipping templates – their new times to be based on your recent delivery performance. ## Why the change? Amazon says the changes are to “better match shoppers’ expectations” by aligning the delivery window shown on listings with your real-world carrier data. ## And what does it mean in practice? So… - Say your shipping template is set to 5–7 days, but your actual delivery time is typically 4 days, Amazon may shorten it to 3–5 days. - If your template says 2–3 days, but your carrier is regularly taking 4 days, Amazon may extend it to 3–5 days. Premium, expedited and international templates won’t be changed. No manual action is required on your part – but Amazon is clear that you remain responsible for keeping those settings accurate (even though they’re changing them on your behalf). ## Who might find this a Problem? For lots of Sellers, especially those who’ve deliberately added some wiggle room to their delivery windows to reduce WISMO (“Where is my order?”) queries or account penalties, we know this isn’t a welcome shift. Less buffer time means: - More pressure to meet tighter delivery windows. - Higher customer expectations. - Greater risk of negative feedback or missed SLA penalties. And unfortunately, although Amazon is writing to affected Sellers upfront, brands won’t be notified of each update – so those impacted will need to keep a close eye on Shipping settings to make sure nothing has changed without you knowing. ## How can we stay ahead? Our experts suggest you spend some time now and: - Monitor your Shipping Templates now, and then check them regularly to spot if Amazon has made changes — and be ready to revert them if needed. - Audit your actual Carrier Performance – so you can make sure your chosen services are consistently meeting the delivery expectations set on your listings. - Get ahead of customer expectations – if your delivery times are being shortened, think about updating your comms and messaging to better manage buyer expectations. - Don’t be afraid to escalate if you need to. If your transit times are being changed in a way that negatively impacts you, raise it with Amazon Support – and document everything so you’ve got a trail of the conversation. ## The Bottom Line This move might come at a cost for Sellers who rely on realistic (or slightly cautious) delivery windows to keep their operations smooth and their customers happy. So, if you start seeing a spike in queries or missed delivery expectations, head to your Shipping settings first and check whether the rules have changed without you even knowing – and then react accordingly! But forewarned is forearmed, as they say. If you need a strategic view now on how you can protect both your operational performance and the satisfaction of your customers, our team’s ready to help. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Missed our must-see Amazon Compliance Webinar? Fear not…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/missed-our-must-see-amazon-compliance-webinar-fear-not/) **Published:** June 30, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Watch our expert-led Amazon Compliance webinar on demand and learn how to protect listings and sales. **Content:** We covered everything you need to protect sales and reduce compliance risk – and you can catch up on demand now… Amazon’s enforcement teams are getting stricter and stricter, and if you’re not fully aligned with their latest compliance rules, your brand and your sales could be at risk. From missing product codes to unlabelled packaging, there are clear signs across Amazon of more listings pulled, more brands penalised and more sales disrupted. And these issues aren’t just isolated to Sellers – Vendors are being hit by shifting standards and new demands and requirements too. So we brought together our experts for a live webinar covering what Amazon’s latest compliance focus means in practice – and what smart brands should be doing now to protect their accounts, products and revenue. The good news? If you missed it live, you can watch it now on demand. [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-compliance-and-enforcement-proactive-steps-to-protect-your-amazon-brand?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) ## Here’s what we covered: ### What’s changing in Amazon Compliance We broke down the evolving areas of risk, from enforcement on regulated categories to growing scrutiny around product codes, labelling and packaging – so you know what to prioritise. ### Key Watchouts for Sellers and Vendors Whether you’re managing a Seller Central account or working through Vendor Central, we walked through where we’re seeing enforcement ramp up, and the most common pitfalls tripping brands up right now. ### Practical steps to reduce risk You’ll come away with clear, actionable advice on how to avoid penalties, listing removals and delays, how to meet fulfilment and operational standards across regions and guidance on managing Seller and Vendor account requirements. ### Real-World Insights from Brands in the thick of it Our team shared some first-hand insights from brands navigating enforcement right now – including how they’ve responded and what’s helping them get back on track fast. ## The Bottom Line If you sell on Amazon, compliance isn’t optional – it’s foundational to protecting your sales and scaling with confidence. This session gives you the clarity to stay ahead and the tools to build compliance into your commercial strategy before enforcement disrupts it – so, to future-proof your catalogue? Hit the button… [**CATCH UP NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-compliance-and-enforcement-proactive-steps-to-protect-your-amazon-brand?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [6 Metrics every Amazon Launch should track (or risk falling flat)](https://venture-forge.com/blog/6-metrics-every-amazon-launch-should-track-or-risk-falling-flat/) **Published:** July 2, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Launching on Amazon? Track these 6 essential metrics to build long-term success, not just quick wins. **Content:** Planning your Amazon launch? Your first 30 days are make-or-break – here’s what to watch to come out in front… Lots of brands put lots of effort into the front end of their product launches; the packaging, the listings, the Ads campaign… But then they don’t stay focused on the right numbers once the product goes live – and here’s the truth: your launch will live or die based on the data you act on. So, if you want your launch to stick not just spike, here are the key metrics you should be monitoring from day one. ## Honeymoon Period Velocity Your first 30 days or so on Amazon are your best shot at catching the algorithm’s eye – so don’t waste them. This is a period of elevated visibility, and the speed of your sales during this time will influence where you rank in organic search and give you traction you can continue to build. ### What you should be doing: - Track daily sales momentum. - Push hard (but stay efficient) on advertising and promotions to fuel early orders. - Work out which SKUs are moving fastest – and why – and act on those insights. ## Conversion Rate (CVR) High clicks but low conversions? Your listing isn’t landing. If you’re driving traffic but shoppers aren’t buying, it’s time to act. Your product detail page (PDP) is underperforming, and you need to find out why – and fast. ### Fixes to try: - Test different price points or bundles. - Reassess your content — does it convey value clearly? - Check competitor listings for stronger offers or messaging, and tweak your own accordingly. ## TACOS over ACOS Brands often focus on ACOS too early, chasing short-term profitability before they’ve built momentum – but your ads don’t just drive sales; they drive lasting organic growth too. TACOS shows how your ad spend contributes to total revenue (not just ad revenue). If it’s too high, your growth isn’t sustainable. If it’s trending down while sales grow, you’re on the right track. ### Look for: - A declining TACOS over time = ads driving organic growth - A balanced ratio between ad and organic sales - Signs that paid traffic is boosting organic performance - Opportunities to reduce spend without slowing momentum ## Review Velocity As our CEO, Andrew Banks, says, “social proof moves the needle”. You can’t scale trust without reviews – they accelerate conversions, especially in competitive categories. The faster you can build up credible reviews? The quicker your product becomes conversion-ready. ### Quick wins: - Enrol in Amazon Vine. - Make sure packaging and instructions deliver on expectations created by your listings. - Respond to feedback and reflect learnings in your listings. ## Organic Rank Movement Another telltale sign that your launch isn’t landing is if you’re not climbing the search rankings. This is something you should be watching like a hawk – track your position daily on your most important keywords and remember, your ads can drive short-term traffic but your long-term success will depend on where you rank organically. ### Do this: - Identify your top target keywords and terms. - Use data tools to monitor shifts in rankings. - Regularly adjust your content and bid strategies based on your insights. ## Repeat Purchase Rate And remember, the launches that last are the ones built for retention from the off. Often overlooked but so important to your long-term sales strategies, repeat purchase rate is another post-launch indicator to add to your list – if nobody comes back after buying? You might have a product or performance issue to address before you scale your spend any further. ### Why it matters: - It shows product quality and satisfaction. - It helps you better forecast your inventory and revenue assumptions. - It turns one-off wins into predictable revenue. ## The Bottom Line Early momentum is everything on Amazon, but you need it to lead to long-term gains. The best performing Amazon brands don’t just launch products – they launch a whole system that then continues to learn, adapt and scale with agility and commercial purpose. For success? You need to track the numbers that matter, act fast when they dip and optimise everything for sustainable growth, not just immediate visibility. **If you’re launching soon? Our experts can help you plan, monitor and achieve sustainable, commercially focused growth –** [**click here to get in touch today**](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon insights, click here to follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Venture Forge Podcast – Real Talk for Real Retailers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-venture-forge-podcast-real-talk-for-real-retailers/) **Published:** June 17, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** New podcast for Amazon brands sharing growth strategies, expert insight and retail real talk. **Content:** Launching this month (June 2025), our debut podcast series is almost here… After months of planning, recording and refining, we’re thrilled to say that Series 1 of the Venture Forge Podcast is officially in the can – and it’s coming your way this month! Built for the Amazon and eCommerce community and pulled together in conjunction with our amazing podcast partners [Distorted](https://www.linkedin.com/company/this-is-distorted-limited/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D), it brings together real conversations with industry experts, retail leaders and our own senior team – sharing unfiltered insights, practical strategies and honest marketplace chat about everything from peak trading prep to marketplace management. Coming up in series 1? We’ve got some brilliant guests in the pipeline, including: - Senior EComm specialist [Anthony Dawe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-dawe-a11a7272/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D) - [James Prewitt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-prewitt/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D), Head of EComm at Paladone - Co-Founder of Khoo Commerce, [Christopher Khoo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-khoo-commerce/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D) - [Tom Doherty](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-doherty-a4244b176/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D), Amazon & International Marketplace Manager at Tetrosyl Group Ltd And massive credit to our internal crew – [Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D), [Emma Pickard](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eangeljonesseamstress/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D) and [Josh McNeice](https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-mcneice-57b66ba7/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_detail_base%3BAZDnWmDsSjOfjkvzu6vSAQ%3D%3D) – for sharing their brilliance (and some questionable headgear which we’ll let you discover for yourselves!) on mic, and to Whitney Griffiths, our Marketing Manager, for her incredible work. **Episode 1 lands later this week so** [**stay tuned to our LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/venture-forge/) **for more news – you won’t want to miss it!** Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [**Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!**](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Opportunity for Sellers as Amazon Business hits 8m Buyers ](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-opportunity-for-sellers-as-amazon-business-hits-8m-buyers/) **Published:** June 20, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** 8 million buyers now use Amazon Business. Discover the tools and tactics to tap into B2B growth. **Content:** Amazon’s B2B platform now has 8 million global customers – so, if you’re not selling B2B yet? Perhaps it’s time… As a potential sales opportunity, Amazon Business might not make headlines like Prime Day – but for sellers focused on scalable, recurring growth, it’s a sleeping giant. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the B2B side of Amazon now serves 66 of the FTSE 100 as well as hundreds of thousands of SMEs, with buyers spanning every sector from education and public services to retail, logistics and more. With procurement teams under pressure to consolidate suppliers, improve spend efficiency and hit ESG targets, Amazon is becoming a go-to for simple, compliant, repeatable purchasing. And that’s where you come in. ## The New Features Sellers should know about Recent updates on the buyer side have one thing in common – they make it easier for businesses to buy more, and buy smarter. And that creates a great opportunity, because it opens the door for Sellers who are primed to serve that demand. Here’s what’s new: ### A Guided Buying & Socially Responsible Programme Procurement teams can now filter by sustainability credentials or preferred sellers. Sellers who meet the criteria should consider joining the Socially Responsible Programme (especially if you offer local, ethical or low-impact products), as well as ensuring your product/s have the right certifications or accreditations in place and visible. ### Invoice by Amazon (IBA) Business buyers can now consolidate purchases into one monthly invoice – which is great for them and great for Sellers with products suited to repeat procurement needs like: - Office supplies - Facilities equipment - Tech accessories - Health & hygiene ### Spend Anomaly Monitoring & Budgeting Tools With better tools to control spend, buyers are increasingly relying on consistent, reliable sellers offering: - Clear B2B pricing - Quantity discounts - And fast, dependable fulfilment If you’re already doing this, you’re primed for repeat orders. If not? Now’s the time to tighten up your business buyer experience. ## How to tap into the potential of Amazon Business If you’re a seller looking to unlock B2B revenue, here’s what we’d recommend: - Activate B2B pricing – set business-only prices and quantity discounts to boost order volumes and improve discoverability with procurement teams. - Optimise for bulk and repeat, using FBA where you can, ensuring your listings speak to bulk buyers and clearly communicating product specs and compliance info. - Join the Socially Responsible Programme because, if your products are certified sustainable, locally sourced or socially driven, it’s a great way to improve your visibility with ESG-focused buyers. - Think in procurement terms and make your listings feel like a safe, smart choice for corporate buyers – clarity, trust and repeatability are important. ## The Bottom Line If you’re not making the most of Amazon Business’ potential, it could be a massive, repeatable revenue channel for your B2B brand – rewarding Sellers who can serve smart, compliant buyers well. **Want to build a high-converting B2B presence that’s made for sustainable growth? Our award-winning experts have the commercial vision and clarity you need –** [**get in touch with the team today**](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Unlocking Better Vendor Terms for Your Amazon Brand](https://venture-forge.com/blog/unlocking-better-vendor-terms-for-your-amazon-brand/) **Published:** January 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Master Amazon Vendor negotiations with expert strategies for better terms, profitability, and long-term success. **Content:** Vendor negotiations with Amazon can be one of the trickiest challenges your brand will face, especially if your first offer is rejected out of hand. And this is a classic Vendor Manager strategy: they say no, hoping you’ll sweeten the deal without a word. But here’s an expert tip – don’t negotiate against yourself… ## So what should you do? As our CEO Andrew Banks said in [his recent LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_ever-had-your-first-offer-shot-down-in-amazon-activity-7287391818923540480-Jgue?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios) on this topic, instead of immediately upping your offer, hold your ground and ask for a counter-proposal. And if one isn’t forthcoming? It’s time to stand firm. Negotiations are a 2-way street, and giving ground too quickly sets a precedent that can undermine your future terms. ## Vendor Negotiation isn’t easy – but you can win out We know this approach might sound easier said than done. If your Vendor Manager is playing hardball and you’re not prepared for it, it’s really easy to feel outmatched. But the key to your success lies in preparation, data and strategy. ## Here’s what our experts recommend: **1. Know what you want from the relationship** “Lots of vendors commit to terms they don’t understand, and then they’re fixed in their account,” explains Matt Briggs, Senior Amazon Account Manager at Venture Forge. Instead, start every negotiation with a clear understanding of your priorities and the data to back them up. **2. Never agree to anything blindly.** Treat your Vendor negotiations like a poker game – because if you go in without knowing the rules? You’re likely to lose out. You might be new to negotiating, but it’s a good bet that your Vendor Manager is not – and it’s their job to fix you on the lowest terms they can. And once you fix terms? That’s your base point for all future negotiations. So, right from the start, take the time to understand every term offered and its potential impact on your business – and [get expert help](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) if you need to. **3. Ask for something in return** Amazon’s Vendor Central programme is a long-term partnership between your brand and the retail giant – it’s not all give on your part. If you’re asked to let something go, ask for something valuable in return – from better payment terms to a damage allowance or additional support. **4. Document everything!** Simple but vital – keeping clear records of agreements and discussions protects your business and keeps things crystal-clear for future negotiations. ## The Bottom Line From your first Vendor negotiations on, the decisions you make set the foundation for your business’s future growth, profitability and operational efficiency – and there’s no need for your brand to accept less-than-ideal terms, even if it is your first time in the ring. These negotiations are designed to create a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship with Amazon that will benefit you both. With preparation, commercial clarity and the right support on your side, you can secure terms that support your brand’s growth and profitability, not just today but in the long term. ## Need expert help? At Venture Forge, our dedicated Vendor division is here to help, with: - Expert evaluations to identify improvement areas in your existing Vendor terms. - Strategic guidance to prepare you for negotiations and make sure your data backs your goals. - Ongoing support to help you put plans into action, navigate challenges and get the best from your Vendor relationship with Amazon. Ready to unlock better terms for your Vendor business? [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - Watch now – [Our expert webinar on “Amazon Vendor Mastery: Winning Strategies for Marketplace Success” is here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - Read now – [our Blog breakdown of the Amazon Vendor Mastery webinar is here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/) - [Connect with our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How a Small Team Achieved Market Domination on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-a-small-team-achieved-market-domination-on-amazon/) **Published:** January 31, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Trends UK achieved 46% YoY growth and category dominance on Amazon. Here’s how they did it. **Content:** We were delighted to help Trends UK do just that! Armed with bold objectives – including achieving £2.3M in annual sales, hitting 35% growth and dominating their product category – they enlisted the strategic nous of our award-winning team to unlock their full potential on the world’s largest shop. Here’s what happened next… ## The Transformation We deployed our tried-and-tested methodology of commercial clarity, rigour and vision to make sure we didn’t just meet Trends UK’s ambitions – we wanted to smash them, laying a strong foundation for future growth as we went. And our initiatives, which included… - Doubling down with a super-smart Amazon Ads strategy; - Robust participation in key Amazon Events with carefully designed promotional campaigns; - Expanding the product catalogue to boost their brand presence; - A full SEO and branding overhaul to increase visibility and conversion rates; and - The negotiation of better Vendor terms, … produced results that were nothing short of game-changing. ## The Results Working in harmony with Trends UK, we achieved: - 46% YoY sales growth, smashing their 35% target. - 75% growth in paid ad sales – keeping ACOS under 20% all the while. - Their key product, Paint Pop, was crowned #1 in the Paint Sticks category – one of their primary objectives. - 30% increase in Amazon purchase orders, strengthening their Vendor relationship. - 15 new product launches in 2023, enhancing their category dominance. With a massive uplift in annual sales and expansion into Amazon Germany set for 2024, Trends UK has proven that big results are possible when you combine ambition with the right expertise. ## What do Trends UK say? > Since partnering with Venture Forge, we’ve made huge strides in product listings, created brand stores, and improved licensing partnerships. Our performance indicators have seen strong growth, and we’re refining our advertising for even better results next year. > Lindsay Hardy | Trends UK ## The Bottom Line? For Trends UK, partnering with our award-winning experts has delivered real, measurable progress – helping them overcome the challenges of managing Amazon with a small team and positioning them as leaders in their category. With significant growth across sales, profitability and brand visibility, we’re thrilled to say that they’re now set up for sustained success – and in prime position to take advantage of the Amazon opportunities coming their way this year and beyond. Keep your eyes peeled for more of our client success stories – coming to our website very soon! We’ll keep you updated… and in the meantime, if you’d like your brand to join the ranks of brands reaping Amazon growth glories with Venture Forge, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Price Policy on Temu: how to use it to your brand’s advantage](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-price-policy-on-temu-how-to-use-it-to-your-brands-advantage/) **Published:** January 7, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new Temu pricing policy protects sellers. Learn how to turn this shift into a strategic advantage. **Content:** The news that Amazon has added Temu to its list of monitored competitor sites, requiring Sellers to avoid lower pricing there if they want to stay visible on Amazon, might seem like a limitation at first glance. But for many brands, this shift is a net positive. Here’s why – and how to turn this development to your advantage… ## What it means for Amazon Sellers This move by the retail giants cements Amazon’s commitment to protecting the marketplace, and Amazon brands, against Temu’s aggressive pricing and rapid growth. The marketplace is built on consumer trust – shoppers know they can rely on transparent pricing, reliable fulfillment and authentic products, and Sellers benefit from the conversions that trust drives. By taking steps to keep Amazon the most competitive platform, the marketplace is reinforcing its position as the credible first-choice for consumers – effectively asking Sellers to repay the efforts Amazon has put into building that consumer trust over the years. For many brands, this policy will come as a welcome safeguard against Temu’s dynamic pricing which, by changing based on a customer’s likelihood to purchase, makes a competing brand’s overall pricing decisions unbelievably tricky, not to mention undermining transparency and trust with buyers. By coming out officially against Temu, those Sellers who felt threatened can rest easier, and strategise far more effectively and consistently when it comes to their pricing strategies. And if your competitors decide to undercut your brand on Temu? You’ll have the advantage of Amazon’s unmatched visibility, strong reputation and stable and structured environment – and they’ll be in a race to the bottom. ## 3 ways to turn this to your advantage ### Double Down on Your Amazon Strategy Amazon’s stance is a clear signal – if the marketplace is your primary channel, now’s the time to focus on optimising your performance. Make sure to: - Price strategically, using tools like Amazon’s pricing recommendations and third-party repricing software to get and stay in the Featured Offer. - Enhance your listings, standing out with enriched product pages, clear images and compelling copy. - Leverage Amazon Ads to maximise visibility and keep your products top of mind for buyers. ### Build on Amazon’s own credibility Buyers trust Amazon because of its reliable fulfillment and authentic products. Building on that by showcasing your own trustworthiness as a brand turns it to your advantage, so: - Highlight your positive reviews, ratings and testimonials to enhance buyer confidence. - Maintain exceptional customer service. - Offer valuable add-ons like warranty options and no-quibble returns to set your brand apart. ### Stay agile – and in control Temu’s variable pricing model might appeal to some brands, but it comes at the cost of control. Putting Amazon first means you can stay consistent in your pricing and branding across all your channels – and that’s an advantage both in building long-term customer relationships, and in building a sustainable and profitable e-commerce business. ## The Bottom Line Amazon’s Temu pricing policy might come across as restrictive but, for Amazon-focused brands we see it wholly positive. The move reinforces Amazon’s credibility, keeps things less complex for Amazon Sellers and protects brands who put the marketplace’s reach, trust, visibility and stability first. If Temu is putting pressure on your brand, now’s the time to think about how you can leverage Amazon’s strengths to your advantage: doubling down on optimisation, focusing on quality and using data well to stay agile. Want to get your Amazon strategy airtight for 2025? Our award-winning team is on hand to bring our commercial clarity, rigour and vision to the party. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Generative AI in Amazon Ads: Is It Really Worth the Hype?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/generative-ai-in-amazon-ads-is-it-really-worth-the-hype/) **Published:** January 11, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s AI-powered SQL Generator simplifies audience targeting. Learn how it can optimise ad campaigns. **Content:** Aaand the AI chat continues in 2025 with the news that Amazon Ads have introduced a new generative AI tool, making the SQL generator available in Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). But what is it? What can it do? And is it as good as it sounds? ## What is the SQL Generator? The SQL generator is a natural language query tool that uses generative AI to help advertisers create highly targeted custom audiences faster and more easily than ever before. In brief, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used to manage and manipulate data – a super-powerful tool for organising and analysing large amounts of information. The SQL generator helps Amazon Advertisers create SQL queries which in turn create audience segments based on user behaviour and advertising data. Traditionally, you had to know how to code to write these SQL queries, but the new SQL generator uses generative AI to automate the process, making it far more accessible to non-techie types and those without advanced audience segmentation tools at their fingertips. And it’s also a lot quicker – the process can take minutes rather than hours. So yes, it’s a brilliant innovation that can save valuable time and create highly-targeted campaigns with ease. But what does it mean for brands, and how can you make the most of it? Let’s explore the potential, the limitations – and what you need to know to leverage this tool effectively. ## How it works With the SQL generator, you can: - Use natural language prompts to create custom audiences – for example, you could say: “Create an audience of customers who viewed my product pages and saw my streaming TV ads but haven’t purchased in the last 30 days”, and the SQL generator will give you the query you need to build the audience in Amazon DSP or Ads Console. - Get step-by-step guidance, with questions like “how can I create an audience of customers who have heard our audio ads but haven’t made a purchase?”. The SQL generator then gives you the query, together with clear instructions. - Activate audiences across channels – custom audiences can be used in campaigns spanning streaming TV, audio and digital ads for full-funnel strategies. ## The Pros - It’s a time-saver, drastically reducing hours of coding time. - It’s accessible even to non-technical team members, improving opportunities for collaboration and innovation across your team. - The ability to create tailored audiences so quickly is designed to help you run more relevant, effective and impactful campaigns, whether you’re retargeting abandoned carts or engaging first-time buyers. - It can help increase productivity, letting your team explore novel use cases and refine your audience strategies more efficiently – which in turn means you can get better value from AMC’s capabilities. ## The Considerations – What brands should watch out for… - As with all AI, data quality is key – the accuracy of the output depends completely on how good your input data is. Inaccurate or incomplete information might lead to ineffective audiences and/or wasted ad spend, so take the time to make sure your data is clean, accurate and well-structured. - There’s a learning curve. Using the SQL generator effectively calls for a grasp of audience-building principles and AMC’s wider capabilities – your team might need extra training, expert support or a bit of both to unlock the full potential. - Never over-rely on automation. As powerful as AI is, it’s not a substitute for human insight and strategic nous. - Be aware of the potential for misalignment – without clear parameters or human validation, the tool could produce audience segments that don’t properly align with your campaign objectives. It’s crucial to review generated queries thoroughly before you put them into play. ## The Bottom Line Is it a game-changer for Amazon Ads? Yes, we think it can be. But, as with any tool, its success depends on how effectively you use it. By combining the power of generative AI with clean data, strategic oversight and a well-trained team, the SQL generator is a brilliant addition to your arsenal – helping you to stay ahead of the competition, optimise ad spend and achieve measurable growth on Amazon. Want our expert guidance to help leverage this and other Amazon innovations for success in 2025 and beyond? [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon and QuickBooks Partner to Simplify Seller Finances](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-and-quickbooks-partner-to-simplify-seller-finances/) **Published:** January 14, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon and QuickBooks join forces to help sellers manage finances with ease. Learn what this means for you. **Content:** Amazon has kicked off 2025 with a multi-year partnership announcement with Intuit’s Quickbooks Accounting software, bringing one of the largest and most-widely used solutions directly into Seller Central… The integration promises to help brands manage their finances more efficiently, simplify taxes and access capital for growth. But what exactly is on offer, and how could it positively impact your Amazon business? Dive deeper with us… ## What does Quickbooks offer Amazon Sellers With QuickBooks now Amazon’s preferred partner for financial management, its AI-powered tools will be easily accessible to millions of sellers directly through Seller Central, covering: - Comprehensive Financial Management: Sellers can manage profitability, cash flow, inventory and real-time tax estimates from one place, with tools designed to simplify compliance and tax preparation. - Easier access to capital: Eligible sellers can access personalised loans through QuickBooks Capital directly within Seller Central, streamlining funding for business growth. - End-to-End visibility: By integrating Amazon data with QuickBooks, Sellers can get quick insights into key financial metrics, driving more informed decisions that can power growth and sustainable profitability. The tools contained within Quickbooks can help Amazon brands: ### Gain real-time financial insights Tracking profitability, cash flow, and tax liabilities in real time can help you identify trends, spot challenges and stay agile, from planning for seasonal peaks to tweaking your pricing strategies based on profit metrics. ### Streamline their tax compliance Tax preparation is a major pain point for many Amazon sellers, and QuickBooks’ tools are designed to simplify the process with real-time tax estimates and streamlined filing options. ### Grow through investment With tailored loan options available through QuickBooks Capital, Sellers might be eligible for funding to fuel growth – whether that’s to capitalise on demand, invest in Amazon Ads, manage cashflows or something else entirely. ## What are they saying about the Partnership? > Intuit and Amazon are providing financial tools for millions of Amazon sellers to thrive in Amazon’s store. We know businesses that use Intuit’s QuickBooks platform have a nearly 20-point higher success rate than those who don’t. We’re proud to partner with Amazon to bring the benefits of our AI-driven expert platform to help sellers boost their revenue and profitability, save time, and grow with confidence. > Sasan Goodarzi – CEO | Intuit > Amazon is innovating on behalf of sellers every day to support the growth and success of their businesses, which includes providing sellers with streamlined access to third-party tools that offer additional efficiencies and capabilities to help them operate their business. Together with Intuit, we’re working to equip our selling partners with additional financial tools and access to capital to help them scale efficiently. > Dharmesh Mehta – VP WW Selling Partner Services | Amazon ## The Bottom Line This partnership between Amazon and QuickBooks has the potential to simplify key aspects of financial management for Sellers, and an easy integration between the platforms is great news for brands operating mainly on the marketplace. What should you be aware of? You’ll need to check the figures to make sure your data is accurate and, for those who look at the capital offers, review all terms carefully to make sure they align with your business needs. But, especially if your Amazon brand is crying out for better financial efficiency and visibility, it’s a partnership worth exploring. Ready to drive your Amazon business to all-new heights this year? [Let’s talk](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). Our expert team is here to help you thrive on the marketplace. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Maximise Amazon Profits and Growth with Expert Insights](https://venture-forge.com/blog/maximise-amazon-profits-and-growth-with-expert-insights/) **Published:** January 17, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Join our expert webinar to unlock strategies for maximising Amazon profits and growth in 2025. Sign up now! **Content:** Speaking of thriving on the marketplace in 2025, our expert webinar series is back with a bang this month – don’t miss out! Join us at [10am on Thursday 30th January](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) for an hour well spent, as our team of Amazon gurus dives deep into lessons learned from 2024, and how to apply them to create a strategy that drives unparalleled profit and growth in 2025. [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?) ## What’s on the agenda? - Strategic insights – we’ll be reflecting on 2024’s biggest lessons and exploring how to plan, budget and strategise for success in 2025. - Advertising strategies – our award-winning specialists will be explaining how to optimise your ad spend and align organic and paid campaigns to deliver better ROI. - A Live Q&A – as always, we’ll wrap things up with the opportunity to put your questions to our panel and get expert advice tailored to your Amazon challenges. ## Meet the Panel Handpicked from the Venture Forge team, you’ll hear from: - Andrew Banks, our CEO, driving success for our Amazon brands across the UK, Europe and North America. - Emma Pickard, our Head of Seller Services, bringing over a decade of expertise in eCommerce and account management. - Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell, who leads Venture Forge’s talented Vendor team and drives operational excellence. - Jake Browett, Paid Advertising Manager and award-winner, specialising in supercharging sales for brands with advanced PPC strategies that drive results. ## Why attend? This session will equip you with the clear, actionable insights you need to navigate 2025 with confidence. From adapting your strategies to new challenges to mastering the delicate balance of profitability and growth, in just an hour you’re destined to set your Amazon brand up for success. [**SIGN UP NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business?[ Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Vision for Ads in 2025: What Brands Need to Know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-vision-for-ads-in-2025-what-brands-need-to-know/) **Published:** January 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ads unveils its 2025 vision: AI, full-funnel measurement, and video expansion. Here’s what it means. **Content:** The Amazon Ads leadership team has shared their vision for 2025, and it’s packed with AI innovations, better measurement tools and more opportunities for advertisers to reach the right audiences. But what does it mean for your brand? Here’s how we see these developments shaping your success in the year ahead… ## Full-Funnel Measurement > Customers are always looking for more full-funnel measurement solutions that accurately assess the success of their campaigns… > Alan Moss, VP of Amazon Global Advertising Sales Amazon has confirmed that they’re working to deliver a series of more robust solutions, expanding measurement tools across first-party data, ad tech and external partners. ### For brands, this means: - Better data: Enhanced insights should show you what’s driving your results more precisely. - Stronger strategies: With more transparency and actionable insights, it’s easier to make your campaigns smarter through faster and more focused refinements.. What we hope will happen? Let’s hope that Amazon’s renewed focus on full-funnel measurement will empower brands to plan more effectively, helping to optimise budgets and maximise ROAS. ## The AI Advance marches on > The future of programmatic, full-funnel media buying will be defined by the transformative power of AI. > Kelly MacLean, VP | Amazon DSP [We’ve already talked about](https://venture-forge.com/freshly-forged-amazon-seller-and-vendor-news-at-22-jan-2025/) some of the ways AI is set to redefine how we plan, launch and manage Amazon Ads campaigns in 2025 – but what else is on the cards this year? ### Kelly MacLean’s statement also talked about: - Real-time campaign adjustments: AI-driven decision-making tools designed to make sure every penny of ad spend is used efficiently. - Deeper consumer insights: Machine learning will reveal more nuanced audience behaviours, helping brands to better refine ad targeting. - Optimised media allocation: AI-supported campaigns will work harder across channels, maximising reach and ROI and helping brands scale campaigns faster with data-backed decisions. > As advertisers seek to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their campaigns across the digital landscape, innovative AI-powered solutions will be essential. By leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms to uncover granular insights, optimize media allocation, and drive real-time decisioning, the next generation of programmatic services will enable advertisers to seamlessly navigate the complexities of the modern media ecosystem and achieve their full-funnel marketing objectives with unparalleled precision. > Kelly MacLean, VP | Amazon DSP ## The exponential growth of Video Ads > Advertisers know what premium content looks like, and the deeper we can marry our consumer insights, ad products and integration opportunities with the audiences they are looking to reach, the more we are able to establish ourselves as a differentiated streaming service… > Krishan Bhatia, VP of Amazon Global Video Advertising Video advertising is only getting bigger, and Amazon is making major moves to meet the demand, with an emphasis on the importance of premium content and audience-first strategies. ### What’s coming includes: - More video advertising solutions across Amazon’s streaming ecosystem. - An expansion to new markets like Brazil, India, Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand, opening fresh opportunities to brands for global growth. - Advanced insights through clean rooms, combining viewership data with advertisers’ datasets for unparalleled targeting. - Premium sponsorships to connect brands with audiences in authentic, meaningful ways. > From sponsorship opportunities that drive a deeper brand connection with viewers to clean rooms that enable segments leveraging our customer insights alongside our viewership and behavioral insights, to deal-based programmatic activation on the Amazon DSP, we can align marketers more deeply with fan-favorite series, films, and live sports across global markets. > Krishan Bhatia, VP of Amazon Global Video Advertising ## The Bottom Line This year, Amazon Ads is doubling down on innovations designed to help brands succeed in what is an increasingly competitive space. From AI-driven campaign management to premium video opportunities, the tools and strategies on offer could redefine how you grow your brand through 2025 and beyond – but, as ever, your brand’s success will lie in the execution. Leveraging these tools effectively – and staying ahead of the competition – requires expertise, strategy and constant adaptation, and that’s where our award-winning Amazon Ads Team comes in! With the skills you need to turn potential into real results, they’re here to help you make 2025 your brand’s best marketplace year ever. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to learn how we can drive you to all-new Amazon heights. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Selling on Amazon.ie: What You Need to Know for Success](https://venture-forge.com/blog/selling-on-amazon-ie-what-you-need-to-know-for-success/) **Published:** January 24, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon.ie launches: VAT, GPSR compliance, and logistics. Here is how to get started. **Content:** Amazon’s expansion into Ireland will open up a projected €500M+ market and give brands a powerful new platform to grow their Amazon footprint. But with new GPSR (General Product Safety Regulations) complications and other compliance challenges to deal with, we wanted to give those thinking of expanding into the market a brief lowdown – looking at how to get started, who’s affected by GPSR and how to navigate these challenges… ## Getting started – our 4-step checklist to selling on Amazon.ie ### 1. Prepare your product listings Ireland should be live for your brand now in Seller Central, and the Build International Listings (BIL) tool is brilliant at simplifying the process of listing your products on Amazon.ie – here’s how: - Sync your listings in bulk by accessing the BIL tool under the “Sell Globally” section in Seller Central. - Your offers will be automatically translated (if needed) into English for Irish customers. - Prices will automatically be shown in Euros – you can adjust them in BIL if needed. - Once set up, BIL will regularly update and sync your listings across linked accounts. ### 2. FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is your friend Especially when you’re just moving into a new International market, using FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) programme makes things so much easier logistically, because: - It means you can ship your inventory to a local fulfilment centre, benefiting from domestic fees and streamlining your logistics. - Then Amazon takes care of storage, packing, shipping, returns and customer service (7 days a week). ### 3. Understanding VAT requirements You’ll need to get your head around VAT compliance across the border, because it’s an essential for Sellers on Amazon.ie. **Briefly:** - Non-Irish sellers using Amazon.ie’s domestic FBA program need to register for VAT in Ireland. - For EU sellers not storing goods in Ireland, VAT registration is required if sales exceed the EU-wide distance sales threshold of €10,000 unless enrolled in the One Stop Shop system. - Irish-based sellers must register for VAT if their domestic sales exceed €80,000 annually. If you’re not sure, this is one area you absolutely should seek expert advice – [click here to speak to our team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). And, for a little background information, we covered international VAT in our specialist webinar with tax specialists Taxually – [you can watch on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/scaling-you-brand-into-amazon-europe-strategy-taxes-and-delivery?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page). ### 4. GPSR Compliance is essential Coming into effect on 13 December 2024, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) replaces the EU General Product Safety Directive. Read on for a deeper dive into the potential challenges GPSR raises for UK Sellers… ## What’s GPSR, and how might it impact your Amazon business? GPSR strengthens safety requirements for consumer products sold in the EU, and it impacts Sellers in a number of key ways: - GPSR applies to all businesses selling consumer products in the EU, including those using Amazon.ie. - UK brands not based in the EU face an additional hurdle, as GPSR requires products sold into the EU to have an authorised representative based in the EU. - Sellers need to ensure that all products being sold internationally comply with GPSR requirements, including traceability, detailed product documentation and accurate labelling. - Without compliance, UK-based brands could find it harder to take advantage of Amazon.ie’s opportunities, because failing to meet regulations can lead to product delistings. Need expert help? [Speak to our team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## How to navigate GPSR Here’s a quick lowdown on navigating GPSR compliance requirements: ### Review your product safety protocols First, evaluate your existing processes to make sure your products meet the updated GPSR standards – this will include confirming your manufacturing practices, materials and testing procedures align with the new safety requirements. ### Update your documentation GPSR places a strong emphasis on traceability and accurate product labelling, so get your product information, technical documentation and product labels up to date and compliant with EU standards. ### Appoint an EU-based authorised representative If you’re a UK-based seller or operating from outside the EU, you’ll need to designate an authorised representative within the EU to act on your behalf. This representative has to ensure that your products meet EU safety requirements and serve as the point of contact for compliance inquiries. ### Get help from the experts The new regulations can be complex, especially for brands new to the ins and outs of EU product safety laws. If you don’t know what you’re doing, enlisting the help of a good partner now will save you time and effort – making sure you’re compliant as efficiently and effectively as possible, avoiding potential delays and protecting your Amazon account. ## The Bottom Line The launch of Amazon.ie is a great opportunity for brands to launch and grow their presence in an expanding market – but there are VAT and GPSR compliance challenges that UK-only Sellers will need to overcome first. It should be noted though that these challenges are relevant to any EU expansion, so dealing with them now sets the stage for easier expansion into other European stores. And, with tools like the Build International Listings (BIL) and the FBA programme at hand, there’s lots of potential for Sellers to scale efficiently. If you’re looking to get an international Amazon expansion strategy up and running, our expert team is here to help – [let’s chat today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Fastest-Ever Delivery Speeds Are Great News for FBA Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-hitting-their-fastest-ever-delivery-speeds-is-great-news-for-fba-brands/) **Published:** February 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s fastest-ever delivery speeds give FBA brands a major edge in visibility, conversions, and customer trust. **Content:** Amazon has smashed its own records for same and next-day deliveries, with 9 billion+ items shipped at superspeed through 2024 – and 1 billion of those orders shipped here in the UK. It’s clearly great news for Prime members – here’s why it’s great for FBA brands too… ## Why faster delivery matters to FBA brands Amazon’s record-breaking deliveries are excellent for FBA brands because… - Customer expectations are at an all-time high. If you’ve got competitors who aren’t offering Prime-eligible, fast-shipping products when you are, then you’ve got a major competitive edge. - Amazon’s infrastructure is only going to get stronger and stronger, so Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) Sellers will keep gaining from all its benefits as they improve – from better visibility to stronger conversions and boosted customer trust. - We know that winning the Buy Box is harder than ever and fast shipping is a crucial factor in winning the Featured Offer. Non-FBA brands could easily struggle to secure conversions against competitors with Prime availability. - Speed-driven categories are thriving. With pharmacy, beauty and household items topping the list of fastest-shipped products, FBA brands in these categories have a real opportunity to double down on their inventory and FBA strategy to handle increased demand. ## Key Takeaways for all brands - Not using FBA? Now might be the time to think again. You need to think carefully about whether FBA could improve your Prime eligibility and sales performance. - All brands need to stock more strategically. Same-day and next-day deliveries increase purchase intent – you need to make sure your products are in stock and Prime-ready to secure that purchase. - Optimise for visibility. This is key for everyone but for those not using FBA? If your FBA competitors are winning on delivery speeds, you need to up your advertising, pricing and content strategy game to compete. ## The Bottom Line Speed and convenience are what drives Amazon’s success – and that’s great news for all brands, because it keeps shoppers coming back time and again. For all brands, staying competitive now means: - Adapting your fulfilment strategy to meet customer expectations. - Keeping your products Prime-eligible for maximum sales potential; and - Optimising your inventory and operations to make sure you can deliver to demand. And if you need expert guidance on how to reap success on the world’s fastest-ever digital marketplace? [Get in touch to discuss a commercially clear and rigorous Amazon strategy that will drive your brand to greater profits through 2025 and beyond](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [All about Amazon’s new Inventory Defect & Reimbursement Portal](https://venture-forge.com/blog/all-about-amazons-new-inventory-defect-reimbursement-portal/) **Published:** February 25, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s IDR portal streamlines FBA tracking, but manual checks remain crucial for reimbursements. **Content:** Has managing FBA inventory losses and reimbursements just got a whole lot easier? We investigate… Amazon’s new Inventory Defect and Reimbursement (IDR) portal is one centralised hub, accessed through the FBA dashboard in Seller Central, which has been designed to give Sellers greater transparency and control over their warehouse losses, damages and customer returns. But – as always! – its efficiency will still depend on Sellers’ own input – so we dug into the potential limitations of the portal to help ensure you don’t miss out on reimbursements. ## What does the IDR Portal cover? It shows Sellers details of: - Warehouse lost inventory – items lost within Amazon’s fulfilment network. - Warehouse damaged inventory – items damaged while in Amazon’s possession. - Customer returns – returns that result in loss or damage. And it allows Sellers to: - Track defects. - See their resolution status, and… - Check whether reimbursement has been issued. It also consolidates reports, meaning fewer manual checks across different reports. ## What does it not cover? Sellers need to be aware that the information in the portal does not include: - Missing inbound shipments – if stock goes missing between your warehouse and Amazon’s fulfilment centres, it’s not covered here. - Removals & warehouse disposals – stock that’s removed or disposed of due to damage, expiry or other issues isn’t tracked within this system. - All potential reimbursement claims – just because something isn’t flagged doesn’t mean you aren’t owed money, so your team still needs to manually check for discrepancies. ## How to Access the IDR Portal - Log into your Fulfillment by Amazon dashboard in Seller Central. - Under the Inventory drop-down menu, select “Inventory Defect and Reimbursement”. ## The Bottom Line The IDR portal has lots going for it and will make it easier to track some inventory issues – but it’s important that Sellers don’t assume it’s catching everything. Relying on the IDR alone to identify your reimbursable losses could easily see you missing claims, so you still need to be conducting regular, manual reviews of your inventory reports and cross-checking reimbursement policies to make sure you’re getting every penny you’re owed. Need expert help to recoup all the FBA losses, claims and reimbursements you’re due? We’ve got just the specialist service for you – [speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Smarter Reach for High-Intent Customers: Amazon’s Brand+ AI TV Ads](https://venture-forge.com/blog/smarter-reach-for-high-intent-customers-amazons-brand-ai-tv-ads/) **Published:** February 18, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Brand+ AI optimises TV ads for high-intent audiences, boosting reach, engagement, and sales performance. **Content:** More AI news for Amazon Ads, with the announcement that the retail giant has introduced Brand+, an AI-driven optimization capability in the Amazon DSP – our award-winning ads experts dig deeper… ## How does Brand+ work? By combining vast amounts of shopping, browsing, and streaming data, Brand+ is designed to simplify and bring precision targeting to brand awareness campaigns. By modelling streaming TV and online video audiences predicted to be in-market for a brand’s product or service within the consideration window, Brand+ advertising hits awareness goals like reach and frequency, targeting potential customers throughout the entire marketing funnel. Video ads are delivered to customers deemed likely to convert in time across Amazon channels like Prime Video and Twitch – plus other premium video sites like Buzzfeed and Fox Corporation. And the stats look encouraging – during Brand+ beta testing, some advertisers reported a 10%+ increase in sales and 70%+ increase in website traffic. ## What’s so different about Brand+? Until now, TV advertising has been largely broad and demographic-based, often lacking the precision and measurability of lower-funnel campaigns. With Brand+, Amazon are aiming to change that by: - Predicting purchase intent in real-time – using trillions of Amazon signals to identify audiences most likely to buy. - Optimizing TV and video ad reach dynamically – ensuring that brand awareness campaigns are targeted at high-potential customers. - Automating engagement across the funnel – from awareness to purchase, Brand+ continuously refines its targeting based on audience behavior. > For the first time on the Amazon DSP, advertisers can apply AI-optimized automation to purchase TV advertising that reaches unique audiences of customers most likely to buy their products or services — a significant advancement from broad demographic reach to engaging with scaled audiences based on where customers are in the marketing funnel in near real-time. With this advanced AI technology, the Amazon DSP enables advertisers and agencies to automatically reach, engage, and nurture potential customers throughout their journey, turning brand awareness into a strategic driver of conversions. Brand+ has been designed with the control and transparency that advertisers expect and need. We believe this is the future of advertising, where advanced AI works in harmony with human expertise to drive business outcomes across the entire marketing funnel. > > Kelly MacLean, Vice President, Amazon DSP ## How it works Take a travel company launching a campaign: - They upload first-party audience signals to Amazon DSP. - Brand+ combines these with Amazon’s shopping and streaming signals, identifying high-value audiences who’ve searched for travel gear, purchased guides or streamed travel shows. - AI dynamically delivers TV and video ads to this audience across Prime Video, Twitch, Fox, Buzzfeed and other premium publishers. - The machine learning models continuously optimise the campaign in near real-time based on new engagement insights. > Brand+ has been a game changer for us, so much so that we are seeing more ROAS and better reach with customers that engage with our brand over time. Given the success we’ve had, we’re doubling down on our STV strategy in 2025 and are laser focused on Brand+. We’re excited to see the positive momentum and are looking forward to its continued impact for our brand and customers. > > Rajiv Ragu, Senior Vice President of Growth, Thorne ## The Bottom Line Brand+ is another major shift in how Amazon brands can leverage AI for more efficient and impactful TV and video advertising, with plenty of potential to reduce wasted ad spend and help brands reach audiences that actually matter. But, as ever, while automation makes audience targeting smarter and more scalable, success will still depend on strong creative, a data-driven approach and clear campaign objectives. With AI updates rolling out across the Amazon Ads landscape, now’s the time to get ahead of the curve – and our award-winning Amazon Ads Team is here to help you do just that, bringing bags of commercial clarity and smart strategy to the table. [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Hybrid Amazon Model: What is it? And is it right for your Brand? ](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-hybrid-amazon-model-what-is-it-and-is-it-right-for-your-brand/) **Published:** February 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover how the Hybrid Model on Amazon helps brands de-risk, scale, and maximise control over their strategy. **Content:** In our recent webinar\*, one question kept coming up – what is the hybrid model on Amazon, and why might brands choose to adopt it? Here’s the overview you need… \* [Watch “2024 in review: Lessons Learned and Strategies for a profitable 2025” on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) ## What if you didn’t have to choose? When it comes to selling on Amazon, brands usually see a simple choice between Seller or Vendor – but what if we told you that you didn’t have to choose one over the other? The Hybrid Model – by leveraging both Vendor Central and Seller Central – offers the best of both worlds, allowing brands to optimise performance, de-risk their business model and take greater control of their marketplace strategy. ## How does it work? In simple terms, the hybrid model means selling on Amazon as both a Vendor and a Seller, and allows brands to use each channel’s strengths to your advantage: - As a Seller (3P): You sell directly to customers, with direct control over listings, pricing and stock. - As a Vendor (1P): You sell in bulk to Amazon, who then resells your products – less hands-on involvement, but also less control in some areas. ## The benefits of going Hybrid For the right brands, a Hybrid strategy can unlock stability and scale in ways that a single-channel approach just can’t, enabling: - Greater Supply Chain flexibility – Vendor supports large volume sales while Seller allows you to manage stock and fulfillment independently. - De-Risked business model – Spreading sales across both models reduces dependence on a single channel; if one experiences challenges, the other can compensate. - More strategic pricing – Seller Central allows for quick pricing adjustments, while Vendors gain (or lose) from Amazon’s dynamic pricing. - Expanded market reach – Running both models maximises your brand’s access to Amazon’s marketing tools and promotions. - Better data – Seller accounts get valuable customer data, while Vendors receive Amazon market insights that can drive strategic decisions. - Stronger brand control – maintain ownership over content, brand messaging and customer interactions, protecting your brand identity in a competitive marketplace. ## Is Hybrid right for your Brand? A Hybrid approach isn’t for everyone – it adds operational complexity and requires strong commercial strategy to make both channels work effectively. But, for brands looking to scale, de-risk their business and gain the best of both Vendor and Seller models, we think it’s a strategy well worth considering. Want an expert opinion on whether Hybrid is best for your brand? [Speak to our specialists today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Watch our webinar, “2024 in Review: Lessons Learned and Strategies for a Profitable 2025” on demand.](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Retail Media in 2025: What’s next for Amazon Brands?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/retail-media-in-2025-whats-next-for-amazon-brands/) **Published:** March 4, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon retail media is evolving fast. Clean Rooms, AI, and new metrics are reshaping advertising success in 2025. **Content:** With Amazon’s dominance in retail media growing, brands need to stay ahead of the curve. But what are the key innovations shaping the space – and how can brands use them to drive better results? Here are our top 3, handpicked by our CEO, Andrew Banks… ## Clean Rooms: The Future of Attribution Amazon’s Clean Rooms are a real game-changer for Amazon brands, offering the power to step way beyond last-click attribution to dig deep into a multi-touch view of the customer journey. By allowing brands to compare their own first-party data with Amazon’s shopping, streaming and browsing data, these secure environments offer the kind of deep insight that brands have hankered after for years – and all without exposing raw customer information. Why do we think this matters? Because ours is now a multi-touch world. With Clean Rooms, instead of just seeing the final sale, brands can track how their ads have influenced buyers across touchpoints ranging from video ads to Sponsored Display. The takeaway? If you’re serious about precision targeting and data-driven ad strategies, learning how to leverage Clean Rooms (and getting comfortable with SQL) is non-negotiable. ## Generative AI: Amazon’s next Big Bet Amazon is integrating AI across retail media, making it easier for brands to auto-generate creative assets that are beautifully tailored both to different customer segments and seasonal trends. For brands, this means faster content creation, more personalised ads and greater efficiency in campaign management – although, as we’ve said before, the key to success here is to blend machine learning with human oversight; not complete reliance on AI output. The takeaway? Now’s the time to embrace what tech can do to help streamline and supercharge your creative processes – just be mindful of the limitations of artificial intelligence. Maintaining a personal touch while maximising all the benefits will keep your brand above the competition. ## The Evolution of Metrics: Life beyond ROAS & ACOS Amazon Ads is introducing deeper measurement tools, shifting the focus from traditional performance metrics like ACOS and ROAS to insights like video view duration and cross-channel engagement. With an ever-richer mix of data points, brands will be able to optimise their campaigns with pinpoint accuracy, using more granular data for smarter management and stronger ROI and leveraging new performance indicators to fine-tune campaigns with incredible precision. The takeaway? Going forwards, staying ahead on Amazon will depend on your brand adapting its measurement strategies to incorporate this expanded toolkit. ## The Bottom Line Retail media is evolving fast, and Clean Rooms, AI-driven automation and deeper performance metrics are shaping the next era of Amazon advertising – with more control and more data on the table to help brands create smarter strategies. Need an expert hand with your Amazon retail media strategy? [We won the prestigious Amazon Partner Awards for EMEA](https://venture-forge.com/venture-forge-triumphs-with-prestigious-award-at-amazon-ads-partner-awards/) and are at the forefront of Amazon Advertising. Our team is on hand to help your brand to success through 2025 and beyond – [click here to chat](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/)**.** ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Mastering Amazon Vendor Negotiations: what every Brand needs to know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/mastering-amazon-vendor-negotiations-what-every-brand-needs-to-know/) **Published:** March 7, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor negotiations are tough. Gain confidence, secure better terms, and take control with strategic steps. **Content:** Every year, Vendors face the same tough conversations: margin pressures, pricing battles and contract terms that don’t always seem to work in their favour. So if you’re preparing for your negotiations – or (worse) stuck in the middle of them, read on… The reality of Vendor negotiations? It’s not just about the cost price. It’s about securing a deal that genuinely supports your brand’s long-term success. ## Here are 3 steps to help you take control of talks instead of being dictated to. ### Step 1: Know your Numbers The brands that negotiate best are the ones that come armed with data, clarity and strategy. Before you begin, make sure you: - Understand your P&L right down to the SKU level – without this, you’re basically negotiating blind. - Don’t just focus on the price you get offered, factor in the full package. Logistics costs, marketing support and payment terms are important too. - Have a clear commercial strategy – exactly where does Amazon fit within your wider channel strategy? ### Step 2: You don’t have to just take what you’re offered Amazon’s Vendor Managers are trained negotiators, whose goal, first and foremost, is to get the best deal for Amazon. So your approach needs to be commercially savvy – not reactive. - Facing resistance on cost price increases? Don’t just back down – use your data to justify it. - Amazon unwilling to offer better terms? Look for alternative ways to balance your profitability, like leveraging Seller or Hybrid models. And if the deal just doesn’t work for your business? Be willing to say no. Sometimes, walking away from a bad deal is the best move, long-term. ### Step 3: Take Your Time Rushed deals rarely fall in favour of Vendors. Many brands feel under pressure to get a deal done quickly, but the truth is that Amazon expects negotiations to take time – and so should you. Successful Vendor negotiations involve: - Meticulous planning. Know where you need to win and what you can trade. - Internal buy-in. Your leadership teams need to grasp the nuances of Amazon. - Escalation paths. You need to know when you can and should push negotiations higher up Amazon’s chain. When brands rush to sign just to secure the next PO, they often lock themselves into terms they’ll regret later – remember, every negotiation provides a baseline for the next. ## The Bottom Line Just because Amazon is huge doesn’t mean you have to be a pushover. Winning Vendor negotiations comes down to confidence, preparation and knowing when to stand firm – all things that our expert panel discussed in a recent webinar, where the lowdown included: - How to secure a stronger bargaining position - What to do when Amazon pushes back - How to ensure compliance with your negotiated terms [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) Our dedicated Vendor team can help you get the best possible deal for your brand. Ready to talk? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to learn more. ## Useful Links - [Watch “Navigating Negotiations: From Negotiation to Governance and Enforcement” (1 hour)](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon vs. Temu: Why Shoppers Still Choose Speed, Trust and Quality](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vs-temu-why-shoppers-still-choose-speed-trust-and-quality/) **Published:** March 11, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s trust, speed, and reliability give brands a major advantage over Temu. Learn how to stay ahead. **Content:** Temu’s aggressive low-cost strategy is undoubtedly making waves, but new research shows that Amazon continues to hold a major advantage where it really counts: trust, reliability and speed… As [new data from Omnisend](https://www.omnisend.com/temu-vs-amazon-price-trust-report/) reveals that a massive 87% of shoppers trust Amazon (compared to just 5% for Temu), with many Temu products clearly imitating well-known brands and those surveyed reporting potential review manipulation, it’s clear that brands selling on Amazon have a real opportunity to leverage their credibility to stay ahead. So how can your brand double-down on trust and authenticity – not to mention Amazon’s super-fast delivery times – to win in this increasingly price-sensitive market? Our experts explain… ## Speed still sells Temu’s delivery times just can’t compete with Amazon’s infrastructure – and that’s a key advantage. While Amazon Prime members get their orders the same or next day, Temu customers often wait weeks for their deliveries. So, especially if your products are eligible for FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), you’ve already got a massive competitive edge, with faster delivery bringing higher conversion rates and stronger customer retention – and Prime bringing better Buy Box potential and overall visibility. How to take advantage: - Prioritise FBA to keep your products Prime-eligible and benefit from Amazon’s massive logistics network and Buy Box visibility. - Optimise your stock levels – fast shipping means nothing if your products are out of stock. - Use Amazon’s fastest delivery options (Same-Day, One-Day) wherever possible to set yourself apart. ## Trust = Conversions Price might be Temu’s biggest hook, but trust is still the ultimate deal-breaker for many consumers – and here, Amazon trumps Temu everywhere that matters: - Amazon products average 50,000 reviews per listing, while Temu has just 1,500 on average. - The research reported that many Temu reviews disappear or get manipulated, raising serious credibility concerns. - Brand imitation is a widespread issue on Temu, with copies mimicking packaging and product appearance. For Amazon brands, this is an opportunity to reinforce your authenticity and build even greater trust with customers. To do this? - Showcase verified reviews and encourage authentic customer feedback to strengthen your credibility still further. - Use Amazon’s Brand Protection tools to safeguard against counterfeits and unauthorised sellers. - Leverage A+ Content & Brand Stores to establish a premium, trustworthy brand presence. ## Authenticity is more important than ever The study found that 77% of Amazon’s product catalogue has an equivalent on Temu – but that many are low-quality copies. For brands selling on Amazon, this is a key differentiator – customers want to know they’re getting the real thing. How to take advantage: - Educate your customers, using Enhanced Brand Content to highlight your product quality, materials and certifications. - Price smartly. This isn’t a race to the bottom – you want to emphasise the added value of authentic, high-quality goods. - Monitor competitor listings – and if your product is being imitated, be proactive with Amazon’s Brand Registry & IP protection tools. ## Amazon’s Own Answer to Temu: Haul Amazon isn’t ignoring the rise of ultra-low-cost shopping – they’re actively fighting back. Before Christmas, we talked about the US launch of Amazon Haul, the retail giant’s own low-cost shopping experience focused on fashion, home, lifestyle and electronics. And, as we anticipated, Haul looks set to expand into the UK & Europe later this year. For brands operating in these categories, this could be a serious opportunity to compete with Temu on Amazon’s own turf – we’ll keep you updated! ## The Bottom Line Amazon brands shouldn’t panic about Temu – but for those likely to be in direct competition, now’s the time to double down on the strengths that make Amazon the trusted choice for consumers. What do we see as the winning strategies for brands in 2025? - Leverage fast, Prime-eligible delivery (FBA & Same-Day shipping) to outpace Temu’s slow shipping model. - Reinforce trust in your brand through authentic reviews, verified branding and A+ content. - Position your products as premium, high-quality and guaranteed – all things that Temu struggles to offer. - Keep an eye on Amazon Haul as a new sales channel for low-cost categories. Want expert guidance on how to keep your Amazon strategy strong in the face of rising competition? [Speak to our award-winning team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Your Guide to Amazon’s AI-Generated Product Enrichment Updates](https://venture-forge.com/blog/your-guide-to-amazons-ai-generated-product-enrichment-updates/) **Published:** March 14, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is trialling AI generated product enrichment. Brands must act fast or risk automatic updates. Here’s what to know. **Content:** Amazon is trialling AI-generated product enrichment with a pilot scheme designed to enhance listings automatically. For those brands chosen as part of the pilot, the catch is that, if you don’t respond in time, these AI-generated updates will go live by default. If this is you, here’s what you need to know to take control of your product listings and get the most from this pilot… ## What’s Happening? For brands picked to participate, Amazon’s AI-generated product enrichment programme will suggest updates to your listings – ranging from improved descriptions to richer attributes – all based on AI analysis. Then: - You’ll receive an email with proposed updates. - You can agree or disagree with the changes before the feedback deadline. - If you don’t respond, Amazon will publish the AI-generated updates automatically. - You can request changes after the deadline, but it’s more manual. ## How to Take Control of Your Listings - Download the proposed updates – Amazon will provide an Excel file containing the suggested changes to your product listings. - Review & provide your feedback – go through the proposed updates carefully and, if you agree? You don’t need to do anything – they’ll be published automatically. If you don’t? Update the Excel file with your amends and save it. - Upload your feedback before the deadline – this will ensure you end up with the content you want. - Monitor your listing status – keep an eye on your Seller Central account for any follow-up actions that might be needed. ## The Bottom Line This AI trial could be useful for some but, with no opt-in or opt-out offered, those brands chosen will need to stay proactive to keep control over their listings. If you’re happy to let AI do its thing, you can let the changes roll in. But if accuracy, brand messaging or compliance are key concerns for you, it’s critical to review and respond before the deadline. Need help to optimise your Amazon listings and stay ahead of AI-driven changes? [Speak to our team of experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Germany charging for packaged returns? The lowdown you need](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-germany-charging-for-packaged-returns-the-lowdown-you-need/) **Published:** March 18, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Germany is charging for some returns with packaging. Here’s what this shift means for Sellers. **Content:** A subtle but significant change is rolling out on Amazon Germany – for the first time, some customers are being charged for returning products with packaging while box-free returns remain free. Here’s what it means for Sellers… Amazon introduced box-free returns in Germany back in 2022, allowing customers to return items without outer packaging by simply dropping them at designated lockers or collection points. But now? In what is still only in a limited rollout, some packaged returns (packaged meaning those in boxes or bags) are incurring charges of €1.95 to €2.95. The issue? Incentivising customers to ditch the boxes might have a welcome and positive environmental angle but the impact on Sellers is likely to be more complex – let’s dive a little deeper… ## What does it mean for Sellers? ### A shift in shopper behaviour? German consumers already have a track record of returning items with minimal or no packaging — think taped-up shoeboxes with return labels attached. And with this change, Amazon could be encouraging even more returns that skip the external box altogether – which sounds like a win for the environment, but could cause headaches for brands selling items like footwear, electronics or cosmetics, where intact branded packaging is crucial to making a product resellable as new. ### A potential positive for FBA Brands On the flip side, Amazon’s returns guidance suggests that box-free returns are only being offered for FBA or Amazon-sold items. That could give Sellers using FBA a better customer experience than merchant-fulfilled competitors — especially if free returns continue to be a purchase decision driver in key markets like Germany. ### Resalability still needs to be factored in Even if the return is free and fast, Sellers will still need to plan for the condition of their returns. After all, box-free doesn’t mean damage-free — and it could become harder to resell items as new if core components or packaging are returned damaged or incomplete. ## Key takeaways for brands selling into Germany This shift towards box-free returns is a welcome part of Amazon’s strategy to cut waste and reduce emissions, but Sellers need to be alert to the practical and commercial impact. Here are some tips from our experts to keep your box-free returns in profit-making condition: ### Review your packaging Could your product be returned without external protection and still be resaleable? ### Track return condition data If box-free returns lead to a rise in unsellable stock, it’s time to raise a flag. ### Use FBA wisely It’s looking like box-free returns may be FBA-exclusive – could this be a reason to review your fulfilment strategy in the German market? [Our award-winning team](https://venture-forge.com/about-us/) has all the know-how you need to succeed across international marketplaces. Love to discover how we helped Kodak Batteries power international expansion through Amazon Germany and beyond? [Read the case study here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/kodak-batteries-germany/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Sellers - Have you booked your spot at Amafest UK yet?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/sellers-have-you-booked-your-spot-at-amafest-uk-yet/) **Published:** March 21, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amafest UK returns this October. Don’t miss the UK’s top free Amazon Seller conference packed with expert insights. **Content:** One event no Seller wants to miss? The annual Amazon Sellers Conference is back – we’ve got the details you need, and the links to secure your spot… The UK’s largest free Amazon Seller conference, Amafest UK brings together industry experts, leading Amazon pros and hundreds of Sellers – new and experienced – all looking to sharpen their strategies and take their business to the next level. This year, the event is being held in Brighton on 17 October 2025, with doors opening at 9am and the event closing at 5pm. The programme itself begins at 10am, and there will be networking drinks afterwards until 8pm. ## What’s on the agenda? The speaker line-up is still growing, but the agenda already promises plenty of value for both new and established Sellers, with: - **Actionable Strategies**: From PPC to Amazon Marketing Cloud, speakers will cover what’s working right now. - **Expert Panels & Talks**: Attendees can hear from legal, logistics and retail pros, including confirmed speakers like Anthony Famularo (Attorney for Amazon Sellers) and Lorna Leaver (GS1 UK). - **Live Q&As**: Your opportunity to ask the questions that matter to your business. - **Supplier Showcase**: With helpful advice from suppliers and service providers. - **Invaluable Networking**: The chance to join like-minded Sellers and Amazon pros both during the day and at pre and post-event drinks (your first is on the house). ## In our experience? For Sellers at all stages, it’s a day packed with practical insights and straight-talking advice from people who live and breathe Amazon every day – a chance to hear what’s working right now, ask your questions and leave with tactics you can use. ## Useful Links - [Learn more about Amafest UK here](https://amafestuk.com/?cn-reloaded=1) - [Get your tickets here](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amafestuk-amazon-sellers-conference-tickets-1119227422349?aff=oddtdtcreator&_eboga=460871654.1742912068&_ga=2.265522575.1269096973.1742912068-460871654.1742912068) - **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendor Chargebacks: Losing Money Unnoticed?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-chargebacks-losing-money-unnoticed/) **Published:** March 25, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor chargebacks could be draining your profits. Act now to recover lost revenue before it’s too late. **Content:** One of the toughest truths for Vendor brands is that chargebacks could be costing you far more than you think – and the longer it’s left unresolved? The harder it is to reclaim lost revenues. We’ve got the info you need to get started… ## Chargebacks – the silent profit drain Alongside the fact that many Vendors are simply giving money up that should rightly be theirs, the biggest issue with chargebacks is that most don’t even realise how much they’re losing – or that they could get it back. From fulfilment discrepancies to invoicing errors and compliance missteps, we’ve seen cases where thousands have been quietly drained from Vendors’ profits every single month. With the complexity of Amazon’s systems, many brands just don’t have the time or resources to spot what they’re missing, let alone recover it. And if you don’t act within the allowed claim window? That money becomes unrecoverable. ## What can Vendors do about it? We’ve got two things for you – a great resource, and an exceptional service. For those looking to learn more, [this on-demand webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/chargeback-insights-protecting-your-amazon-revenue?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) saw our team of experts dive deep into the intricacies of dispute resolution and proactive prevention, with the insights you need to recover up to £150k in lost revenues for your brand. But if your Vendor brand doesn’t have the time or internal know-how to tackle the issue? Our Chargeback and Cash Recovery team is at your service, ready to: - Conduct a full audit of historic chargebacks to your account, flagging missed payments, errors and reconciliation issues. - Handle the whole claims process for you, dealing direct with Amazon so you don’t have to. - Help you put the right processes in place to plug the gaps going forwards. And all on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis, so there’s zero risk for you. As one of our Vendor clients recently put it: *“We had no idea how much revenue we were losing in chargebacks until Venture Forge stepped in. Their expertise in claim recovery helped us reclaim lost funds and optimise our processes to prevent future losses.”* ## The Bottom Line If your Amazon Vendor account hasn’t been audited for chargebacks recently, there’s a good chance you’re leaving profits on the table – and the longer you wait, the more unrecoverable that money becomes. Want to protect your margins and unlock lost cashflow? Our specialist team is here to help – [get in touch to learn more](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Smarter Sponsored Brands: Are Placement Modifiers Right for You?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/smarter-sponsored-brands-are-placement-modifiers-right-for-you/) **Published:** April 2, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon's Sponsored Brands placement modifiers offer smarter targeting, but are they right for your strategy and goals? **Content:** Amazon Ads have quietly rolled out a powerful new feature for Sponsored Brands campaigns – placement modifiers that let you specifically target new-to-brand (NTB) customers. But while it sounds like a win for smarter targeting, is it always the right move for your strategy? It sounds promising – more control, better targeting – but how do you know if these placement modifiers are worth it for your strategy? Courtesy of the brilliant [Elfie Brocklehurst](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), one of the Venture Forge team’s Amazon Ads gurus, here are 4 key factors to consider before diving in… ## Think about how people shop in your Category Customer behaviour differs massively from category to category – in some, top-of-search visibility drives fast conversions, in others, customers prefer to browse, compare and shop around before buying. It’s crucial to understand what your potential buyers are doing before you jump in, so you can better tailor your placement to meet them at the perfect stage in their journey. ### Our take? Use tools like Helium 10 to understand your category’s buying habits before you invest in high-visibility placements that might not align with how your customers shop. ## Are you selling to Businesses? If a portion of your Amazon sales does – or could – come from B2B buyers, B2B-specific placements could be worth exploring. These customers often buy in bulk, are more price-conscious and may be less brand-loyal – but they can drive serious revenue when targeted effectively. ### Our take? Before using B2B placement modifiers, assess how much of your catalogue is relevant to business buyers – and see whether there’s untapped potential to grow that audience. ## What’s your Customer Lifetime Value? This one’s key – especially in FMCG. If you’re in a category with high repeat potential, modifiers that attract new-to-brand customers can pay dividends over time – even if they don’t always deliver the lowest ACOS straight out of the gate. ### Our take? Think beyond today’s conversion. Where lifetime value is high, it’s always worth investing in those first impressions… ## Where are you in your own Amazon Journey? When it comes to making decisions on how to invest in Amazon, your band’s maturity on the marketplace should be a big part of what shapes your strategy. ### Our take? If you’re new to Amazon, look to placements that maximise visibility and discoverability. On the other hand, if your brand is more established now could be the perfect time to refine and optimise, using NTB placement modifiers to attract NTB customers, build loyalty and grow your market share. And if you’re already running Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)? This is the place to turn to get even more insight to guide your decisions. ## The Bottom Line Sponsored Brand placement modifiers can be a great tool – but (you guessed it!) only when backed by the right data and aligned to your brand’s own unique growth goals. Used well, they can help you reach the right audience, improve efficiency and support your long-term growth on Amazon. Used blindly? Like so many things in paid advertising, they’ll burn your budgets fast. If you’d like our award-winning take on your Sponsored Brands strategy, Elfie and our Amazon Ads experts are on hand to help bring the data-led insights, creative execution and commercial clarity you need for profitable growth. [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon Ads insights, follow Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are you using Shoppable Videos to their full potential yet?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-using-shoppable-videos-to-their-full-potential-yet/) **Published:** April 4, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s shoppable video updates boost visibility and reduce returns. Learn how to use them effectively. **Content:** One recent Amazon update that we think more brands should be taking notice of? The expanded reach of shoppable videos. Join us as we explore what’s new… From Q4 2024, Amazon quietly rolled out two meaningful enhancements that are easy to miss, but well worth your attention if you want to boost conversions and reduce returns across marketplaces. ## What’s new? ### Cross-Listing Placements You can now share your shoppable product videos across related product listings – meaning that, if your product has multiple variations (like size or colour), the same video can now appear on all variation pages, increasing its visibility and its impact. ### Global Video Sharing Upload your product video once (for example, to Amazon.com) and, wherever possible, Amazon will now display it across your listings in other global stores automatically — including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca and others. ## Why does this matter? Amazon’s own data suggests that video content on product listings can reduce return rates by up to 40%, and it’s not hard to see why, with better informed customers equalling fewer surprises at delivery – and therefore fewer costly returns for you. And even more than that? We know that video plays a powerful role in building buyer confidence, improving conversion rates and helping your brand stand out across highly competitive categories. ## So. Are you making the most of this feature yet? For global Sellers and those with large variation ranges, these recent changes represent a low-effort, high-impact way to scale your best creative assets and strengthen your listings fast. Amazon’s testing means results might not always be instant – but once active, we think the potential to enjoy an easy-win impact is well worth it. ## Where to find it - Go to Upload & Manage Videos tool in Seller Central - Select related variations and check visibility in global stores Need an expert eye on your video strategy? Our award-winning team are here for you – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What rising Amazon prices in the US mean for UK Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-rising-amazon-prices-in-the-us-mean-for-uk-brands/) **Published:** April 8, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Rising Amazon fees are squeezing margins. Here’s what UK brands should learn from US sellers’ pricing strategies. **Content:** Amazon prices in the US are rising sharply, with nearly two-thirds of sellers increasing their prices in 2024, according to new [research from SmartScout](https://www.smartscout.com/reports/amazon-inflation-outpaces-national-average) largely in response to increased FBA fees. But even with those increases, many say their margins are still being squeezed – we explore what that might mean for Amazon brands in the UK… While UK fee structures aren’t identical to the US store, the direction of travel is very much the same and UK-based Sellers and Vendors are facing their own set of rising costs – from storage charges to fulfilment fees. And, with many brands already operating on tight margins, is it time to consider your own price increases? ## Here’s what we know… The SmartScout figures reported that 65% of sellers said they’d raised their prices due to fee hikes, but 60% were still reported lower YoY profitability. As we see it, there’s a [lesson here for all brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/key-lessons-from-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-what-brands-need-to-know/) – just raising your prices won’t alleviate pressures on your margins if you’re still leaking profits elsewhere. And interestingly, what these figures also showed was that passing cost increases to customers doesn’t necessarily hurt sales – if you can clearly communicate value. ## The importance of strong messaging As Amazon experts, we’d never recommend becoming embroiled in a race to the bottom. Instead, in this kind of climate, it’s more crucial than ever to reinforce what makes your products worth the price. Take the time now to refocus on your listings, and optimise them to emphasise your: - Product quality - Fast, reliable fulfilment (especially FBA) - Sustainability or ethical sourcing - Consumer trust and brand reputation And you’ll be much better placed to balance rising costs with your customer’s expectations. ## How UK Brands Can Respond to Rising Amazon Prices in the US Our experts have 4 action points for you: - Make sure you’re reviewing your pricing strategy regularly, using good data to track your costs, your margins and what your competitors are doing. The key is not to delay necessary changes, but not to raise blindly either. - Take the time to audit your FBA performance – are your fees where they should be? Could storage or inventory levels be optimised? - Double down on your messaging, making sure your listings, A+ Content and ads highlight your USPs and product values. - And think beyond price – customers will pay more if they trust you, love the product and get the benefit. ## The Bottom Line Wherever your brand is based, most Amazon businesses are facing the same challenges; rising costs, tighter margins and customers who expect more for their money. It’s our considered opinion that the brands that survive won’t be the cheapest – they’ll be the sharpest. If you need some commercial rigour, clarity and vision on your side, our Amazon experts are ready to step in – [click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Vendor Basics that could be costing you Growth](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-vendor-basics-that-could-be-costing-you-growth/) **Published:** April 11, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Overlooking Vendor basics on Amazon could be quietly draining your growth and margins. Here’s what to fix. **Content:** One thing we’ve learned in our years working with Amazon Vendor brands? Overlooking the basics or letting them drift chips away at results over time and so, when performance stalls, it’s rarely the result of one big problem… In fact, more often, it’s a “death by a thousand cuts” scenario. Small, everyday issues can quietly stack up while your focus is elsewhere, slowly and steadily eating into your growth, your margins and your operational efficiency. ## Small issues, big impact But what are the most common culprits that we uncover when we review struggling Vendor accounts? We asked our [Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), who highlighted familiar concerns like: - Outdated A+ Content that doesn’t reflect your latest messaging or convert like it used to. - Ad budgets spread too thin across too many ASINs, diluting your impact. - AVS or AVN terms running passively, with no ongoing measurement of ROI or strategic input. - Missing alt text on images, making your listings less accessible and discoverable. - Cluttered or duplicated listings that cause confusion for customers – and the algorithm. - A product catalogue that’s grown reactively, without the structure or segmentation needed to scale. Individually of course, these are all fixable. But because they rarely seem urgent, they often get pushed down the to-do list – even though they’re eating into your bottom line every single day. And the real problem is that, when they’re combined, they’ve got the power to quietly grind your performance to a halt. ## Getting back on track starts with clearing the clutter We often tell brands that the route to Vendor success on Amazon isn’t about doing more – it’s about doing the right things consistently and properly. That includes: - Regularly reviewing and refreshing your creative content to ensure it converts. - Prioritising high-impact ASINs in your ad strategy, and scaling from there. - Evaluating every cost and programme through a commercial lens – if it’s not delivering, it’s time to make a change. - Cleaning up your catalogue and structuring your range around customer needs, not internal logic. Getting on top of these factors will bring you better efficiency and margins, see your team take smarter decisions and leave you with a foundation that will help your brand scale to all-new heights. Love our expert opinion on your Vendor setup? Our Vendor experts can run a comprehensive review, pinpoint what’s blocking your performance and help you get things back on track. [Chat with our Vendor specialists today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Is your Amazon Vendor strategy working as hard as it should?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/is-your-amazon-vendor-strategy-working-as-hard-as-it-should/) **Published:** April 15, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Is your Amazon Vendor strategy holding you back Learn the key areas to review and sharpen your performance. **Content:** Amazon moves fast, and if your Vendor strategy’s stuck in the past? It might already be holding you back… With retail terms changing every year, ad performance and content rules on continual evolution and the competition only getting stronger, standing still is rarely a smart option for an Amazon Vendor. And that’s why we’re encouraging all Vendor brands to press pause for a moment and take a closer look at their Amazon set up. Because staying ahead of the loop isn’t just about doing more, it’s about making sure what you’re already doing is working as hard as it should. ## Smart Vendor Brands are reassessing their… The most agile Vendor brands are the ones that take the time to reevaluate and out a renewed focus on doing the fundamentals brilliantly – something that’s all the more crucial in this rather fraught market we find ourselves in through 2025! But what should you be looking at? Here are just a few examples from our [Head of Vendor, Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), of the steps that are driving better results right now: ### Trimming ad waste Have ad budgets that are spread thin across many ASINs? Refocus them on top performers, and cut or refine low-ROI campaigns. ### Use exclusive bundles to protect margins Creating Amazon-only SKUs can help you sidestep direct price comparisons, safeguard profitability and create a point of difference. ### AVN (Accrual Vendor Negotiation) term reviews If you’re giving away value through marketing or damage allowances, is it actually generating growth for you? Reassessing these terms regularly is crucial to avoid giving away margin for nothing in return. ### Explore Retail Media opportunities Many brands are leaving visibility (and revenue) on the table by not using all the tools available. Whether it’s skipping Premium A+ content that could boost conversions or underusing ad formats like Sponsored Display or video ads (OTT), there could be untapped opportunities with the potential to drive better performance for you, so take the time to audit what you’re using – and what you’re not. ### Don’t forget the basics Strong content and clean catalogues are still a bedrock of Amazon success. What was once an “optimised” listing might now be outdated, and catalogues can quickly become flabby – review regularly, asking is every product earning its place? Are your images, A+ content and alt text still doing their job? None of these are revolutionary moves – just practical, high-impact adjustments that will sharpen your Vendor strategy without adding unnecessary complexity or faff. ## The Bottom Line Brands that grow consistently on Amazon aren’t the ones chasing the latest trends; they’re the ones regularly reassessing, refining and investing in the right areas. So if your Amazon strategy is quietly running in the background, now’s the time to ask if it’s still fit for purpose, and to adapt what’s not working for you. Our Vendor Services team is always happy to offer a second opinion – helping you spot exactly where your performance is being held back. Need their expert eyes on your Amazon setup? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our Head of Vendor Services, Travis Chappell on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Navigating the China Tariff Shockwaves Effectively on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/navigating-the-china-tariff-shockwaves-effectively-on-amazon/) **Published:** April 18, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** New US tariffs on China are shaking Amazon. Learn how brands can adapt supply chains pricing and strategy. **Content:** As the new US tariffs begin to shake up Amazon, we look at what brands relying on China can do to stay resilient… President Trump’s decision to raise China import tariffs to 145% has seen many Chinese Amazon Sellers begin to reconsider (aka raise) their pricing, or even to exit the US market completely – and in response, [Bloomberg reported that Amazon has cancelled orders from suppliers in China](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-09/amazon-cancels-some-inventory-orders-from-china-after-tariffs) and Southeast Asia to avoid rising costs, leaving some Amazon brands stuck with unsellable inventory and intensifying supply chain uncertainty. While things may still change again, and while the policy technically targets China alone, there’s no doubt that this is a situation where the impact will be felt much further afield. And indeed those effects are already being reported by some vendors, with reports of everything from cancelled POs and squeezed margins to vanishing Amazon support. So, amidst all this uncertainty, what can your Amazon brand do to stay resilient through the storm? We asked our experts for their advice. ## 1. Reassess your cost structures - Start by mapping out your full supply chain – from raw materials to manufacturing, freight and import duties – so you can pinpoint where the tariff increases might hit you hardest. This will help you understand which SKUs are most exposed. - Next, model out your revised landed costs and assess the knock-on effects on your margin and retail pricing. Will certain products still be profitable under the new cost structure? If not, you’ll need to decide whether to reprice, delist or find efficiencies elsewhere. - It’s also worth having honest conversations with your suppliers. Can costs be shared? Are there alternative suppliers outside the affected regions? Some may be open to renegotiating if it means preserving long-term relationships. ## 2. Get ahead of pricing strategy - Don’t panic and apply sweeping price hikes across the board. Instead, review your pricing and see where you can be flexible. Can you absorb some cost increases? Where could price rises damage your conversions? - Rethink how you communicate value. If cheaper alternatives are gaining ground, now’s the time to double down on differentiating your products with stronger messaging around trust, Prime eligibility, delivery speed and product quality – all things that matter to Amazon customers, especially in a market that’s volatile. ## 3. Review your market priorities - If selling into the US is becoming unviable? It might be time to shift your ad spend and catalogue focus elsewhere – say the EU or Canada – choosing markets that offer less volatility and stronger currency performance for some. - Look for the opportunities. If Sellers are leaving the US because of the tariffs, is there potential for your brand to exploit a new gap? If your cost base is more favourable, now’s the time to step up visibility and market share as competition shrinks. ## 4. Protect your Vendor or Seller relationship - If you’re a 1P Vendor, cancelled orders could impact everything from your forecasts to your inventory management and cashflows. Make sure to monitor your POs closely and flag any irregularities early. - In times of uncertainty, communication with your Vendor Manager is crucial. But it’s equally important to have a plan B. A hybrid selling model (Vendor and Seller) can help brands stay agile, balancing risk and retaining more control over pricing and stock in unpredictable markets – [speak to our experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) if you want more advice. ## The Bottom Line Yes, we’re in a period of unpredictability – but this is no time for your brand to sit still. The best-prepared Amazon brands are the ones who understand their exposure, actively model their risks and adapt their strategies to stay resilient in the face of changing economic realities. Whether you need to reshape your international strategy or want to look for new opportunities, our award-winning team is on hand to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Lower FBA Fees coming for Fashion, Bags & Accessories](https://venture-forge.com/blog/lower-fba-fees-coming-for-fashion-bags-accessories/) **Published:** April 25, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is lowering FBA fees for fashion, accessories and handbags. Here is what brands need to know now. **Content:** Good news for Sellers of clothing, accessories, backpacks and handbags, with lower FBA fees coming next month… From May 15th 2025, Amazon is making a small but potentially significant update to the way it calculates FBA fees for clothing & accessories and backpacks & handbags – welcome news for many Sellers in these categories. Here’s what you need to know… ## What’s Changing? At the moment, fulfilment fees are based on the greater of your product’s unit weight or its dimensional weight – meaning that lighter but bulkier items (like handbags, for example) can incur higher fees than expected. But, as of 15 May 2025, that’s changing for Clothing & Accessories and Backpacks & Handbags: - FBA fees will be calculated using parcel size tier + unit weight only. - Dimensional weight will no longer apply to these categories — which means lower FBA fees for most items in this space. - Seven new parcel size tiers are being introduced to allow for more accurate fee calculations. ## Other Fee News: A win on Returns too And it doesn’t end there – Amazon will also waive returns processing fees for backpacks and handbags, even for those sold after the February 1st 2025 returns fee introduction. That means: - If your products fall into those categories, you’ll get reimbursements automatically, with no action required. - This exemption applies going forward too, removing an extra margin pressure for high-return rate products. ## Where do these changes apply? The new FBA fee structure will apply across: - Local and Pan-EU FBA - European Fulfilment Network - Remote Fulfilment between the UK and EU - Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP) programme - In Amazon’s UK, DE, FR, IT and ES stores Note: There’s no change to fees for Low-Price FBA items or Oversize products. ## What should Brands do now? If you’re selling in these categories, our advice is: - Recalculate your profit margins post-May 15th – you might have more room to manoeuvre than before. - Revisit your product strategy, because items that weren’t commercially viable under the old fee structure might now be worth scaling. - Optimise your packaging to hit the best possible parcel size tier – small changes here could yield strong savings at scale. ## The Bottom Line In an environment where costs have continued to rise, it’s refreshing to see a fee update that genuinely favours Sellers — particularly those in high-return categories or dealing with bulky-but-lightweight SKUs. For brands in Fashion, Accessories and Lifestyle, this could be just the margin-boosting opportunity you need. Love a little help to boost your margins, optimise your FBA performance or scale your profitability across new markets? We’re ready when you are – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What Smart Brands will do differently now Prime Day is 4 days long](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-smart-brands-will-do-differently-now-prime-day-is-4-days-long/) **Published:** May 13, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Prime Day is now four days long. Here’s how smart brands will adapt and plan for growth. **Content:** Amazon’s expanded Prime Day says a lot about the state of retail – as well as what your brand should be doing now… Amazon’s Prime Day just became Prime Week. And it’s a move that matters. Why do we say this? Well, our experts see the event’s extension from 48 hours to 4 full days as signalling a pivotal shift in Amazon’s strategy – which, as with all these things, will be a warning shot for some and a great opportunity for those agile enough to respond in a strategic and considered way. From our perspective of working with enterprise brands across the Amazon ecosystem, this move points to three key changes in the marketplace – all of which should shape how you prepare, position and perform this year. ## 1. Amazon needs the uplift – and quickly With US tariffs rising and consumer confidence fragile, Amazon is under pressure to drive results, and extending Prime Day gives them: - More time to generate sales - Smoother logistics - A bigger Q3 revenue story to present to the markets ### For brands? A longer event is definitely good news – if you’re smart about it. More selling days equals more media space, more customer intent and a bigger window of opportunity to drive profitable growth. It’s not a time for knee-jerk reaction – start now by putting your strategy hats on, pore over your best data and rework your planning accordingly. ***Need help?*** ***Our experts are on hand to bring commercial clarity, rigour and vision to your Prime Day Planning. Get in touch now.*** ## 2. Prime Day is now a Full-Blown Retail Season This extension means that what began as a mid-year flash sale has become a major moment in the global retail calendar as of 2025 – and Amazon has the data to back it and the scale to make it stick. Amazon is using Prime Day to: - Control demand - Clear inventory - Drive a surge in ad revenue - Dominate attention across multiple verticals ### For brands? We expect Amazon to push this and more of its events even further, and the brands who do the best will be the ones ready to respond. This means planning earlier, aligning your teams and making Prime Day – and potentially other Amazon events – a key sales season in your core annual strategy. ## 3. It’s a Massive Data Play As much as they’re chasing revenues, Amazon is also chasing insights. Doubling the length of the event brings more: - Shopper data - Conversion behaviour - Ad performance metrics - Search term visibility And all of this can be used to power their machine learning, ad placements and Buy Box algorithms. ### For brands? Get on the bandwagon! This is a golden opportunity to gather richer data that you can use to inform your future media, pricing and product decisions. ## Smart Brands should definitely do this… If you’re discounting: - Be super-selective. Only discount SKUs with strong margins and high availability. - Pair every deal with sponsored ads to boost visibility and organic search rank. - Use the momentum to grow your customer base, not just your revenues. If you’re not discounting: - Lead with brand – focus on exclusivity, sustainability or quality messaging. - Leverage the traffic surge with high-performing creative and targeted ad spend. - Use the moment to focus on customer acquisition, test new product launches and/or bundle offers to boost engagement and conversions. ## The Bottom Line Prime Day’s expansion isn’t just a retail update – it’s a roadmap to where Amazon is heading, and it points to a future marketplace environment of: - Longer events - Stronger media pressure - Higher customer expectations; and – most importantly… - Bigger opportunity gaps for agile brands Our expert opinion? The brands that will win in this new Amazon landscape will be the ones that can be agile across every aspect; pricing, supply chain, Amazon ads and brand. They’ll be the ones who are the best prepared. And they’ll have the best plans. Need help building your best-performing Prime strategy yet? Our award-winning team is here to help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon Ads insights like this, follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Can Amazon’s Grade & Resell really turn Returns into Revenue](https://venture-forge.com/blog/can-amazons-grade-resell-really-turn-returns-into-revenue/) **Published:** May 16, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Grade and Resell feature helps Sellers recover value from returns. Here’s how it can boost profitability. **Content:** Amazon’s Grade & Resell has changed how brands handle returns – here’s why it’s worth adding to your toolkit… Returns are a frustrating but unavoidable part of life for Amazon Sellers – but yes, Amazon’s Grade and Resell programme does have the potential to turn that pain point into a profit centre. Currently available in six marketplaces including the UK, this relatively under-the-radar feature allows FBA Sellers to relist returned stock, graded and priced according to condition, giving your products a second life and your brand the chance to recoup lost margins. We think it’s definitely worth considering for your Seller strategy – but how does it work? ## Amazon’s Grade & Resell in a Nutshell With Grade & Resell, eligible FBA returns are assessed and automatically listed as used items, with Amazon assigning one of four condition levels: - Used – Like New - Used – Very Good - Used – Good - Used – Acceptable Sellers are able to set pricing for each condition tier as a percentage of your product’s new price. And, once listed, these items appear in your inventory just like any other SKU – with the ability for you to adjust or remove them if you want. ## Not using Amazon’s Grade & Resell yet? These benefits might change your mind… With FBA Grade & Resell, you can: - Recover value from returns, converting write-offs into sellable inventory with minimal extra work. - Streamline return management by automating the process – no manual relisting or relabelling required. - Appeal to value-seeking & sustainability-conscious customers who know that secondhand doesn’t just mean cheaper; it’s part of a growing market aligned with environmental values. - Lower waste, higher margins – it helps you minimise liquidation and removal costs by reactivating stock that would’ve gone to waste. ## Seller Setup – Quick Guide Interested? It’s easy to set up, simply head to your FBA Settings > Automated Unfulfillable Settings, from where you can: - Opt in - Set your discount percentages for each grade - Exclude specific ASINs Once you’re enrolled, Amazon does the rest – and you gain an additional, low-effort channel to protect your bottom line. ## The Bottom Line If your returns are currently being written off, what do you have to lose? The FBA Grade and Resell programme is a smart and simple way to help you recapture some margin, reduce your waste and even boost your green credentials, helping you connect with sustainability-focused customers, not to mention those who just like a deal. For Sellers managing significant FBA volumes, it’s well worth a trial. And if you need any guidance? Our experts are here to help you turn missed opportunities into real growth – [get in touch with the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [This new Amazon update makes it easier to trial Deals & Vouchers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/this-new-amazon-update-makes-it-easier-to-trial-deals-vouchers/) **Published:** May 20, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new Deals and Vouchers update makes promotions more flexible and cost effective for brands to test. **Content:** Amazon just made testing promos a lot more accessible – we explore how to use the update to your advantage… We’re thrilled to see that Amazon has announced a series of updates to its Deals and Vouchers programme, all designed to give brands more flexibility, lower risk and better ROI when they’re running promotional campaigns outside of peak periods. The best change is the introduction of performance-based pricing, but we’re also loving the extra control over when and how long deals can run for. ## Why is this great for brands new to Amazon Deals and Promotions? For brands who’ve hesitated to run deals in the past due to fixed durations and upfront fees, this is a brilliant time to dip your toe, with the opportunity to test and learn without heavy upfront investment. ## What’s changing? ### 1. Flexible Deal Durations From 2 June 2025, you’ll be able to: - Run Best Deals on any day of the week\* - Choose your deal duration — anywhere from 1 to 14 days\* - Align your deals more strategically with your category trends, campaigns or supply position. \* These changes exclude Prime Day and Q4 Peak Events, where deal windows remain fixed. ### 2. Lower Fees, Performance-Based Pricing Amazon is shifting to performance-linked pricing to make experimentation less costly and more scalable: **Best Deals & Lightning Deals** - Upfront fee: £2.50 per day - Variable fee: 0.75% of sales (capped at £400 per deal) - Applies outside Peak Events **Vouchers** - Upfront fee: £2 per voucher - Variable fee: 1.5% of voucher sales - Applies year-round, including Peak Events ## Key Takeaways ### It’s great news for brands that: - Have been cautious about deal ROI - Want to trial promotions without big spend upfront; and/or - Need more agility to align promos with campaign activity Offering the potential to test new tactics and drive demand in a smarter and more controlled way. ### Brands should take advantage of the chance to: - Test & learn: With lower fees and flexible timing, this is perfect for experimenting with formats to see what best suits your objectives, margins and stock levels. - Optimise audience strategy: Pairing deals with paid media to amplify reach and performance. ### Don’t forget to plan Peak campaigns separately These changes don’t apply to Prime Day or Q4 events, so make sure to budget and strategise for those Events separately. Looking to integrate smarter promos into your wider Amazon strategy? Our award-winning team can help you test, learn and grow with commercial clarity, rigour and confidence – [click here to book a call today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Q1 2025 Results: What they mean for Sellers & Vendors](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-q1-2025-results-what-they-mean-for-sellers-vendors/) **Published:** May 23, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Q1 2025 shows growth, rising pressure and key shifts. Here’s what brands need to prepare for next. **Content:** Amazon’s Q1 growth is strong, but tariffs and promo pressure are rising – so what do brands need to plan for? ## Amazon Q1 2025: The Results are in Amazon has released its Q1 2025 results, and they’re a must-read – and a must-act-upon – for brands who rely on the platform for growth. With expert insights from our CEO, Andrew Banks, here’s our breakdown of what the numbers really mean for Sellers and Vendors, and (crucially) how you can prepare for what’s next. ## Retail is resilient Despite the economic headwinds to date this year, Amazon delivered solid YoY growth through Q1: - North America: $92.9B (up 8%) - International: $33.5B (up 5%, or 8% FX-neutral) ### What does this mean for brands? Obviously it’s good news that retail is resilient – but rising tariffs and shifting consumer sentiment could bring more volatility as we move through the year. We’ve all got our eyes firmly fixed on what’s happening – but now’s certainly the time for your brand to double down on what’s working, tighten up on what’s not and have contingency plans in place to cover where you might be affected. ## Efficiency is up – is more pressure on the way? Amazon’s Q1 also saw operating income climb: - North America: $5.8B - International: $1.0B For us this kind of margin focus, where Amazon has clearly shown that they’re tightening ops, controlling costs and boosting margins, signals some likely trends to come – namely tighter Vendor negotiations, stricter AVN terms and a stronger push for retail media to deliver ROI. ### What does this mean for brands? Brands should be on the lookout for pressure to deliver more value on Amazon’s terms – and be prepared to face a tougher stance on price hikes or missed metrics. These trends may not come to pass but, when it comes to pressure, it’s best to be prepared! ## Promos are working – so get strategic! Amazon says customers saved $500M+ in Q1 thanks to Spring events like: - The Big Spring Sale - Spring Deal Days - Ramadan Offers Promotions are clearly shifting volume – so, whether your brand discounts or not, your Q2 strategy needs to factor in the halo effect of these high-traffic events. And of course, the new, extended Prime Day is coming up fast, with rising ad costs and demand spikes expected to kick in from mid-June on. ### What does this mean for brands? Now’s the time to prioritise planning your pricing, inventory, campaigns and media strategy so that it aligns not only with Prime Day, but all of Amazon’s promo windows. This will put your brand in the best position to make the most of surging demand – even if you’re not running deals yourself. ## Tariff Pressure is Building [We went into detail about navigating increasing tariff pressures here](https://venture-forge.com/blog/navigating-the-china-tariff-shockwaves-effectively-on-amazon/) – but to reiterate, with around 18% of Amazon’s own products imported from China, and 60% of 3P sellers affected too, brands should prepare for real disruption. ### What does this mean for brands? The end of the “de minimis” exemption and incoming US tariff hikes could: - Increase product and landed costs - Force changes in sourcing or pricing; and/or - Lead to cancelled POs or stricter inventory controls If you’ve not already started making your operations as resilient as possible, don’t lose any more time – [you can head here for more detailed insights from our team](https://venture-forge.com/blog/navigating-the-china-tariff-shockwaves-effectively-on-amazon/). And if you need strong support on your side? Our experts are helping our clients actively rethink pricing strategy and cost structure ahead of Q3 – [join them and put your brand ahead of the competition too](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The lowdown on the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-lowdown-on-the-amazon-sustainability-accelerator/) **Published:** June 13, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Helping eco-conscious brands scale with Amazon Accelerator funding, mentorship and growth. **Content:** Amazon’s Sustainability Accelerator helps innovative green start-ups scale – is it one to watch for your brand? If your ethos revolves around building a more eco-conscious future, then the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator might be something for your radar in 2026. Now in its third year, the initiative supports early-stage businesses working across the circular economy, climate innovation and sustainable consumer products – with 2025’s consumer cohort including four stand-out UK brands. Applications for the consumer product programme closed in early March, but – for those of you who might be interested in applying next time round – here’s what you need to know. ## What is the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator? Amazon’s Europe-wide accelerator is a 10-week programme designed to support start-ups that are putting sustainability at the heart of their product, model or mission, and offers: - Equity-free funding and grants - Expert mentorship and workshops - Tailored business development support - Access to AWS computing resources - Guidance from Amazon’s innovation teams - Connections with Europe’s climate innovation community The past 2 cohorts have collectively raised more than £40m to date, and reported a 700%+ increase in sales since participating. ## Who got in this year? The 4 UK-based consumer product businesses selected for 2025 are: - Bantu Chocolate – with transparent production, ethical wages and regenerative agriculture at its core, Bantu’s goal is to tackle the social and environmental costs of chocolate production. - Composty – their plastic-free cleaning tools (like compostable sponges and cloths) that break down naturally after use help cut microplastic pollution at home. - Grace & Green – this B Corp period care brand offers certified organic, reusable and toxin-free products that reduce waste while supporting women’s health. - KWERKY – whose powdered oat and pea milk alternative has a radically lower carbon footprint than dairy or liquid plant milks, and no unnecessary water weight during transit. They join 4 more forward-thinking brands from across Europe, including skincare, cosmetics and sustainable pet foods – one created from insect-based proteins. ## The Intangible Benefits Beyond the obvious – the grant funding, resources and expert input – the Accelerator is a great move for green brands because it also gives: - A stamp of credibility that can open doors. - Valuable exposure to Amazon’s internal teams. - And access to a powerful community of like-minded founders. So, if you’re a sustainability-led brand looking to scale, getting onto a future cohort could be a game-changer – but you’ll need a well-articulated mission, a product that genuinely moves the needle, and a plan for real climate impact. Thinking of applying next year? Now’s the time to start refining your proposition – and your existing Amazon presence too. And if you’d love an expert eye on your side? [Speak to our team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Learn more about the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator here](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/sustainability-accelerator) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Brands: Are You Steering Your Own Amazon Vendor Strategy?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-brands-are-you-steering-your-own-amazon-vendor-strategy/) **Published:** June 10, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Learn to take control of your Amazon vendor strategy and drive results aligned with your business goals. **Content:** Who’s really driving your current Amazon strategy? Because if it’s your Vendor Manager, let’s have a rethink… What’s good for Amazon isn’t always what’s good for you. But too many brands confuse Amazon’s internal guidance with sound strategy – we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve heard clients say, “Our Vendor Manager told us to do it this way…” While your Vendor Manager might be helpful, their role isn’t to grow your business – it’s to make your account work for Amazon. And that’s a distinction that matters. ## Amazon’s KPIs aren’t your KPIs Begin by looking at the KPIs you’re being steered towards. Your Vendor Manager is being measured on: - The profitability of your account – from Amazon’s perspective. - Your inventory health – their job is to minimise overstock, not maximise your availability. - Your participation in programmes – whether that’s AVNs, Subscribe & Save or brand-funded promotions, their priority is to get you enrolled. None of these are inherently bad, and all have benefits for your brand. But if you’re not evaluating them through the lens of your own commercial targets, you risk being pulled into initiatives that eat away at your margins or skew your strategy. ## Tie your Strategy to your own business goals A winning Amazon strategy doesn’t come from a checklist of Amazon’s preferred programmes – it comes from you. Begin by asking yourself: - What are your commercial priorities for the year? (Revenue, profit, cash flow, market share?) - Which SKUs or categories are you focused on growing – and why? What does success look like across all your channels, and how do you want Amazon to contribute to that mix? - How can Amazon Ads support your wider funnel, not just Amazon’s margin? When you start from your own P&L, it becomes much easier to assess whether Amazon’s recommendations actually make sense for your brand. Sometimes, a programme or term does align with your goals. But when it doesn’t? You need to be confident enough to push back – with the data and direction to back up your decisions. ## Collaboration, not compliance Please don’t get us wrong – we’d never tell you to ignore your Vendor Manager, many are helpful, knowledgeable and genuinely want to support their brands. But they’re also navigating their own internal pressures to deliver for Amazon – and those don’t always translate to value for you. Successful Vendor brands treat the VM relationship as a collaboration, not a command structure, challenging advice that doesn’t serve their goals, backing their decisions with clear commercial logic and building strong internal alignment first – before bringing Amazon along for the ride. ## The Bottom Line You just need a Vendor strategy that’s led by your commercial priorities, not someone else’s sales targets. The smartest Vendor brands know when to say yes, when to say no and when to reframe the conversation around their own goals and metrics. So, if your strategy feels like it’s been shaped for you, not by you – now’s a great time to regain control. Our Vendor experts are on hand to set your brand in the right direction and get Amazon working for you – not the other way round. Love to chat? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Prime Day should serve your strategy - not the other way round](https://venture-forge.com/blog/prime-day-should-serve-your-strategy-not-the-other-way-round/) **Published:** June 5, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Helping brands build smart Prime Day strategies that drive growth, profitability and long-term success on Amazon. **Content:** The smartest approach to Prime Day? Treat it as a lever for long-term growth, not a one-off event. Here’s how… As [our CEO, Andrew Banks, posted on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_prime-day-isnt-a-strategy-its-a-trading-activity-7329043305877405696-0z0v?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k), “Prime Day isn’t a strategy. It’s a trading moment.” Every year, we see brands scrambling for Prime Day deals, discounts and ad space – chasing spikes in visibility and hoping for a short-term lift in sales. But, without a more strategic and holistic lens, that rush rarely delivers meaningful, sustainable results. So what do the smart Amazon brands do? Here’s what we’ve learned from supporting ambitious brands across multiple Prime events… ## Strategy always comes first On its own, participation in a Prime Event isn’t a strategy – it’s a tool that should plug into your broader commercial and channel goals. So, before you lock in any promotions, you should be asking, “What are we trying to achieve this year?” – are you: - Driving margins? - Building share in a high-growth category? - Protecting retail pricing across your channels? - Looking to offload overstock, or fund new product development? Whatever your wider aims are, if Prime Day doesn’t support them, then it risks being an expensive distraction. ## Think like a Trader, not a Marketer Your competitors have already shown their hand in previous events – use that data to your advantage, because you’d be amazed just how revealing it can be. Dig out last year’s Prime Day stats and look closely at: - Which SKUs your competitors promoted. - The types of offers they used – coupons? Lightning Deals? Price cuts? - How deep their discounts went, and how long they ran. - What happened next? Did they see positive changes to Best Seller Ranks or review velocity? What happened to their visibility and/or Sponsored Ad share? - And after the event, did they hold onto their gains or did they fade fast? All these answers are incredibly useful to your planning, and all the data you need is visible with the right tools. Once it’s in your grasp, you can use it to build a plan backed by evidence, not assumption. ## Be honest about the Business Problem you’re solving As Andrew says, “start with the problem, not the promotion”. Prime Day’s usefulness to you comes when you approach it with intention, and that means defining your challenge first. Do you need to: - Shift slow-moving inventory? - Boost short-term cash flow? - Launch a new SKU into a crowded market? - Fend off aggressive discounting from a key competitor? Yes, Prime Day can help – but only if your deals are structured to meet your main challenges head-on. ## Your Goals and Amazon’s are not the same Don’t participate just because Amazon wants you to, because your goals are not the same. Amazon wants volume, engagement and big, headline-grabbing numbers – but you need profitability, long-term visibility and a customer base you can build on. So if you’re getting involved, do it because it’s a move that aligns with your growth strategy and your commercial realities. ## The Bottom Line Smart brands treat Prime Day like any other trading opportunity – participation needs to align with their goals, their moves need to be informed by the best data and the execution needs to be precise and purposeful. This way, you can make Prime Day work for your brand, not just Amazon’s revenue targets – and that’s when the real results kick in for you. Need an expert hand to build an intentional, data-led Prime Day strategy? Our award-winning team is here to help you plan with commercial clarity and confidence – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon insights, follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Selling into Amazon Ireland just got a whole lot easier](https://venture-forge.com/blog/selling-into-amazon-ireland-just-got-a-whole-lot-easier/) **Published:** June 3, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Selling on Amazon.ie just got easier. Discover how UK brands can use Remote Fulfilment to grow sales. **Content:** Great news for UK brands looking to grow sales in Amazon’s newest store – Remote Fulfilment is live for [Amazon.ie](http://amazon.ie) Yes, it’s official – Amazon has launched Remote Fulfilment from the UK to Ireland, meaning that UK-based FBA sellers can now reach Irish customers via Amazon.ie without any additional logistics or VAT headaches. So if Ireland hasn’t been part of your EU growth plan yet, now’s a good time to take a fresh look. ## What’s new? With Remote Fulfilment with FBA, your existing UK FBA inventory can be used to fulfil Irish customer orders, with Amazon handling the legwork. And that means: - You don’t need to register for Irish VAT - You don’t need any additional storage - Amazon will manage your customs clearance and VAT collection - Your listings will be Prime-eligible on [Amazon.ie](http://amazon.ie) - You’ll pay lower fulfilment fees than UK domestic orders Simplified expansion and operational savings to boot? That’s a win-win. ## Who’s eligible? To use Remote Fulfilment to Ireland, you need to: - Be a professional seller - Be actively selling via FBA in both the UK and Ireland - Ensure products are under €150 in value - Comply with all product safety and regulatory requirement ## How to get started Already using FBA in the UK? Here’s how to expand: - Go to Remote Fulfilment with FBA in your Seller Central account. - Under Marketplace Enrolment, select the UK as your inventory country and Ireland as the destination. - Expand your listings via Automatic Listing Expansion (recommended) or add products manually in Amazon.ie Seller Central. Once set up, your listings will automatically become visible to Irish shoppers on [Amazon.ie](http://amazon.ie), and your orders will be fulfilled from your UK stock. ## The Bottom Line Whether you’re looking to test EU growth or just want to get more value from your UK inventory, this update offers a low-friction way to reach a new customer base – and establish a presence on a new marketplace – without overcomplicating your operations. And if you’d like help to map out your expansion strategy here, and elsewhere in Europe too? Our experts are here to help – [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [7 Lessons from Prime Day 2024 that you can apply to any Amazon Event](https://venture-forge.com/blog/7-lessons-from-prime-day-2024-that-you-can-apply-to-any-amazon-event/) **Published:** July 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day 2024 offers crucial lessons in planning, data, and strategy that apply to any Amazon Event. **Content:** What an event Prime Day 2024 was! Here at Venture Forge, we’ve been celebrating client results that beat the market by a long way – and we hope the Event was similarly kind to you. As always, the aftermath has left lots of data to ponder over, and lots of lessons to learn; some of which can be usefully applied to any Amazon Event (Black Friday, we’re looking at you…). So, what are these lessons? ## Lesson 1 – You don’t win Prime Day on Prime Day Success in any Amazon Event is down to the quality of your forward planning and pre-event execution. Done right, you’ll of course be busy on the day optimising where needed based on incoming data and, for the Amazon Ads people among you, maximising ROI and adjusting budgets to get the best performance. But even the planning for that work should be in place well in advance. So lesson one is that, if you put the right work in upfront, you’ll be perfectly positioned to reap the rewards on the day. ## Lesson 2 – Data is King/ Queen Having the best and most accurate data right at your fingertips is key to making the right moves. The clarity of the data we have at our disposal is a big part of how we achieved such great results for our clients throughout the 2024 Event, our whole team accessing and acting on it to trade in the most effective way for every one of our participating clients. ## Lesson 3 – Know your “Why” Our CEO Andrew Banks has said this many times before, and Prime Day is no different – when it comes to anything Amazon, you must know your “why” before you begin. That’s why we work to gain a deep understanding of what our client is looking to achieve from the very start of planning our strategy – so we know how to best use Prime Day to their advantage. ## Lesson 4 – Know your numbers And, with your “why” firmly in place, bring your P&L into the mix. Our team pores over detailed client P&Ls before we start strategizing, so we know their exact margins and can use that information to design a strategy that drives the outcome they want. ## Lesson 5 – Look to the past Yes, things change from Event to Event – but plenty stays the same. Leveraging data from previous Events, and looking specifically at how your category and competitors traded, can throw up plenty of invaluable insights that you can use to shape a powerful strategy for your brand. ## Lesson 6 – Be smart with your discounting Do you even need to discount on Prime Day? Not everyone does, and you can still win big through the Event with a smart strategy that takes advantage of the increased traffic – as we proved again this year. Some of our clients discounted, some didn’t – all of them won. ## Lesson 7 – It’s just retail Some people try to get too clever with Amazon – but the reality is that there are no secret sauces or little-known Agency hacks that bring Prime Day success. In the end? It might not be as seductive as the idea of an easy method that guarantees a win, but success in Amazon Events for your brand comes down to one thing. It’s just good, old-fashioned retailing. Our award-winning team has years of experience in getting the right results for our clients through Amazon Events (and beyond). Want us in your corner next time? [Just drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [This snippet was adapted from a LinkedIn post by our CEO Andrew Banks. For more like this, follow him here.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) - [Planning for Black Friday/ Cyber Monday success? Watch our key takeaways from last year here.](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazons-peak-playbook-translating-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-wins-into-long-term-gains) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Ready for GPSR? What Amazon Sellers Need to Know Before December](https://venture-forge.com/blog/ready-for-gpsr-what-amazon-sellers-need-to-know-before-december/) **Published:** February 15, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** GPSR takes effect on 13 Dec 2024. Ensure compliance for Amazon sales in the EU and Northern Ireland. **Content:** Selling in Northern Ireland and the EU? Find out if you’re affected by GPSR, and how to get ready for December’s deadline… The new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) comes into force on 13 December 2024, bringing new compliance requirements for most non-food consumer products sold in the EU – and Northern Ireland. Thing is, quite a lot of Amazon brands either haven’t started preparing themselves, or aren’t even aware of the GPSR. If this is you, there’s time to get ready – but you need to start now. ## Are we affected by GPSR? Very possibly. Even UK-only sellers find they’re making sales to Northern Ireland, and most non-food products fall within the scope of the regulations, except: - Food - Animal feed - Medicinal products for human or veterinary use - Living plants and animals (including genetically modified organisms and genetically modified microorganisms in contained use, as well as products of plants and animals relating directly to their future reproduction, like seeds) - Animal by-products and derived products - Plant protection products (like pesticides) - Equipment on which consumers ride or travel when that equipment is directly operated by a service provider within the context of a transport service provided to consumers, and not operated by the consumers themselves - Aircraft - Antiques So all you Amazon aircraft sellers can rest easy! For everyone else… What do we need to do to comply with GPSR? ## The key requirements of the regulations are that you must: - Make sure all the products you sell in the EU or Northern Ireland in the scope of the GPSR meet GPSR requirements, as well as existing labelling and traceability requirements. For more information, read [Amazon’s Product safety and compliance](https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/GUH6FA4XSJ2LZFLY). - Have a Responsible Person\* based in the EU for those products. - Label\* all the products with the contact information, including the postal and electronic address, of the Responsible Person. - Label\* all the products with the contact information, including the postal and electronic address, of the manufacturer and, if applicable, of the importer and, where different, the postal or electronic address of the single contact point at which they can be contacted. - Label\* all the products with the type, batch or serial number or other element to make it possible to identify the product, and ensure the information is easily visible and legible for consumers. - Display the Responsible Person’s name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, in online listings. - Display the manufacturer’s name and contact details, including the postal and electronic address, in online listings. - Display a product picture and any other information needed to identify the product in online listings. - Display warning and safety information, plus any other information concerning the labelling and marking required in compliance with applicable EU product safety and compliance law, in online listings, in the language of the country of sale. \* A “Responsible Person” can be the manufacturer or brand (if established in the EU), an importer established in the EU, an authorised representative established in the EU who is appointed in writing as the Responsible Person by the manufacturer or brand or a fulfilment service provider established in the EU, if no manufacturer, importer or authorised representative is established in the EU. \* Labels can be attached to the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. What happens if you’re not compliant by 13 Dec 2024? If Amazon becomes aware that your product/s aren’t compliant, your listing/s will be deactivated. ## Where do we start? [Our expert team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) suggest your key action points are to: - Work out who your Responsible Person will be - Sort out your labelling - Update your online listings to display the Responsible Person and manufacturer details - Get your warning and product safety information images ready for all of your applicable listings Amazon says they’ll be releasing a widget to help upload your manufacturer’s name and contact details for each product, and the Responsible Person for non-CE-marked products. And, though that widget’s not available yet, it’ll save you a lot of time and faff later on if you’ve got the information to hand when it is. Need our expert help? [Get in touch with the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful links - [The Amazon GPSR Help Page](https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/GQAYBJPNAZ2LMDDT?ref=GPSR_email_gpsrhp) - [Speak to our Award-Winning Team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [From £4m to £13.6m the data insight that transformed a brand](https://venture-forge.com/blog/from-4m-to-13-6m-the-data-insight-that-transformed-a-brand/) **Published:** July 4, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover how our data-driven approach turned a perceived £4m Amazon business into a £13.6m powerhouse! **Content:** It’s no secret that commercial clarity and rigour are two of our driving forces here at Venture Forge – and the story we’re about to share is the perfect illustration of exactly why they’re so important to your success… [We love good data](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) – accurate, real-time, deep dive data. And, when it comes to building a successful, sustainable Amazon brand, this information is not just useful – it’s critical. Let’s take a recent tale shared by our CEO, [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), over on LinkedIn. ## The Story… Recently, we had the opportunity to work with a brand to grow their sales – they believed they had a £4 million Amazon business. Before the meeting, we conducted our own data analysis. It revealed sales of £13.6 million – some difference! The discrepancy was that we were coming at the figures from two very different perspectives – but their numbers meant they couldn’t see a massive growth opportunity that’s been right in front of them all along. ## The Data Insight… The brand’s £4 million represented their sales to Amazon through their Vendor account. In contrast, our £13.6 million figure reflected the total purchases made by consumers of their brand’s products on Amazon. And this distinction is crucial, because the consumer sales give the holistic view of the market demand for the brand’s products. “Whether you’re a vendor or seller, everything starts with the consumer,” explains Andrew. “Get the consumer to buy more and you turn more stock.” ## The Opportunity… Our rigorous deep dive into the data revealed a significant growth opportunity that the client had missed. The consumer was already buying more, it just wasn’t all going through their Vendor account. In fact, over 50% of their products were being sold by other vendors or third-party sellers, all at a lower margin for our client… … a leakage in sales which meant that the brand was losing out on potential profits that could easily have been theirs. ## Our Solution… Now, with this gap identified, the client can get strategic: - Taking better control of Amazon - Tightening their distribution channels - And prioritising selling directly to Amazon at a higher margin rate This way, they’re not just enhancing their profitability, but also strengthening their presence and control on the marketplace. ## The Bottom Line… This story underscores the non-negotiable importance of understanding your numbers – but it also reveals something really key about Amazon growth. When your brand is looking to grow on Amazon, it’s so tempting to put all your effort into increasing your topline. But, without an accurate and complete grasp of what that topline truly is, you risk missing out on broader growth opportunities – some of which could be dangling right in front of you, ripe for the picking. So, if you want to unlock the full potential of your Amazon business, start by always knowing your data. This rigorous approach to commercial clarity won’t just reveal immediate opportunities for growth – it will also give you the solid foundation you need for long-term success. Ready to transform how you do Amazon? [Speak to our team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to discover how we can help unlock hidden growth opportunities and boost your profitability. ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) - [Read more on the Critical Importance of Accurate, Real-Time Data](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Seller Webinar: Strategies to Elevate Your Success in 2024](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-seller-webinar-strategies-to-elevate-your-success-in-2024/) **Published:** March 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Join our expert-led webinar to uncover winning Amazon Seller strategies and scale your brand in 2024. **Content:** What’s up next in our Amazon Experts webinar series? It’s one for the Sellers… At [10 AM on Thursday March 21st 2024](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-seller-elevate-your-amazon-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), we’re pulling a Specialist Seller panel together to share strategies, stories and insights that will help you unleash your brand’s true potential this year. If you want to thrive in today’s competitive Amazon landscape, you need much more than just a brand presence and store. The Sellers who make it on marketplace in 2024 will delve deep, understanding and mastering the platform’s intricacies and using what they learn to propel their brands to unprecedented heights. If you want to be on this exclusive list of successful Sellers ready to rise above the rest, this insightful webinar is for you! ## Designed to equip you with the tools and strategies you need, you can expect 60 minutes of: - Valuable insights into the latest Seller trends shaping Amazon, how they might impact your business and how you can adapt and innovate for success. - Real-life stories to inspire your own planning, and practical advice from those who have scaled the Amazon heights already. - An interactive Q&A session, where you can put all your burning Seller questions to our expert panel, and get the tailored advice you need to overcome your brand’s unique challenges. ### Who’s on our expert panel? [Venture Forge CEO Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-banks/) will be joined by: - [Shelley Martin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-martin-26718b18/), CEO of 4Beauty Group, with 20+ years experience of driving innovation in the ultra-competitive beauty industry by creating sustainable, impactful products like He-Shi Tan and SKINICIAN Skincare. - [Dani Petrova](https://www.linkedin.com/in/denitsa-petrova-profile/), Amazon Strategy Lead for Mindshare in Europe, who brings 10+ years of experience in developing Retail Media and Amazon Channel strategies to the table. - Own very own [Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-48a71749/), Venture Forge Amazon Account Director extraordinaire, with 8+ years’ Amazon experience across a wide range of categories. Whether your Seller brand is new to Amazon or you’re looking to take your business to a whole new level, this promises to be an hour of value, with all the insider knowledge, inspiration and actionable strategies you need to smash your marketplace goals through 2024 and beyond. [**JOIN US**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-seller-elevate-your-amazon-success) Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon: Vendor Central Vs Seller Central?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-central-vs-seller-central/) **Published:** December 17, 2019 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Learn the key differences between Amazon Seller and Vendor and how to choose the right model for growth. **Content:** Almost 90% of UK shoppers use Amazon, according to a recent study by Mintel. Here at Venture Forge, our own research across 25 different consumer markets has shown Amazon to be the market leader in all eCommerce categories. They are at least twice as big as the second-place retailer. If you’ve not considered using Amazon to sell your goods, you might be missing a trick. There are two ways to use Amazon as a platform for selling. You can either be an Amazon ‘Seller’ or an Amazon ‘Vendor’. These two approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages and understanding the way they differ is crucial in choosing which is the best option for your business. ## What are the Differences? The main difference between the two is that an Amazon Seller sells as a third party, retaining control of marketing, listing and pricing their products themselves. An Amazon Vendor actually sells their products to Amazon in a wholesale capacity and Amazon then list and sell the products themselves. You can spot such products as they are accompanied by a ‘Sold and shipped by Amazon’ tag in their listing. ## How do They Compare? ### Control As an Amazon Vendor, you relinquish some control to Amazon. Once they have bought your products from you, you can choose to create listings and market your products yourself or let Amazon do it for you, along with storage, pricing and delivery. > The reduction in workload may seem appealing but make sure you’re comfortable with the level of control you hand over. Find the balance that works for your business. Amazon Sellers are free to run their selling processes as they see fit – adjusting prices, fulfilling orders and managing stock themselves. In retaining control, they also forfeit the marketing and brand weighting of having their products sold as ‘Amazon’ items. ### Costs As an Amazon Seller, you pay a flat fee per month (around £20 + VAT) plus a percentage of the price of each item you sell. This tends to be between 7-15% depending on which category your products fit in to, although Amazon take a 45% commission on device accessories that pair with Amazon brand items. Knowing these percentages in advance and being able to work them into your financial plan means that costs are predictable and there are no nasty surprises. In contrast, as an Amazon Vendor, you will be presented with ‘allowances’ – the term Amazon use to describe your costs. They apply allowances to cover damage and loss of items, marketing costs and freight of goods. Amazon set out their proposed rates at the start of the contract and it is up to you as a business to decide whether to accept them. Some negotiation may be possible but is taken on a case by case basis. The terms are reviewed every year, and it is not unusual for Amazon to attempt to increase costs at these annual review points or, indeed, at any point throughout the year if items are not selling well. ### Sales One of the most significant differences between the two selling options is the potential for impact on sales. Amazon Vendors have a tag added to their product listing to inform customers that the item is ‘Sold and shipped by Amazon’. The consumer trust that Amazon have earned means that customers may prefer to buy from them rather than a third party, thus driving up sales. This is especially relevant for high-value items where the consumer prefers the security of buying from a reputable brand. Although the opportunity to have Amazon’s name to your products is appealing, remember that this comes with the significant sacrifice of handing the control of your pricing and stock management over to them too. With a reputation for flouting Minimum Advertising Pricing agreements, expect price drops at any time. In contrast, Amazon Sellers retain the ability to set price points themselves but are listed as third-party sellers. This may not necessarily put customers off buying, as they know that they still have the backing of and support from Amazon if something goes wrong with their purchase. The merchant must weigh up how influential they think the ‘Sold by Amazon’ tag is and whether it offsets the loss of control overall. Amazon pay Vendors and Sellers differently. Sellers are paid every 7-14 days so can factor this in when managing cash flow. Vendors are usually offered 30, 60 or 90-day payment terms, but there are plenty of reports of Amazon dragging their feet when it comes to paying Vendors on time. ### Pricing Amazon Seller and Amazon Vendor present significant differences in the sales process and potential profit margins for your business. Once Amazon have purchased stock from an Amazon Vendor, they are then free to price the products as they see fit. This can often mean price matching and discounting with no warning, and there are no guarantees that Amazon will honour pre-agreed Minimum Advertised Prices. Once a price has been lowered to compete with other online sales, you may have a hard time getting Amazon to raise it again. As an Amazon Seller, the pricing of your product lies with you. You have the freedom to raise and lower prices depending on the factors influencing your business at any given time. The drawback is that you may not always be offering the most competitive price, although this can sometimes be a strategic move to tie in with company branding or to manage stock levels. A crucial factor, and an advantage of the Seller model, is that you are selling directly to your customer at retail prices. As a Vendor, you are selling to Amazon themselves – at wholesale prices, with the obvious associated implications for your profit margins. Venture Forge studies repeatedly show that even after costs, the Seller model delivers in excess of 10% increase in profit margins (sometimes even as high as 40%) compared to the Vendor model. ### Stock Management Amazon Sellers retain full responsibility for monitoring and controlling their stock levels and can plan and react to changes accordingly. Stock management is one of the processes that Amazon take control of when a business signs up as a Vendor. Although on the face of it this seems like an advantage, Amazon have been known to let inventories run low, or even empty, without informing the vendor. This results in products showing as out of stock which can have repercussions for the Google ranking for product keywords, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. ### Support Amazon offer a support service for merchants, but the quality of support for both Sellers and Vendors seems inconsistent at best. The outcome of your query can often depend on the expertise of the individual representative you happen to have your call connected to. Amazon Vendors based in the UK are assigned an onboarding manager for a few months after signing up, but retailers report that subsequent and ongoing support can be insufficient. ## Which One is Right for my Company? Here at Venture Forge, we have undertaken several studies to explore the features, benefits and drawbacks of both the Amazon Seller and Amazon Vendor models. As a result of our findings, we believe that the Amazon Seller route is the best option for the vast majority of online merchants – providing that a company has the right skill set to manage the process effectively, whether that be internally or through outsourcing. The restrictions applied to Amazon Vendors demand sacrifices and compromises that we feel outweigh the benefits in most cases. With the right guidance and support, you can optimise your presence as an Amazon seller and still retain full control of your business processes. If you’d like to know more about trading on Amazon, [drop us a message or give us a call](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Buy Box Changes from May 2024: What Sellers Need to Know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/buy-box-changes-from-may-2024-what-sellers-need-to-know/) **Published:** January 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Buy Box changes in May 2024. Here’s what they mean for sellers, Prime eligibility, and competition. **Content:** We knew change was coming to the Buy Box, and it’ll apply from May 2024. But how will the new Featured Offer criteria work? ## A Fairer Fight In their efforts to ensure a fair fight for all Amazon sellers – and the best deal for consumers – the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured Amazon’s agreement to new competition terms in November. Those terms will directly affect the way that Amazon presents Featured Offers (the Buy Box) to shoppers, with the retail giant committing to use criteria that is “non-discriminatory” and treat “sellers and Amazon retail equally”. ## The biggest change is to Prime… The most interesting thing to come out of the agreement? It’s that the Buy Box won’t rely on Prime eligibility and/or the Prime badge anymore. That means that, in theory, MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network) sellers offering fast and free delivery should be competing on a level playing field with FBA and SFP sellers. Note the words “offering fast and free delivery” though – Amazon has flagged that these will still be crucial criteria in awarding the Buy Box, so MFN sellers will need to make sure their logistics are running at an A++ standard to stay competitive. ## The changes in full Amazon has committed to… - Not using its competitors’ Marketplace data to give Amazon’s own retail business an unfair advantage. - Guarantee that all product offers are treated equally when it comes to the Featured Offer in the Buy Box. - Let third-party brands on Marketplace negotiate their own rates with independent Prime delivery services, benefitting buyers with lower delivery charges where relevant. - Collaborate with the CMA on the appointment of an independent trustee whose remit will be to monitor Amazon’s ongoing compliance with these commitments. Want to discover how your brand might profit from these changes? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How to turn a bad Amazon review to an improvement opportunity](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-to-turn-a-bad-amazon-review-to-an-improvement-opportunity/) **Published:** July 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Bad Amazon reviews? Use them as opportunities for growth with these expert strategies from Becca Woollin. **Content:** Is there ever a positive side to poor Amazon feedback? Yes, says our Account Director, Becca Woollin, who sees the opportunities for improvement in all things… “Selling on Amazon means embracing customer feedback,” says Becca – and that means taking the bad on board alongside the good. “Regular review analysis is critical for success,” she explains. “They might sting, but they’re invaluable insights.” ## So what should you do with a bad review? - Take the time to review and understand the negative feedback. - Identify where the issue lies – is it logistical? Is the problem with the product, or are they complaining about something that sits in your product detail page (PDP) – descriptions, imagery etc? - Analyse the information and then act on it – use the insights you gain to make positive improvements to your product or your customer experience as needed. ## 3 common criticisms – and how to tackle them on Amazon So how do you deal with your specific issue within the Amazon platform? Here are simple solutions to 3 common customer complaints: ### “They didn’t use the product correctly” Check your product detail page (PDP) – is it educational enough? Can customers gain a good understanding of how your product can and should be used within the PDP, or do you need to update it with optimised copy, images and infographics? ### “The product didn’t meet their expectations” Are your images a fair depiction of your product? Does your descriptive copy accurately explain what customers will receive when they purchase? ### “The product arrived damaged” Is your packaging fit to withstand the rigours of Amazon shipping, or do you need to make it more robust? So, while we’re sure you’re all striving for the best reviews possible, try and see any low reviews as invaluable feedback – an opportunity to improve your offering and build an ever-better customer experience. And after all, it is possible to turn bad reviews around if you review them regularly and respond swiftly. By demonstrating you’re willing to maintain good communication with your customers and reacting positively and measurably to their comments in a timely fashion, you can go a long way to building bridges, creating trust and developing loyalty. Want our experts to help you pinpoint the potential in your reviews? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Last-Minute Checklist to Boost Sales Before Black Friday & Prime](https://venture-forge.com/blog/last-minute-checklist-to-boost-sales-before-black-friday-prime/) **Published:** August 19, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Use these expert last-minute strategies to optimise listings, inventory, and ads before peak sales. **Content:** For any Amazon Event, whether it’s Prime Day or Black Friday, the real keys to success lie in thorough forward planning. But we do also have a list of last-minute checks and tweaks that help us maximise returns for our clients from two to three weeks before these super sales periods – and we’re sharing them now so you can bank them for Autumn! ## Create a range of Savings Options Variety is the spice of life – and, when it comes to discount deals, it definitely pays to appeal to as wide a range of customer requirements as possible! Before any Amazon event, jump into Seller Central to set up multiple deals, discounts and promotions, from Lightning Deals and Event Exclusive Discounts to money-off coupons. ## Optimise your Listings (again) You’re sure to have looked at them already, but market conditions change fast in the heady world of e-comm so now’s the time to double back, check your market data again and make sure your listings are set up for success. Look at: - Titles, bullet points, descriptions and images that are as compelling as possible. - Keywords that will maximise your visibility. ## Optimise your Inventory Check FBA capacity limits, adjust your inventory accordingly and make sure everything is stocked and ready for dispatch – with enough stock to account for higher sales levels on items you’re promoting. Worried your FBA inventory won’t be enough? Set up FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) offers and use both options – FBA and FBM – to keep your sales going continuously. ## Up your Marketing Efforts Up your marketing game now both on and off the marketplace, focusing on raising awareness and driving traffic through during the Event. On Amazon: - Run targeted ads and promotions to build awareness and interest. - Prime potential shoppers for purchase with compelling content and offers. - Review and optimise your PPC campaigns for better visibility. Off Amazon: - Use off-Amazon advertising to drive external traffic to your deals. - Create paid and organic social media campaigns to create awareness of what’s on offer, and drive potential purchasers into Amazon to buy. ## Get ready to manage your Amazon Ads! If there’s one thing that does need constant attention through an Event, it’s your Amazon Ads. Here’s what our experts do: - Use dayparting to allocate your budget effectively during peak shopping hours. - Monitor budgets closely throughout, adjusting based on performance to maximise ROI. Want better commercial clarity, rigour and vision for your Amazon Event Strategy? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). And for more insights like this, [click here to connect with our CEO Andrew Banks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendor Mastery Webinar: Watch On Demand or Read the Key Takeaways](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-mastery-webinar-watch-on-demand-or-read-the-key-takeaways/) **Published:** February 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Miss our Amazon Vendor Mastery webinar? Watch on demand or read the blog breakdown for key insights. **Content:** Can’t join our Amazon Vendor Mastery webinar tomorrow? We’ve got options… Tomorrow (Thu Feb 29th) at 10am, we’re hosting our latest expert webinar, this one a panel-led deep dive into winning strategies for Vendor success on the marketplace in 2024 and beyond. With four renowned Vendor specialists joining us, this promises to be an hour jam-packed with Vendor value as they share experiences and insights to help your brand gain mastery and thrive on Amazon. ## Can’t make it? We’ve got you… But we know that it’s not always possible for you to join our masterclasses live, so we’ve made sure we’ve got your back! After the event, you can always watch it later. Sign up for the event and you’ll be able to access it on demand at your leisure. [**SIGN UP HERE**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success) ## Read the blog breakdown. We’ll be pulling a written summary together to publish shortly after the event, which we’ll share in a forthcoming mini-blog and on our socials – keep your eyes peeled for that! What – and who – will you catch in the webinar? What will be in the webinar? New to Venture Forge events and wondering what all the fuss is about? Well, like all our webinars, we’ve planned this one to delve deep into the secrets and the intricacies of our chosen topic – which, in this case, is unlocking advanced strategies for elevating your brand’s Amazon Vendor success. We don’t always have a panel, but we’re delighted to say that here, we’ve gathered a real doozy of a group – with 4 seasoned Vendor veterans joining our CEO Andy Banks to impart their privileged insights and specialist knowledge. And, as well as tuning in as they deep dive into the nuances, challenges and potential of the Vendor model right now, you’ll also get the chance to pose your own questions to our panel live, with an interactive Q&A to finish the session! **SAVE MY SEAT** ## Who’s on the panel? Joining our very own [everything-Amazon master Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/), we’ve got: - [James Wakefield](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wakefield-amazon-consultant/) – the founder of WAKE Commerce, with years of experience in unlocking brand potential on Amazon Vendor Central. - [Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/) – Founder of Vendor Rocket, Ant is a Vendor expert with a profound passion for driving profitable and sustainable growth on the Amazon platform. - [Bruno Ferreira](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruno-ferreira-8aa607102/) – founder of BlueDot Ecommerce, Bruno is a time-served Vendor expert with proven expertise across all things Vendor Central for brands, manufacturers and invited distributors. - [Matt Briggs](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briggs-5a181b145/) – last but certainly not least, we’ve got another brilliant member of the Venture Forge team – Matt! With 5+ years working with a multitude of clients on both Vendor and Seller Central, Matt’s well versed in driving success for clients of all shapes and sizes, from multimillion-pound consumer electronics brands to ambitious start-ups. Whether you’re a seasoned Amazon veteran, an emerging Vendor or just on a mission to widen your marketplace know-how, this masterclass is definitely one for the diary, however it suits you to participate. Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The key takeaways for brands from Amazon’s 2023 results?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-key-takeaways-for-brands-from-amazons-2023-results/) **Published:** April 18, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s 2023 results reveal key insights: smart trading strategies and essential ad investment for brand growth in 2024. **Content:** Digging deeper into Amazon’s message of “12% growth in 2023”, CEO Andy Jassy’s letter to marketplace shareholders held two particularly rich insights for brands… ## It’s all about the deals Unsurprisingly in this economic climate, deals have been crucial to Amazon’s growth in 2023 – and all the signs say this year will be exactly the same. Last year saw a simply massive 70% YOY increase in customer savings from promotions and coupons, with discounts standing at more than £19 billion. What can brands take from this? We think it points to a clear focus – brands need to trade smart. Focus on the need to employ a trading mindset, focus on the need to know your commercials and data, focus on managing your NetPPM and focus on your competition to keep – and stay – ahead of the curve. Want more on adopting a trading mindset for greater profitability? [Check out this blog](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/). ## Amazon Ads are non-negotiable Amazon’s advertising revenues over 2023 increased by 24% – double the growth of the platform’s total revenues. So now it’s set in stone – the need for brands to invest in Sponsored Ads and factor ad costs into margins is here to stay. And if you don’t? Your competition will. This drive towards essential ad spend is nothing new, and it’s not exclusive to Amazon either – it’s the same across all commercial marketplaces. Here at Venture Forge HQ? We’re taking the optimistic view. As [our CEO Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) says, “I simply see more opportunity to reach new audiences, new customers and grow your brand.” Need to adjust your Amazon strategy to align with these key insights? [Click here to speak to our experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Do you need to do FBA? Let’s see what the data says…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/do-you-need-to-do-fba-lets-see-what-the-data-says/) **Published:** August 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Wondering if FBA is necessary for your brand? The data is clear. Prime eligibility drives conversions and sales. **Content:** A question we’re often asked by prospective clients is “do we really need to do FBA”? We know our answer (it’s yes, for the avoidance of doubt) but we thought we’d let a little snippet of data speak for itself… The thing is, it’s hard to overemphasise how important Prime delivery is to the average Amazon customer. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Do-you-_need_-to-do-FBA_-Lets-see-what-the-data-says-_-Freshly-Forged-by-Venture-Forge-800x215.jpg "Screenshot - Venture Forge")This chart shows daily sales of a live product line over a 28-day period, with figures dropping steeply towards the end. What caused sales to slow so quickly? It happened when the product went out of stock on FBA and dropped onto an FBM offer with a 48-hour turnaround – still very fast relative to many other e-commerce delivery options, but not Prime fast. ## A Rule of Thumb: Amazon Prime Matters Prime delivery is fundamental to many Amazon shoppers for a whole range of reasons: - Speed, convenience & Enhanced Customer Experience – shoppers are drawn to the fast, seamless and often same-day or next-day delivery options that come with Prime-eligible products. - Trust and Reliability – Products fulfilled by Amazon are automatically associated with Amazon’s reputation for reliable service, with customers trusting that their orders will be processed quickly, packaged securely and delivered on time. - Increased Visibility and Sales – Prime-eligible products are often favoured in Amazon’s search results and are more likely to be featured in promotions – an increased visibility that can lead to higher conversion rates and sales. ## FBA vs SFP And, although you can obviously also access Prime using Seller Fulfilled Prime, for many Sellers FBA is just the simplest way to deal with your Amazon logistics – even taking into account the fees and charges involved. Why do we say that? Let’s compare the two: ### Logistics and Operations Management: With FBA, Amazon takes full responsibility for storage, packaging, shipping and handling returns, with Sellers simply sending their inventory to Amazon’s fulfilment centres – significantly reducing the operational burden on the Seller. Sellers using SFP must manage their own storage, packaging and shipping, ensuring they meet Amazon’s stringent Prime delivery standards – a requirement that calls for robust logistics infrastructure and capabilities which can be complex and resource-intensive for Sellers to maintain. ### Prime Eligibility and Performance Standards: Products fulfilled through FBA are automatically eligible for Amazon Prime, meaning Sellers don’t have to worry about maintaining the high-performance metrics required to offer Prime shipping. Sellers using SFP must meet Amazon’s rigorous performance standards, including fast and reliable shipping, to retain their Prime eligibility. Managing these standards requires constant monitoring and can be challenging, especially during peak periods or if there are disruptions in the Seller’s own supply chain. ### Customer Service and Returns Handling: Amazon handles all customer service inquiries and returns for FBA products. This includes dealing with customer complaints, processing returns and issuing refunds – a streamlined process that saves Sellers time and resources. Sellers using SFP are responsible for managing their own customer service and returns, adding another layer of complexity, as Sellers must ensure they provide a level of service that meets Amazon’s demanding standards. In summary, FBA simplifies the selling process by offloading logistics, ensuring seamless Prime eligibility, and managing customer service, making it an easier and more efficient option for sellers compared to Seller Fulfilled Prime. Still pondering your options? Or have you got some burning questions you’d like to put to our logistics specialists? To see if FBA is right for your brand – and make the switch seamless if it is – [speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor Negotiations Webinar: Secure Better Terms in 2025](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-negotiations-webinar-secure-better-terms-in-2025/) **Published:** September 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendors get expert strategies to navigate negotiations, enforce terms, and protect your margins. **Content:** Calling any brand preparing for their Amazon Vendor contract renewal! [Join us at 10am on Thursday 17 October 2024 for our next Amazon Experts webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) – this time, we’re all about negotiations… Covering everything you need to know from the negotiations themselves to governance and enforcement, our panel of experts will be ready and raring to help you protect your brand’s interests, keep a strong bargaining position (vital for future negotiations) and safeguard your revenues. [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) As we discussed way back when in our Vendor Mastery masterclass, negotiations are when a Vendor has a real chance to set themselves apart – and yet so many go in unprepared and find themselves on the losing side against Amazon’s specialist negotiators. As our Masterclass panel agreed, “go in blind, and Amazon wins”, with unsuitable terms fixed that will form the basis for your future contracts. So what will you learn in this must-watch webinar? We’ll be covering: Our industry experts will be sharing best practices for negotiating and enforcing terms with Amazon. You’ll discover proactive strategies to gain Amazon’s compliance with your negotiated terms, minimising financial risks and maximising your long-term success. And, as always, we’ve set time aside for a live Q&A session, where you can pose your own questions to our experts. Spaces are limited for this one and understandably filling fast, so hurry: [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) We look forward to seeing you there! ## Useful Links - [Sign up now for Navigating Amazon Negotiations](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) - [Watch our Vendor Masterclass on demand](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success) - [Read our Vendor Masterclass blog summary](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Cull of Small Vendor Accounts: What It Means & Your Options](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-cull-of-small-vendor-accounts-what-it-means-your-options/) **Published:** September 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s small Vendor cull is causing panic, but there are options. Get expert advice on your next steps. **Content:** No-one could say they saw it coming, but there’s been plenty of hysteria around the retail giant’s move to close a number of small Vendor accounts, and a distinct lack of actual options for those impacted. If that’s you? Read on… As our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) said on LinkedIn, the initial hype ranged from the “we’re doomed” reactions of brands to the Amazon Agencies using the fallout to boost their business. Actually, the reality is that “no-one is doomed,” adds Andrew. “There are plenty of sensible options – and change is a constant in the Amazon world.” In reality, Amazon’s big push for profit over the last 18-24 months has been the biggest change to us all, whether you’re a big brand or a small one; a Vendor or a Seller. And it’s not likely to go away, either. As they tighten their operations more and more, all brands should be ready for profit challenges – and that’s why much of our work in recent months has been around just this theme; finding the right mix of selling models to ensure the right profit outcomes. Let’s go back though, to those small Vendors struggling with Amazon’s most recent, profit-led decisions. As every situation is different, there’s no “one size fits all” solution we can share here. But if you have been affected and want to better understand what your options might be, [please get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). Our expert team will be happy to share their thoughts – no sales pitches and no agency vulture behaviour, just the honest advice of people who’ve been handling similar challenges, day in and day out, for a long time. ## **Useful Links** - [Connect with Andrew Banks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) - [Chat with our expert team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Prime Video Ads: A Game-Changer for Brands in 2025](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-prime-video-ads-a-game-changer-for-brands-in-2025/) **Published:** November 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Prime Video’s ad expansion reshapes eCommerce. Learn how Sellers can use this opportunity to drive growth. **Content:** The Prime Streaming Ads Revolution marches on – could it be a game-changer for your brand in 2025? Amazon Prime Video Ads: A Game-Changer for Brands in 2025? Amazon Prime Video is rewriting the rules of streaming advertising and for some brands, this could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to connect with millions of highly engaged customers. With £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) in upfront ad commitments in 2024 alone, Amazon has been doubling down on its ad business all year, with momentum set to continue into 2025. For smart Sellers who think their brand could get involved in the mix? Now’s the time to get your strategy in place to reap the biggest rewards. In this brief snippet, our experts outline the background and potential for you – for more on how you can get involved, speak to our award-winning Amazon Ads team today! ## Prime Video – the World’s largest Ad-supported streaming platform Amazon’s decision to introduce ads for all Prime Video users this year (with a small opt-out fee) made it the largest ad-supported subscription streaming service in the world – a bold move that flooded the market with inventory and disrupted competitors’ plans… But, most importantly, a move that’s created unparalleled visibility opportunities for Sellers looking to grow their brands. And the best is yet to come. As announced at Unboxed 2024, Amazon plans to expand its ad offerings even further in 2025, introducing new ad slots and formats like pause breaks and sponsorships – a whole plethora of ways to integrate your products seamlessly into consumers’ daily lives. Whether you’re targeting new customers or consolidating your position in your sector, Prime Video’s growth offers a compelling new way to reach and convert audiences at scale. ## Live Sports: A potential powerhouse for Seller growth After the UK Upfront event, we mentioned the power of live sports ads, and there’s no doubt this programming is emerging as a cornerstone of Amazon’s advertising success. While exact viewing figures remain undisclosed, Amazon’s UEFA Champions League coverage is sure to attract the usual huge global audience – the League being one of the most-watched annual sporting events worldwide, with even group-stage matches seeing record-breaking viewerships (and still growing YOY) for competitor broadcasters like [Paramount+](https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/09/09/paramount-reports-record-champions-league-viewers/) and CBS Sports. And equally exciting is Prime Video’s upcoming NBA coverage in 2025. Basketball’s global appeal and massive viewership offer Sellers access to a broad and diverse audience and, if you sell related sports gear, lifestyle or related products, tapping into this live sports juggernaut could be a game-changing strategy for growth. ## Shoppable Ads: Closing the gap between entertainment and E-Comm Amazon’s ad innovation doesn’t stop at traditional formats – shoppable and interactive ads are transforming Prime Video into a platform where consumers can seamlessly transition from viewing to buying. How does it work IRL? Imagine your product is featured in an ad during a game – interested customers will be able to click and purchase in real time. For Sellers, this is an innovation that eliminates friction on the path to sale and makes it as easy as it possibly could be for viewers to become buyers. And, by leveraging Amazon’s first-party customer data and advanced ad tech, it’s also easier than ever for Sellers to precisely target the right audience at the right time – the best way to see immediate results for your efforts. Ready to explore your options? [Speak to our award-winning Amazon Ads team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Why This Matters for Sellers For Sellers, the opportunity isn’t just about visibility – it’s about the potential for driving tangible business outcomes. Prime Video combines its massive reach with Amazon’s immense ecosystem, enabling Sellers to create campaigns that go beyond generating impressions to directly impact your brand’s sales and your customers’ loyalty. With £10 billion ($12.7 billion) in ad revenue reported in Q2 2024 alone, Amazon’s ad platform is already one of the most effective in the world. And as it expands into new formats and content areas? Brands who act now will be well-positioned to dominate their categories, entering early into an advertising arena which, like all things Amazon, will only grow more and more competitive. ## Time to seize the opportunity? Prime Video’s ad expansion isn’t just a trend – it’s a strategic turning point for smart Sellers. As Danielle Carney, Amazon’s head of live sports and video sales, says, “We are creating meaningful opportunities for brands by combining customer reach with our first-party insights and innovative ad tech.” What does that mean for your brand? You don’t have to be a household name to win big – you just need the right strategy. ## Our take We think this is a brilliant chance for the right brands to step beyond traditional PPC ads and use Prime Video to reach millions of engaged customers in ways that resonate deeply. Whether you’re showcasing your products during live sports, leveraging shoppable ads or running sponsorship campaigns, the potential is enormous – but the competition is big too, and it’s growing all the time. Here at Venture Forge, our award-winning Amazon Ads team are the experts in helping brands like yours navigate Amazon’s ad landscape with commercial clarity, rigour and vision. If you’re ready to explore Prime Video’s potential? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Key Takeaways From The Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024 Event In Austin](https://venture-forge.com/blog/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/) **Published:** October 22, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024 updates, featuring new tools, better targeting, and creative innovations. **Content:** The Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024 event, hosted in Austin, Texas, was a big success, filled with insightful keynotes and exciting updates that promise to elevate advertising strategies for brands of all sizes. From automated ad creation to improved data tools, Amazon rolled out a series of new features designed to optimise ad performance and streamline campaign management. ## Here are the key highlights and takeaways from the event: ### 1. Performance+ Amazon launched Performance+, an automated ad creation tool that lets brands build comprehensive ad campaigns in just four clicks. It’s positioned as a direct competitor to Google’s PMax and promises a 51% improvement in CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). More details are expected soon, but this tool could be a game-changer for simplifying ad creation. ### 2. New Bid Modifier Option for B2B Customers Amazon trialled a new bid modifier for B2B customers over the past six months, yielding some impressive results: - 3x higher RoAS (Return on Ad Spend) - 12% increase in traffic and sales While this may not be suitable for every brand, it offers more granular targeting options for B2B advertisers, helping brands better segment their audience and optimise their budget. ### 3. Improved DSP Interface Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is getting a much-needed facelift. The refreshed interface will: - Provide a more intuitive user experience - Deliver better insights, faster - Help advertisers save up to 26% of their budget - Faster Campaign Creation: Features like inherited settings and saved groups reduce setup time, allowing advertisers to launch campaigns more quickly. - Better Optimisation: New tools, such as frequency controls, enable real-time adjustments for maximum impact. - Smarter Insights: Insight cards provide curated performance insights, helping brands make data-driven decisions to enhance campaign performance. This makes the DSP easier to navigate and use, helping brands get more value from their ad spend. ![Amazon DSP campaign dashboard displayed on a laptop, showcasing performance metrics such as sales, ROAS, and frequency cap.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/amzn-unBoxed-adsp-1092x730._SX1600_FMjpg._TTW_-2-800x535.jpg "Amazon-DSP-Campaign-Manager-Dashboard-Performance-Overview.jpg - Venture Forge")*Picture from Amazon Ads* ### 4. Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) for Sponsored Products & Brands One of the most significant updates is the expansion of AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) to Sponsored Products and Brands. Here’s what that means for their ads: - Brands can now build custom audiences and target users like abandoned cart customers - Access better strategic planning, activation, and measurement using AMC’s data - Additionally, AMC audiences are now powering deals on Amazon Publisher Cloud (APC). This integration allows brands to leverage their custom audience data alongside premium publishers’ first-party data through Amazon DSP. This helps create more effective programmatic deals, leading to optimised campaigns that drive both brand outcomes and customer experience. - Audience Bid Boosting: Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands can now benefit from audience bid boosting, which allows brands to adjust bids for custom audience segments, such as new shoppers or those exposed to streaming TV ads. This helps increase engagement by effectively reaching target audiences and enhancing conversion potential. - Ads Data Manager: Amazon unveiled Ads Data Manager, simplifying first-party data integration across Amazon’s advertising ecosystem. This new feature enhances conversion attribution, audience targeting, and campaign optimisation, driving improved marketing outcomes. Overall, these updates help brands make smarter, data-driven decisions to increase their ROI. ![Amazon Ads Inventory dashboard showcasing active private auction campaigns with details like pricing and source information.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/AMC-APC_Hub1_1._TTW_-1-800x498.jpg "Amazon-Ads-Inventory-Dashboard-Private-Auction-Campaigns.jpg - Venture Forge")*Picture from Amazon Ads* ### 5. Prime Video Ads With 115 million monthly users, Prime Video Ads are growing in reach. Amazon has announced expansion into several new markets, including: - Brazil - Japan - India - Netherlands - New Zealand This increases the [potential for reaching a global audience through video](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-using-shoppable-videos-to-their-full-potential-yet/) advertising. Ad Relevance Feature: Amazon has also introduced an Ad Relevance feature that leverages AI to match ads to relevant opportunities without the need for third-party cookies. This enhancement improves ad performance by ensuring ads are shown to high-purchase-intent audiences, contributing to greater efficiency and effectiveness. ### 6. ‘Glitch with Twitch’ Amazon introduced a new product activation feature within Twitch, a gaming-focused platform. Brands like Pringles have already jumped on board. This opens up fresh opportunities for those targeting gaming audiences by embedding product activations within video games. ### 7. ‘Buy It Now’ Series Amazon’s new ‘Buy It Now’ Series is set to offer live product showcases, where both in-studio and at-home viewers can purchase products in real time. It’s a format similar to Dragons’ Den meets QVC, and it could be a great platform for brands to connect with their audience. ### 8. New Sports Partnerships While not relevant to all advertisers, Amazon continues to build on its sports-related ad inventory, including a new NBA partnership. For those advertising in the UK, the Six Nations rugby tournament is another prime example of available ad space. ### 9. Optimal Frequency & Multi-Touch Attribution New tools from Amazon are providing better insights into the customer journey. Features like optimal frequency and multi-touch attribution will allow brands to: - Understand the touchpoints that lead to conversions - Improve how brands can track and optimise their campaigns The multi-touch attribution (beta) feature provides a holistic view of the entire customer journey by attributing credit to all touchpoints that influence a purchase. Unlike traditional last-touch attribution, this approach helps brands identify which ads contribute most to conversions, making it easier to optimise campaigns and maximise ROAS. Metrics like ROAS and eCPP are now available through Amazon DSP, Ads Console, and API. ![Amazon Ads Campaign Manager dashboard displaying performance metrics such as ROAS, CPC, impressions, clicks, and spend across multiple campaigns.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mta._TTW_-scaled-1-800x393.jpg "Amazon-Ads-Campaign-Manager-Dashboard-Performance-Metrics.jpg - Venture Forge")*Picture from Amazon Ads* **Long-Term Sales Metrics**: Amazon has introduced Long-Term Sales (LTS) metrics, providing insights into the 12-month impact of brand campaigns. This feature estimates revenue from new-to-brand customers, helping brands understand the long-term effects of their advertising efforts. ### 11. New Product Campaigns Amazon introduced New Product Campaigns, now generally available in the U.S. This service helps brands effectively [launch new products](https://venture-forge.com/blog/best-strategy-to-launch-new-product-development-on-amazon/) during the first 90 days by using Amazon’s full-funnel advertising approach. It combines curated first-party and third-party inventory across audio, video, and display with advanced insights from Amazon Marketing Cloud, providing an efficient way for brands to reach consumers across different touchpoints. ![KitchenSmart product ad displayed across various platforms, including desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kitchen_Smart._TTW_-scaled-1-800x283.jpg "KitchenSmart-Multi-Platform-Ad-Campaign-Digital-Integration.jpg - Venture Forge")*Picture from Amazon Ads* ### 10. Audio Ads & AI-Powered Creative Studio Amazon is also rolling out new AI-powered tools to streamline ad creation, including: - Audio ads via an audio generator - The new AI Creative Studio (beta) for creating, refining, and publishing high-quality images and videos. This tool provides access to features such as an Inspiration Gallery, a Sandbox for testing ideas, and expert-level controls. The studio aims to simplify and speed up the creative process, making content development more accessible for all advertisers. ![Amazon DSP campaign dashboard displayed on a laptop, showcasing performance metrics such as sales, ROAS, and frequency cap.](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Image_Hero._TTW_-scaled-1-800x562.jpg "Amazon-DSP-Campaign-Dashboard-Real-Time-Insights.jpg - Venture Forge")*Picture from Amazon Ads* These tools are designed to reduce the bottleneck in content creation, allowing brands to quickly create fresh ad creatives using AI. Amazon Ads announced new updates that are soon coming, which will revolutionise how brands advertise on Amazon. From the launch of Performance+ for quick and efficient ad creation to the improved DSP interface that enhances usability and saves budget, these tools are designed to help brands streamline their campaigns. The expanded capabilities of Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) mean better audience targeting and data-driven decisions, which can lead to higher ROI. With features like Prime Video Ads expansion, ‘Glitch with Twitch’ gaming activations, and the AI-powered Creative Studio for content creation, Amazon is providing more ways than ever for brands to engage audiences effectively. These updates are all about empowering brands to reach new customers, optimise performance, and drive growth on the platform. ### Ready to Elevate Your Amazon Ad Strategy? If brands want to leverage these new tools and insights to boost their Amazon advertising performance, [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) with our award-winning team today. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Selling Internationally on Amazon? Why Your Images Matter](https://venture-forge.com/blog/selling-internationally-on-amazon-why-your-images-matter/) **Published:** August 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Selling internationally on Amazon? Culturally relevant imagery boosts conversions and builds global trust. **Content:** If your brand is looking to make a splash in overseas markets, high-quality, culturally resonant imagery is one of the best tools at your disposal for boosting conversion rates and achieving commercial success. ## Visual Communication is Universal In e-comm, the challenge of language barriers is real – but images offer an-almost universal mode of communication. ## Why “almost” universal? Because even symbols can differ from country to country – so that simple infographic you have that’s purely based on imagery and visual instruction may still need tweaking to make sure the target audience grasps what they need to do intuitively. But making the extra effort is worth it – making your product information as accessible as possible enhances the perceived value and usability of the product, in turn leading to higher conversion rates. ## Cultural Relevance builds Buyer Trust Put simply, shoppers are more likely to engage with, trust and buy from listings that feel familiar and culturally appropriate – and that content can differ wildly from country to country. By understanding and incorporating cultural nuances, your brand can create a sense of familiarity and trust that makes your international customers more comfortable and confident in their purchasing decisions. ## Different Markets = Different Preferences When choosing the right imagery for an international market, reflect what those native customers care about in your product features and presentation. For example, European customers might prioritise eco-friendliness and minimalist design, so it would be a good idea to put your sustainable packaging front and centre. Meanwhile, North American shoppers might focus more on practicality and durability, so demonstrating how robust your product is taps into that perceived value for longer-lasting items. ## Our Team’s Pro Tip? [Becca Woollin, Head of Seller](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) here at Venture Forge, has a great top tip for Sellers to help them manage different imagery between international markets – use Amazon’s Global Upload Tool. It avoids the hassle of your images crossing territories – ensuring your tailored images are correctly displayed in each region and maintaining your brand’s integrity and appeal worldwide. Need help to personalise your listings for International Markets? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are vCPM bids hurting your long-term Amazon growth?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-vcpm-bids-hurting-your-long-term-amazon-growth/) **Published:** April 29, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** vCPM bidding may improve your metrics but could be quietly damaging your Amazon visibility and long term growth. **Content:** vCPM bidding can boost your campaign metrics – but is it at a cost to your visibility, TACoS and long-term growth? There’s no doubt that lower ACOS and higher reach look good in your reporting, but dig a little deeper? It can quickly become clear that those wins have come at a cost, especially across your Sponsored Display ads. This is because, while vCPM prioritises impressions and visibility, it often does so at the expense of actual conversions. And over time, that trade-off can start to hurt the most important performance driver of all – your organic ranking. We asked our award-winning Amazon Ads experts to break it down for us… ## Under the surface of vCPM Advertisers often see improved ACOS under vCPM bidding – but that’s because it’s calculated on estimated conversions divided by spend, rather than on actual click-throughs. So yes, the numbers may look better, but it’s possible that they’re masking a very different story in the background, with: - TACoS increasing over time as organic contribution shrinks. - Organic rank declining as conversion velocity slows. - Profitability weakening, as more budget gets poured into unprofitable views rather than high-intent clicks. Worse, if you’ve not got an eye on the bigger picture, this is the kind of shift that can creep in unnoticed – at least until your growth starts stalling and your costs start climbing. ## The upside of vCPM It’s not all bad news though, and vCPM bidding definitely does have its place, especially for: - Awareness campaigns, where the goal is top-of-funnel visibility. - Product launches, when you’re trying to reach broad audiences quickly. - And retargeting, where impressions can keep your brand top-of-mind with warm shoppers. The key is to choose vCPM for the right reasons. It’s not something you can lean on if your core KPIs are profitability and organic growth, for example. And, like all things Amazon Ads, it’s not a set-and-forget approach. Getting the best from vCPM needs you to be on top of monitoring the most accurate of your data, and making sure it’s delivering the results you want. ## Our Experts’ 4 tips for best vCPM practice - Review your campaign objectives before implementing vCPM. If you’re chasing conversions or efficiency, CPC bidding is usually the better choice. - Don’t optimise for the wrong metric or vanity figures – a lower ACOS under vCPM doesn’t always mean stronger performance. - Monitor your TACoS and organic rank closely, because they’ll tell you the real story. - And use vCPM strategically, deploying it for brand awareness or retargeting campaigns, not as a default setting. ## The Bottom Line vCPM bidding isn’t bad, it’s just often misunderstood. Used in the right context, it can be great for supporting top-of-funnel growth and brand visibility. But for performance campaigns? Be careful – it has the potential to quietly undermine your organic rank, inflate your TACoS and even hurt your long-term profitability. Need help reviewing your ad bidding strategy? Our Amazon Ads experts can take a look under the hood, apply plenty of commercial clarity and regiour and help you refocus spend where it matters most. [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [For more expert Amazon Ads insights, follow Elfie Brocklehurst on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elfie-brocklehurst-25332a164?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Expert Tips To Supercharge Your Brand's Presence On Amazon In 2024](https://venture-forge.com/blog/expert-tips-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024/) **Published:** January 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Boost your Amazon sales in 2024 with expert strategies, data-driven insights, and essential marketplace success tips. **Content:** Last week we debuted a new format for our Amazon Experts series, bringing some of our favourite marketplace specialists together for an hour-long masterclass. ## The hot topic? Your Amazon success in 2024. Featuring some of the biggest experts in Amazon, from Seller to Vendor; Ads to Account Management, our panel drilled down into the latest trends and the most effective strategies for the year ahead. Sharing unmissable tips, tricks and best practices to guide you to better visibility and sales success on the marketplace, we covered themes including: - What we learned from 2023 - What does Amazon success look like in 2024? - Is this the year of Hybrid on Amazon (and if it is, how can brands do it well?) - How can brands stand out against increasingly fierce competition this year? - What’s coming for Amazon Ads, and how will strategies change? - 20 quickfire tips for 2024 – 5 from each expert! If you did miss the webinar, don’t worry. We’ve pulled all those invaluable insights together here for you to digest at your leisure, so just read on for the full lowdown! Prefer to watch? Just [click this link](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024?type=detailed) to view the event on-demand ### Who took part? For a wonderfully rounded and knowledgeable panel whose expertise covers all bases, we paired [a super-strong Venture Forge trio](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/our-team/) of: - Our CEO, Andy Banks - The brilliant Becca Woollin (Account Director); and - The multi-[Marketplace Awards](https://themarketplaceawards.com/2023/en/page/home)-winning Ananda Etges (Senior Account Manager) With two fantastic guest speakers from different Agencies: - Antonella (Nella) Argenziano, Head of Advertising at [e-Comas](https://e-comas.com/); and - Ant Finch, Founder at [Vendor Rocket](https://vendorrocket.co.uk/) Let’s dig into their insider insights! ## What we learned from 2023 Describing 2023 as “eventful”, “strong” and “chaotic”, the consensus of our panel was clear – the easy days of pandemic-era Amazon, where you could list almost any product and it would perform, are a thing of the past. Now we’re seeing a period of quick-fire change, with new features and capabilities launched almost every week – from exciting Amazon Ads formats to intriguing social media partnerships. A period where some promotional days work brilliantly, and others less so (looking at you, Black Friday). One where the whole landscape is becoming more and more competitive, with all shapes and sizes of new-to-Amazon brands arriving on the scene. And one where margins are likely to be squeezed by Amazon themselves, as inflation-driven profits ease off and they look to boost their own operating margins. We’ve seen many brands begin to pivot to meet this new marketplace already, with Net PPM (Pure Profit Margin) a buzzword on many of our clients lips. But the most important takeaway is that those looking for lazy success will likely be disappointed. As confirmed by Andy, “The easy days have gone. Now it’s about how you build a proper, viable, profitable Amazon business.” ## So what does Amazon success look like in 2024? “The main thing brands need to do to stay ahead is to leverage data analytics,” advises [Amazon Ads expert Nella](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonella-argenziano/). “You need to be able to harness the data that Amazon provides, like [Amazon Marketing Cloud](https://advertising.amazon.com/en-gb/solutions/products/amazon-marketing-cloud) (AMC), to make better informed marketing and advertising decisions.” For those brands without the internal resource to effectively manage their Amazon Ads, Nella recommends partnering with a good Agency – a suggestion we heartily endorse (and not purely for selfish reasons!). [A strategic partnership](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/) – especially for something as specialised and fast-paced as Amazon Ads – can work out far more cost-effective over the medium to longer term for brands. [Explore the pros and cons of an Agency partnership](https://venture-forge.com/why-use-an-amazon-agency-the-pros-and-cons-of-partnership/). Nella also highlights the importance of building your brand on Amazon. Taking the time to establish your community and drive brand awareness are both crucial ways to differentiate your brand against growing competition. For Account Management expert Ananda, exploring and making [full use of video](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-using-shoppable-videos-to-their-full-potential-yet/) and cross-channel functionalities – like Amazon integration with social media platforms – will be key in 2024. “Cross-channel media strategies are going to be huge,” agrees [Becca, our brilliant Account Director](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-48a71749/). “And data is key – not just new data, but current customer data too. If you’ve got B2C data? Using that to drive Amazon, and using Amazon to drive your B2C – these are two great strategies for 2024.” Becca implores brands to revisit their Amazon “why” this year, going over the reasons you made the marketplace part of your strategy and asking whether it still makes sense for you. If yes, great. But if not, now’s the time to make those serious calls to rework your business strategy and ensure your brand is where it needs to be for success. [Vendor guru Ant](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/) sees things becoming more pressurised in 2024, with brands needing to ask the big questions about whether their model is really right for them and drilling down into the detail of their accounts. Expecting a more aggressive push on margins from Amazon over the coming months, he suggests brands assume a rigorous and ruthless approach to their catalogues, making sure every listing has a clear role and a reason for being on the marketplace. And [our CEO Andy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) agrees. Seeing that Amazon will only get their own growth this year through volume growth as inflation drops off, his prime insight for brands is that this is the year for pure focus. “It’s about right product, right price, right margin offering. There’s no lazy way any more – you have to have a really good strategy.” Time to revisit your Amazon strategy? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Those 2024 tips in a nutshell: - Make use of data analytics – Amazon Ads users should learn how to use [Amazon Marketing Cloud ](https://advertising.amazon.com/en-gb/solutions/products/amazon-marketing-cloud)(AMC) - Take time to build your brand on the marketplace - Explore and use new functionality, especially video - This is the year for cross-channel media strategies – look at new social media integrations following Amazon’s partnerships with Pinterest and Meta - Use your existing data to inform your Amazon strategy – and vice versa - Revisit your “why” for using Amazon and tweak as needed - Revisit your sales model and make sure it still works for you - Be ruthless with your catalogue, trimming where needed - Keep a laser focus – right product, right price, right margin, right strategy ## Is this the year of Hybrid on Amazon? First though, what is hybrid selling? Fundamentally, there are two ways you can sell on Amazon. The Vendor (or 1P) model is where brands sell to Amazon, and Amazon sells on to the consumer. Traditionally, lots of larger brands operate a Vendor model, using Amazon as a distributor of product. The Seller (or 3P) model is where brands sell directly to the consumer, using Amazon as their sales platform. And hybrid? Hybrid is a mix of the two that can be configured to suit each individual brand. ## Vendor vs Seller vs Hybrid With Becca a firm champion of the Seller model and Ant an experienced hand at Vendor, we thought this was fated to be a talk of two sides! But actually, both agree on the most important points. Whether you go with one model or a mix of both is purely down to what your brand’s overall strategy is, and there’s no simple solution – no “this is what you should do because of X”, or “this is how hybrid should be done.” Becca, after a year where Net PPM (Pure Profit Margin) has reigned supreme for our clients, sees hybrid as the future of the marketplace, especially for those with a history of B2B business with Amazon. And having seen and experienced both sides himself, Vendor expert Ant urges brands to fully understand all their routes to market – Vendor and Seller each being one route – and look at them from a profitability perspective when deciding what configuration suits your brand best. After all, there are pros and cons to each, and value to both. Depending on your strategy and profit margins, Sellers might find that a Vendor relationship could make a big difference – and a smart hybrid of the two might unlock all the potential you need. But only by properly weighing the benefits and negatives of each will you understand how best to use them to drive your success. [Don’t know where to start? Get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Busting some Model Myths Ant also explains how those relying on Vendor Managers and/or the Amazon Vendor Services team (AVS) to grow their businesses could have misunderstood how both services work. Vendor Managers, as facilitators and escalators, only tend to get in contact when metrics aren’t performing as they should – so no news is good news! And those paying a premium for AVS and expecting the team to deliver growth will be disappointed. Instead, brands should think of AVS as a way to drive your internal metrics and open opportunities for growth that you can lean into. But remember – the onus is on the brands to deliver. While some might have heard that Amazon is pushing brands away from hybrid models, our experts say that’s not their experience. “Amazon wants to make money, they don’t care where it comes from,” says Ant, and Becca agrees. “We’ve seen no challenges from hybrid, more from brands pivoting quickly and completely from one to another. There’s effectively a brick wall between the two departments in Amazon. We’ve seen no clients that have transitioned and had issues.” ## The Devil is in the Detail So when it comes to deciding what’s best for your brand, the devil really is in the detail – and it’s not an immovable feast either, the Amazon landscape will undoubtedly keep evolving. To make the best choice for you, you need to know your stuff and consider the options on a per brand, per product, per scenario basis, looking at your long-term strategic plan and Amazon ambitions. But as far as Ant is concerned, 2024 is definitely the year that brands should “kill or cure” this question – for now, at least. --- Need expert advice to pinpoint the best model for you? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Hybrid in the context of Multi or Cross-Channel strategies The term “hybrid” can also refer to multi and cross-channel selling strategies, which is where brands integrate their various sales channels – website, social, Amazon – to forge a smooth and aligned path to purchase for consumers. In this context, Becca is a strong advocate of powering sales and marketing strategies with data from each source – and sees huge potential in using Amazon as an acquisition tool for brands in 2024. “We tried lots of things over the past year, driving traffic from B2C websites and vice versa,” explains Becca. “But for me, the future of Amazon is in understanding your product range – and hybrid is the way to go in terms of having a different product set across Amazon and different categories and territories, so you’ve got the full width and breadth.” Nella and Ananda agree. “You need to understand what you’re using Amazon for. (You can) use it to put out product and generate volume and visibility, then use other platforms to generate profits. Knowing what platforms you’re using for what reason is another great way to keep your P&L healthy through 2024,” explains Nella. And Ananda is a huge advocate of seeing Amazon as part of an overall strategy – not necessarily the whole picture. In 2024, she suggests viewing Amazon as part of the flow of your brand awareness, one that integrates with your other channels to speak to your potential and existing customers with its detailed product information, reviews and huge reach. ## How can brands \*really\* differentiate themselves on Amazon in 2024? With competition constantly growing, it’s key to stand out on the marketplace. But how? ### “Content, content, content! For Ananda, it comes down to two things. It’s never too late in your journey to update your content. Really make sure your listing is fully optimised and then keep reviewing it,” she urges. Her second point is to keep on top of your Amazon Ads, testing and refining, seeing what the competition is doing well and taking the best and making the most of new features and trends. Content is high on Ant’s list too, and he adds an extra urgency. “Stop with the annual refresh, update at least quarterly,” he suggests. ### And theme your content to boost conversions In an insight that we love, Ant recommends you theme your content updates to make your listings relevant to the current campaign or season – be that Christmas, Easter, Back to School or another. “It can be a game-changer for brands on conversion.” ### “Everyone can’t have the same look and feel.” “Don’t be afraid to step away from what the market leaders are doing,” adds Becca – a key point to setting yourself apart. Another crucial element is to refine your range, stripping it back to what works well and highlighting what makes yours better. “Then use someone like Nella to compete and fight for that space once you’ve got a listing that looks like perfection.” ### Perfect listings come before ads “Music to my ears!” agrees Nella. Ads are a super-important part of any brand’s strategy, taking up to 80% of the placement in search now. But Ads experts agree that, though people often point first at paid activity when things need overhauling, successful ads need to come from listings that are already proven performers. “Ads are very important – up to 80% of placement in search are ads now.” But they shouldn’t begin until you’ve got a clear brand message that can be easily replicated across all platforms and communications. “Many brands are advertising products that look poor,” agrees Ant. “With a traditional retail hat on, you wouldn’t put a product with awful packaging into a store – don’t do it on Amazon.” ### Community is key You’ve got high quality products, you’re using ads, brand store and PDP to showcase why they’re better than the competition – what’s missing? When it comes to ticking the boxes on your brand building, don’t overlook the importance of building a community of advocates across all your channels. “There’s a time and a place for everything,” says Nella. “Build brand, build community – then make money.” ### Look to exclusive products Want to address Amazon’s “price follower strategy” and drive your profitability? To differentiate your brand versus Retailers of your brand? Or help Amazon stand out as a channel in your multi-channel strategy? These are all great scenarios for Amazon-exclusive products – why not think about how you might incorporate them into your strategy this year. ### Choose your promotions wisely It’s safe to say that Becca is not a fan of discounting! “Do them less. Or not at all,” she says in what is a conversation for another webinar… But, used sparingly and chosen wisely, promotions could prove a good way to boost your brand’s sales. How do you know which ones to pick? “Find the ones that work best for you, the ones that give you the biggest uplift in volume on a regular basis,” suggests Ant. ### When everyone else is doing nothing, you do something Let’s end this section with this killer point from Ant – when the other brands fall quiet, that’s the best time for you to make some noise. Dial up your activity with new promotions, new ads, new listings and take advantage of the silence to make a splash. --- Want the help of our expert panel to differentiate your brand? [Drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## What’s coming for Amazon Ads, and how will strategies change? When we asked Nella what the biggest emerging Amazon Ads product will be, she didn’t hesitate to spotlight [Amazon Marketing Cloud](https://advertising.amazon.com/en-gb/solutions/products/amazon-marketing-cloud) (AMC). “It’s not strictly Ads related, but it will help inform Ads strategy,” she explains. “Through AMC, you can build very specific audiences you want to reach. I think brands will be using it more and more.” And again, data is key to building an effortless paid customer journey. By seeing which brand store pages are most successful and which sources are driving the most traffic, brands can identify the best path to purchase and build a PPC path with those blocks that guides traffic from one proven touchpoint to another. Also on the horizon are the new ad types quickly dominating the list – sponsored ads and video ads chief among them. And don’t forget the new vertical ads formats which are more mobile friendly. “Thanks to these there are so many new things we can do – for example, video ads give us the ability to showcase products in a lifestyle setting,” says Nella. ## Our Expert Panel’s “Top 5” for 2024 If they have to boil it all down to five key things for 2024, what will our experts pick? Let’s explore… ### Ananda Etges (Senior Account Manager, Venture Forge) - Video - Great content - Don’t overlook the importance of stock management - Great strategy - Amazon as part of your overall company flow, not as an isolated channel ### Nella Argenziano (Head of Advertising, e-Comas) - Get up-to-date with the Amazon landscape, you can learn a lot by following experts on LinkedIn! - Do what your competitors aren’t doing - Don’t neglect your other channels to be too dependent on Amazon’s opportunities - Test, test, test! - Speak to an Agency to help negotiate complicated Amazon requirements. Chances are they’ve faced your challenge before. ### Becca Woollin (Account Director, Venture Forge) - Be agile, be prepared to flex – the Amazon landscape is changing all the time - Ask questions of your own goals and aims for Amazon – what are you using it for? - Re-strategise wherever you need, whenever that is - Don’t be afraid to cull your range and get rid of what’s not working - Discount less. Or never! ### Ant Finch (Founder, Vendor Rocket) - Have a really clear objective for Amazon thats aligned with key stakeholders and know what good looks like for your brand – build your strategy from that - Retail metrics are the health check you need - Seasonal content is a game-changer - Exclusive products – also a potential game-changer - Margin, margin, margin? Balance Amazon’s margin against your own Another hour packed with Venture Forge value! Phew! We think you’ll agree that’s another 60 minutes jam-packed with useful insight – and it didn’t even end there! [Check out the on-demand recording](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024?type=detailed) for more, including more of our experts’ solutions for a brand being undercut on Amazon by their retailers, and their take on Temu and Chinese competition… --- [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024?type=detailed) And if it’s time to speak to any of our expert panel, [click here to get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! ## Up next – one for the Vendors [Join us at 10am (GMT) on 22 February 2024](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) for an exclusive webinar designed specifically for Vendors. Whether you’re new to the platform or looking to upgrade your current strategy, this hour will be packed with insights to help you transform your approach and succeed in the competitive world of Amazon! --- [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Ireland set to launch in 2025 bringing new opportunities](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-ireland-set-to-launch-in-2025-bringing-new-opportunities/) **Published:** May 29, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon to launch dedicated Irish store in 2025 with local pricing and faster delivery. **Content:** Following the opening of Amazon’s first Dublin-based fulfilment centre in 2022, Amazon have announced they’re launching a dedicated store in Ireland to feature “more products from Irish businesses and low, local prices without additional customs charges”. Irish customers have still been able to buy through Amazon UK after Brexit, but shipping times have generally been longer and orders above a certain level are subject to customs charges. So it’s no wonder that, with its commitment to providing the best customer experience, Amazon is finally making the move to establish a stand-alone Irish store in 2025, bringing “a wide selection of great value products with fast delivery to Irish customers.” ## What does this mean for Amazon brands? It’s good news all round – with those already selling to Irish customers experiencing the benefits of the attraction of clearer, local pricing and faster delivery times and those looking to expand into the country having a better customer experience to support their efforts. To get your strategy ready in time for the launch of Amazon.ie, [speak to one of our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What Would The “Amazon Tax” Mean For UK Retail?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-would-the-amazon-tax-mean-for-uk-retail/) **Published:** March 25, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Talk of the proposed ‘Amazon tax’ has been ongoing. While it may seem logical, we see it as a penalty for businesses thriving online. **Content:** We have been hearing about the proposed ‘Amazon tax’ for some time now. For many, it may seem like a logical step, but we believe it’s more of a punishment to the successful and forward-thinking businesses who have moved to where many consumers are nowadays – online. Whilst the UK Government and local authorities face declining tax revenues from physical retail spaces in a post-Covid world, any attempt to reverse the current trends in consumer retail behaviour are likely to fail. While keeping that in mind, there is a clear case for ensuring all retailers pay their fair and moral share of tax to ensure the UK can benefit from the sales generated within the country. Many people often see an online sales tax being a good way of addressing not only tax revenue shortfalls, but also an attempt to increase online prices and shift consumers back to the high street. As an Amazon agency, we believe it is important to address the different reasons why consumers choose to buy online – the main reasons include choice, convenience and speed. Most high street retailers are trying to pick up online sales by price matching the big online players. However, price has become less of a factor in choosing to buy online over the high street. Therefore, simply taxing the online retailers more to try and push consumers back to the high street ignores both the reality of why consumers prefer to shop online, and the underlying challenges of physical retail. ## What impact would an Amazon tax have on online-only retailers? As an Amazon agency, we predict that any increase in online taxation is likely to have only one effect – increased prices for consumers. The belief that online retailers have lower cost bases and therefore bigger margins to play with is a myth, and retailers will not be able to swallow any increase in taxation. When the Digital Services Tax was introduced in the UK, Amazon passed these costs directly on to the sellers, leading to increased seller fees. Many of these businesses are small independent retailers themselves, operating on thin margins. Throughout Covid, smaller retailers turned online to save their businesses, basically seizing any opportunity to trade so they could financially survive. As a result of this, many have now become successful online retailers, and an increase in taxation is likely to hit them hard. Any increase in taxation can only be negative for online retailers. ## What impact would this have on multichannel retailers? Multi-channel retailers are also likely to be hit hard by a sales tax. Historically their stores will have been a significant cash profit driver, with online being a smaller part of their business. In a post-Covid world, overall sales are down and the balance has shifted much more heavily to online – often at a lower margin for many of the major multichannel retailers due to increased costs of delivery, service and returns. To now layer in additional tax onto the only channel in their business that is likely to be showing growth feels like a penalty for adapting and running a good business. And believe will this will be detrimental in the long run. ## What impact would this have on retailers that are only or mostly bricks-and-mortar? In theory, taxing online retailers should put more consumers back on the high street and benefit bricks and mortar retailers. However, in reality, this is not going to happen in a significant enough way to have a material impact. Pre-covid consumers were shopping online more and more, and the trend was continuing to grow. Retail footfall was declining at around 5% year on year. One year into the pandemic and Pandora’s Box has been fully opened. Those who never shopped online have had to and the speed of transition to online shopping has accelerated by 4 to 5 years. Even if an online sales tax could reverse half of that progress, we’re still left with a high street that was struggling pre-covid that is now two years further forward. If you look at why Topshop, Debenhams etc… have failed, it’s not because online businesses had an unfair financial advantage, it’s because online businesses took advantage of the consumer appetite for online shopping. **In a post-covid world, the high street needs to reinvent itself and create something that consumers want, rather than be artificially propped up with a taxation system.** ## Is the tax proposal fair? Most people will agree that business should pay their fair share of tax. However, artificially taxing successful online businesses that have worked hard, employed people and, to some extent, propped the UK economy up during Covid is highly unfair and unlikely to achieve the desired outcome of saving the high street. It may generate a good amount of revenue for HMRC in the short run, which could then be pumped back into rejuvenating town centres and support for retailers, but these are artificial mechanisms to try and create an economic situation that goes against what consumer behaviour is asking for. To penalise businesses for building something successful feels wrong and unfair. If there are taxation challenges with these big corporations, they need to be addressed, but not through a taxation system that taxes all online sales. ## What would the “Amazon tax” mean for the UK standing as an economic centre? We believe that any such tax would send a signal to the world that, as a country, we don’t reward or incentivise entrepreneurs that take the risk to build big, successful and forward-thinking businesses that go on to employ many hundreds of thousands of people. It is important to realise that online did not kill the high street and neither did Covid. It was already changing, with many retailers failing to adapt – Covid has simply accelerated this. To find out how Venture Forge can help your business achieve significant growth on Amazon, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) and we’d be happy to chat. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendor Mastery: Winning Strategies For Marketplace Success](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/) **Published:** March 8, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Master Amazon Vendor success with expert strategies on negotiations, profitability, content, and efficiency. **Content:** On 29 February 2024, we gathered an expert panel of some of the biggest hitters in the Amazon Vendor space for a live discussion around the hottest topics for Vendors looking for growth in 2024 and beyond. With specialist insights on everything from your first negotiations through to your must-have internal team structure; commerciality and profit growth to the worth of AVS (the Amazon Vendor Services team), this was an unmissable hour full to the brim with Vendor value. But if you missed out, don’t worry! Not only can you watch the whole event live on demand ([click here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success)), but we’ve also boiled down the best bits here for an easily digestible read you can bookmark and revisit whenever you need. Let’s dive in… ## But first – who was on our expert panel? Alongside our very own [Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/), master of all things Amazon, our panel of Vendor heavyweights was: ### [Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/), Founder of Vendor Rocket > A Vendor expert with a profound passion for driving sustainable success on the Amazon platform, Ant specialises in supporting brands to break through to the next level of profitable growth. ### [Bruno Ferreira](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruno-ferreira-8aa607102/), Founder of BlueDot Ecommerce > Bruno is a time-served Vendor expert with proven expertise across all things Vendor Central for brands, manufacturers and invited distributors, who works with a 100% focus on a client’s internal setup to help to align the entire back-end of a Vendor’s Amazon process for optimal efficiency and profitability. ### [James Wakefield](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wakefield-amazon-consultant/), Founder of WAKE Commerce > With years of experience in unlocking brand potential on Amazon Vendor Central, WAKE works with consumer brands, typically existing Vendors, who have reached a certain level and are seeking support to drive the channel forward. ### [Matt Briggs](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briggs-5a181b145/), Senior Account Manager at Venture Forge > Last but certainly not least, Matt is another brilliant member of [the award-winning Venture Forge team](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/our-team/)! Working with Amazon Vendor for the last six years, Matt has experience across distribution, direct to manufacturer and now as a Senior Account Manager with us. Focusing predominantly on Vendor Central, overall strategy and how to grow an Amazon business with a medium to long-term view, he’s extremely well versed in driving success for Vendors of all shapes and sizes, from multi million-pound consumer electronics brands to ambitious startups. With a mix of pre-prepared points and live submissions from our webinar audience, the team got through an impressive amount to say they had just 60 minutes at their disposal! And it’s a good thing too – as we often do, we started the webinar with a poll asking our audience how far along they are with developing their 2024 brand strategy. --- With less than half of participants well into the planning process and beyond, the results made for intriguing reading – and are the perfect illustration of how many brands are still open to adapting their Vendor strategies as we learn what’s needed to thrive in this challenging new Amazon world. Let’s crack on with the questions… ## Question One – “How do you see Vendors setting themselves apart in an increasingly competitive marketplace” We started with a biggie! After a fair period of easy growth on Amazon, there’s no doubt that the landscape has tightened and changed as the fast commercial rides of Covid and inflation have eased off. For Ant, there are three core focus areas that will help a Vendor rise above the competition. “The first is that it’s impossible to scale up and run with a one-person team,” he explained. “If you want growth, you’ll need to expand your internal resource. “Secondly, you need to be continually optimising your content. The days of FMCGs updating their listings once a year? That’s the old world. “Make use of seasonal content to see big improvements in conversion rates, taking a proactive approach to all relevant events – Mother’s Day, Valentine’s, Easter…” “And third, using Amazon-specific products, products you list exclusively on the marketplace, that hit a price point and margin expectation you can get behind and optimise performance? “They can be real game changers for brands.” Andy and Bruno were strongly on board with point one. “Something that’s interesting is we hear so many times, “I have a person doing Amazon”” said Andy. “And then we look at the skill set that’s involved in doing Amazon and it’s not just demand generation; there’s content skill set, there’s design, strategy, advertising… “Then you drop into Bruno’s world of operations and back of house and there’s an entirely different skill set again.” It’s so important, that cross-functional team,” agreed Bruno. “Your need to have specific skills across sales, logistics and finance – and the success of the Vendor lies in them each having a strong understanding of their own silos and the communication between them.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - To grow with one person is impossible, you need a cross-functional team covering sales, logistics, finance and commercial. - It’s crucial to continually optimise your content, and make use of seasonal content to improve conversion rates. - Using Amazon-exclusive products can be a real game changer for Amazon Vendors. ## Question Two – “Is negotiating with Amazon still a key pillar for Vendor success? Is there an opportunity that lies in a Vendor’s strength of negotiation?” “One point we haven’t called out talking about team structure is the commercial side,” said Andy. “Is negotiation still an opportunity for Vendors to set themselves apart?” “Absolutely,” agreed Ant. “Many Vendors start out and list all their products – not a lot of commercial thought goes into that. “I’m a big believer in needing a really clear margin and sales target going 3, 4, even 5 years ahead, and everything you do has to be informed by that target. “If a product’s not delivering to your topline sales, don’t launch it. Be very clear about adding the things that will bring you value.” Matt also flagged how crucial it is to get the negotiations right from the start. “It’s key to take a measured approach from the very beginning.” “Lots of vendors commit to terms they don’t understand and then they’re fixed in their account.” he explained. “Great point – your first terms are always the basis for the next ones, so it’s so important you establish good terms then next year you’re in a better place to negotiate,” added Bruno. “If you don’t have experience, get support from experts.” “Amazon can be quite good at bamboozling Vendors during the onboarding phase – there’s so many acronyms and programmes and trade terms,” added James. “It’s very rare a Vendor is sophisticated enough, and Amazon are quite ruthless and experienced at taking advantage of that lack of knowledge, so having a team behind you that understands the negotiation process is crucial. “Go in blind and Amazon wins.” “It’s like a poker game,” agreed Bruno. “If you’re playing an expert without knowing the rules, you’ll lose. “It’s not like managing eBay or an online shop. Look for talent internally and, if there’s no-one, search outside your business.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - There’s a huge opportunity in your Vendor negotiations – but you need to get them right from the very beginning. - Be commercial – only add products you know will bring real value to your topline. - If you don’t have strong experience in and understanding of Vendor negotiations internally, get support so you don’t get railroaded into terms that don’t work for your brand. ## Question Three – “Given the importance of getting those commercial terms right, what are the key parts to focus on to get real value?” “The key is knowing what you want to achieve in terms of your long-term strategy,” explained Matt. “Your terms should be specific to your brand – for example, if returns are a particular issue to you internally, include a damage allowance. “Take the time to look at everything and follow the data. You don’t need to rush into any decisions or agree to anything blindly.” “A Vendor needs to go in with an open mind, but fully understand what Amazon is offering them before they pass judgement,” added Ant. “AVS can be interesting for brands if used correctly, but you need to dig into what it will do for you, how it will work, how you will manage it internally and will it definitely add value to what you’re doing. “Amazon will always find ways to take your money – you have to make sure you’re investing in the right areas to boost your profits and sales growth.” “Ask for something in return, don’t just give. You have to remember that Amazon’s vision for Vendor Central has always been about long-term partnership,” said Bruno. “It’s a “we” relationship.” “I think sometimes people confuse what Vendor is,” said Andy. “Don’t miss that, at either end, it’s just two people – one selling, one buying to sell on. “You can get wrapped up in the platform and the acronyms and the negotiations – but it’s about creating a holistic, long-term partnership.” “And document everything!” Ant finished. ### SECTION SUMMARY - Know what you want, look at your data and don’t rush – there’s no need to agree to anything blindly. - Have an open mind and take the time to completely understand what Amazon is offering so you can ensure you’re investing in the right places. - It’s a B2B relationship for the long-term, so don’t just give. Ask for something in return. - Document everything! ## Question Four – “How important is regular content and catalogue management?” Next, the panel moved on to the strategies needed to deploy, manage and maintain a successful Vendor catalogue. “It’s not just a case of upload and go!” began Andy. “The first port of call for brands on Vendor is Brand Control – understanding what’s happening on Amazon with their products already,” agreed James. “Because Vendor is invite-only, with criteria that have been tightened, it’s full of established consumer brands available in the wider market. “And inevitably, with those types of brands, Resellers get hold of their products and list them on Amazon before the brand has properly engaged with the channel. “These Resellers aren’t invested in the brand, they’re out to make a quick buck, so you find lots of illegitimate listings, duplicate products, random bundles and rubbish content to deal with. “Then you move to product selection. “Your catalogue might be in the 1,000s, but only 20 products are pushing your sales – you won’t flourish if you go in blind and just list everything. “Understand what your top sellers are, focus on them and invest in Amazon specific content with keyword research. “Then it’s the creative aspects; imagery, graphics, A+ content, Storefronts – they all contribute to the buyer experience and increase conversion rates.” “Your hero products are so important, and so many brands miss that opportunity,” added Andy. “We had a client looking at uploading 50,000 ASINs – it’s not commercially not viable to run on that level. “Start at the top level and ask “Where’s the opportunity? Where should I focus?” ### SECTION SUMMARY - Vendors should begin with a brand control exercise that seeks to understand – and manage – what’s going on with their products through Resellers on Amazon already. - Be choosy with your offering. Identify your hero products and put your full focus on them – don’t just upload your entire catalogue. - Invest in Amazon-specific content, and make sure every element is properly – and regularly – optimised, from keyword-rich copy to imagery; A+ content to Storefronts. ## Question Five – “How important is Category Awareness to Vendor Success?” Getting a real sense of what’s going on in your category can be tough on Amazon – the marketplace is renowned for being something of a closed book. But our panel was fervent in the importance of gaining proper market context… “You need to know “what’s the size of the prize?” And importantly, how your brand is tracking within its own segment.” explained James. “My background is working in trade, and so we always start with the market data,” agreed Andy. “Sales might be high but if you’ve shrunk in comparison with the market, that’s terrible. “Market context is fundamental to what your strategy should be.” And this is where you really need [an Agency](https://venture-forge.com) – here’s why… “Helium 10 can give estimates, but it’s no good for the big picture,” explained James. “If a brand wants to fully understand a segment, its 12-month growth, who’s dominating and where they slot in, the only way to do that is through some pretty expensive, enterprise-level tools, and it’s only practical for Agencies to have those subscriptions.” “Yes, it’s easy to miss this part of where an Agency adds value,” agreed Andy. “It’s not just in the resource and expertise, it’s also the capability and tools.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - It’s crucial to your success and strategies to have the right market data at your fingertips. - But the tools that give you the data you need are very expensive – and this is an often-overlooked way that using an Agency brings true value. --- [Learn how Venture Forge can help you supercharge your Amazon Vendor strategy](https://venture-forge.com). ## Question Six – “How can you ensure you’re not leaking profits from your internal operations back-of-house?” Having talked a lot about the commercial side of Vendor, the team wanted to move on to the slightly less sexy question of improving internal ops efficiencies to plug any leaks and maximise profits. “It all starts with your Amazon Vendor cross-functional team, even for smaller Vendors,” said Bruno. “From defining that team, very strong, compliant operating processes are key. “You need constant performance monitoring, evaluation and improvements – what you implement now might need to change in 6 months. “And use your partnership to leverage better service, for example, if you identify particular Fulfilment centres that are producing higher charge rates, escalate with Amazon.” But how do you evaluate and improve your internal processes to save on charge rates that eat into your margins? “Start by analysing small details, from your preferred carriers across international locations to how your warehouse team is working – are they picking and packing to Amazon standards?” explained Bruno. “Amazon Fulfilment centres are very picky, so this is one key to avoiding charge rates. “Everyone needs to get outside of their silos talking the same language – if accounting notices a deduction, there needs to be a smooth process in place to flag with others. “Many charge rates are not recoverable – so use them as a mark that you’ve an internal issue you need to fix.” And if you’re surprised to find that lots of chargebacks can’t be recovered, you’re not alone. “On chargebacks, the whole Vendor space seems to be full of businesses that get chargeback fees back for a percentage,” said Andy. “Yes, Vendors see it as better to have a percentage of something than 100% of nothing,” agreed Bruno. “But you can only recover a minimum percentage of charge rates – they were created to warn Vendors that something was not compliant with their model. “So adapt for something you can’t recover – address with your internal team and discuss, “what’s causing this, how can we address it?” “It all leads to Vendors needing to be in the detail on everything, front and back end,” adds Ant. “It will normally be a handful of hero products driving shortages or chargebacks. “Set up a team and give them the KPIs to manage those levels – it has to have a smart measure attached to it.” “So many brands are using those no win, no fee businesses, but that’s still a hell of a lot of money left leaking from a brand’s P&L,” agreed Andy. “If you plug the leaks, it stays in your P&L from the outset.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - Through a process of continual evaluation and adaptation, improving the efficiency of your internal processes is key to your brand’s profitability. - It’s all about plugging efficiency gaps that are negatively affecting your P&L. Use chargebacks as a red flag that something needs fixing – don’t just rely on getting a small percentage back through a no-win, no-fee service. - Smooth communication between your entire internal team, ownership and smart measures are crucial factors in ensuring maximum efficiency in your back-of-house. ## Livestream Question One – “What is a must-have team structure for Vendors starting out?” With massive engagement coming from our live audience, Andy opened the floor to questions from the livestream! The first was all about creating the perfect team for new Vendors on Amazon… Back-of-house expert Bruno recommends that even small vendors need people specialising in: - Sales – commercial, data analysis, strategic thinking. - Logistics – to help connect with carriers and the warehouse team. - Finance – who receives intensive training on amazon payments and deductions, damage allowances and provisions and how to manage them. “They all need to be aligned – trained individually, but taking the same language,” Bruno added. “And they all need to know their individual responsibilities, with weekly, monthly, quarterly tasks assigned.” For Matt, any size of team needs someone covering: - Operations - Regular content reviews - Paid ads - A commercial focus, like an Account Manager - Finance And Ant added a fundamental point. “Education is crucial – how you walk and talk on Amazon feels different. “You need colleagues across all departments, and they all need to understand how Amazon works too – there’s no “why can’t we get Amazon to do it this way?” “You have to work within Amazon’s process, they won’t adapt – so you have to have that learning across multiple departments.” “That’s so important,” agreed Bruno. “At C-level too, it’s so important they have training for a deeper understanding of what Vendor is and how it works, and Vendor compliance and how it works. The C-level team must be on board.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - The perfect team for a Vendor of any size needs to cover: - Sales – commercial, data analysis, strategic thinking. - Content and paid ads. - Logistics – to help connect with carriers and the warehouse team. - Finance – who receives intensive training on amazon payments and deductions, damage allowances and provisions and how to manage them. - All Vendors need to educate colleagues across all departments, to ensure buy-in and understanding right up to C Suite – because the way Amazon works is different, and they won’t change it for you. ## Livestream Question Two – “What are your thoughts on AVS Specialists? Do you think they’re worth the cost associated and what should you be getting from it?” “This is a hot topic in the Vendor space!” began James. “The biggest misconception of AVS is that it’s an [account management](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-account-management/) service, but it’s not. “It can be very expensive – 3-7% as a contracogs agreement. Personally, we use AVS as a point of escalation, a last resort. “We do 99% of the work, because AVS won’t help with your marketing etc. But it does open doors to certain things, like deal placements. “We question the value of it too,” agreed Andy. “It’s a very, very hefty fee, and what’s an Amazon employee’s motive? It’s to grow Amazon, not your brand. Beyond using it as a point of escalation, AVS doesn’t do anything an internal team can’t do.” But Andy knows that Ant has a slightly different take. “If you pull your AVS service, Amazon will look to recoup that money somewhere else,” said Ant. “Strategically, when you get to a certain size or visibility globally, you’ll have to put it in place anyway.” “And my experience has been generally positive, but I approach AVS in a different way.” All agreed the key lies in not relying on AVS – or your Vendor Manager – to grow your brand. “When they’re selling the service, it’s almost like they’ll help you grow your business. But no AVS specialist – or Vendor Manager – will do this, that responsibility lies with you.” explained Ant. “You need to know why it matters to you. If you feel they’re driving the agenda, switch it round – if the ROI isn’t there, challenge it.” ### SECTION SUMMARY - AVS – or your Vendor Manager – won’t grow your brand; they work for Amazon, not you. The responsibility for growth lies with your business. - It’s expensive, but it’s possible that removing it would see your costs rise elsewhere. - The key to using it effectively if you choose to do so is to know what you want from AVS in terms of agenda and ROI, and challenge where you need to. - If you are, or you hit, a certain size, it’s likely Amazon will insist you use AVS. ## Livestream Question Three – “What are your views on Amazon’s clear change in strategy to be more profit-led in 2024?” As Andy said, “I really think this question summarises almost everything we’ve said! Amazon is clearly moving to be a much more commercially focused business. “You look at where they’ve come, through Covid and inflation with easy top line growth – how does it maintain its share price and revenue and profit growth over the coming years? By becoming more profit-focused. “At the heart of it all is the commerciality question – how do you build a commercial Vendor business. And what we’ve heard here is that, from the top of your funnel – ads, marketing, content, growth services – to the bottom of the operational part, you have to be looking at this commercially; terms, plugging profit gaps, the right range selection, the quality of your content… “If you’re concerned about Amazon’s focus on profit? “It won’t change – we all have to adapt.” Fortunately, we think there are loads of great ways you can start to do just that right here! If you’d like to watch the webinar in full, [just hit this link](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success). And if you’d benefit from a chat with our award-winning Amazon team, or any one of the experts featured in this webinar, [drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). --- [**WATCH THE WEBINAR ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Will the new sales history requirements affect how you use Amazon vouchers?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/will-the-new-sales-history-requirements-affect-how-you-use-amazon-vouchers/) **Published:** February 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is changing voucher requirements. Products must have sales history before discounts can be applied. **Content:** From mid-March 2024, Amazon is changing the requirements for Amazon vouchers, requiring products to have a sales history in place before you’re eligible to offer a discount. ## How do Amazon Vouchers work? Easy to set up and with the potential to be very effective (Amazon cites stats showing an average sales uplift of 11%), vouchers are a simple way to boost your sales when used as part of a smart strategy. The minimum discount you can offer is 5%, and the maximum is 50% off. Showing your chosen discount across your product detail page and various Amazon visibility pages including the vouchers, category and peak events pages, Amazon Vouchers allow your customer to simply click on the offered saving and have it applied to their basket. ## What’s changing? From 18 Mar 2024, the majority of products will have to have a sales history – even of just one unit – that sets a “Was” price before they’re eligible to run Amazon vouchers. Your proposed promotion price then needs to be lower than either the Was price, or the recent lowest price offered. ## And why is it changing? Think of it as the latest in Amazon’s overall drive to bring more realness, authenticity and value to the platform. In fact, in a jokey way, Amazon’s announcement makes the point of gently dissuading Sellers who might have the bright idea of faking a sales history with purchases from buddies or coworkers – something which could (a) work out pretty costly if you’ve got multiple products to cover and (b) land your brand in hot water with Amazon if you’re rumbled. Amazon want to make sure discounts are legit – a brave new world where being upfront and showing off your sales track record is key for promos. Building shopper trust is the name of the game, and this is a move that definitely waves the flag for fairness and bang for shopper’s bucks. ## So we see it as a cast-iron “good thing”. It might shake up how promos need to be snagged before they go live, but, by pushing for more openness and verifiable value, Amazon is setting the stage for an era of increased value that will benefit consumers and honest brands alike. Want our expert help to run your next promo? [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How best to use Amazon’s 5 new AI tools to work smarter, not harder?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-best-to-use-amazons-5-new-ai-tools-to-work-smarter-not-harder/) **Published:** October 23, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s AI tools streamline tasks, but human input ensures authenticity, impact, and growth. **Content:** Designed to streamline operations, create more compelling content and enhance the customer experience, Amazon’s 5 new generative AI tools for sellers hold plenty of promise – but, as with all AI tools, there are benefits and there are limitations. We look at how much they’ll really help you, how easy they are to implement and how you can best harness the powers of AI to fuel your growth on the marketplace… ## Project Amelia – Your Personal AI Selling Assistant AI assistant “Project Amelia” is designed to give sellers personalised advice and real-time insights, offering instant access to sales metrics, inventory guidance and even proactive recommendations to grow your business. And this is all incredibly useful – as long as brands remember to ask questions and not take everything at face value. For example – can an AI assistant truly grasp the nuances of your specific brand and market? Are these insights that will translate to tangible results for you? And how can you apply them strategically, based on your brand’s unique situation? ### Our take There’s no doubt Project Amelia will be a useful tool, but Sellers should never rely solely on AI for strategic decisions. Understanding your market and customer base calls for human insight and experience to interpret Amelia’s data and turn it into an actionable strategy that drives real growth. ## Bulk Generative AI Tools for Product Listings Promising to save Sellers time by generating multiple product listings at once, Amazon’s new bulk Generative AI Product Listing tool works by creating optimised titles, descriptions and bullet points from minimal details uploaded by the brand. Again, this sounds great – who loves uploading hundreds of new listings? But again, our advice is to use the AI tool as a first step – and then add your own input into the process. Why? Two questions… Will an automated listing really highlight all the things that make your product better than the rest? Will it capture your brand’s voice and unique selling points, or will your listings feel generic? ### Our take While AI-generated listings can help you get products live faster, they may not be optimised to their full potential. The key is to use the generative tool, and then fine-tune your AI-generated content so it authentically represents your product and your brand and paints both in the best possible light. ## A+ Content Creation Creating A+ Content for your brand is a no-brainer – these rich, interactive product pages with image carousels and comparison charts can boost sales by up to 20%. And now, there’s an AI tool to help streamline the process, generating content from a few descriptive terms and product images. We think you know what we’re going to say though… can AI really capture the essence of your brand? Is this content that will resonate with your target audience and beat your competition, or is it just something that ticks the basic boxes? ### Our take AI is a great starting point, but don’t settle for generic A+ Content. Using the AI drafts as your base, elevate the output to tell your brand story compellingly, create an emotional connection to your customers and drive conversions. ## AI Personalised Recommendations Amazon is now using AI to personalise product recommendations and descriptions based on each customer’s shopping habits. And while this should, in theory, help brands reach more relevant customers, it also raises an important question – are these AI-driven recommendations smart enough to understand the full context of your brand’s unique offering? For example, if a customer regularly buys gluten-free products, AI might tag your listing with “gluten-free” – but is it surfacing your products to the right customers who will truly appreciate their value? ### Our take Automated personalization can be hit or miss – we would always recommend a more hands-on approach to targeting your ideal customers. How? Through listings fully optimised to attract and convert the right audience and well-planned, strategic campaigns that are tailored to your brand. ## AI-Generated Video Ads Amazon’s new Video Generator tool helps Sellers create video ads in minutes, using just a single product image. And this is brilliant, because video is undeniably one of the most effective ways to engage customers. What’s the con here? Well, AI-generated videos can sometimes lack the creative flair and storytelling needed to truly stand out in what is an incredibly crowded and noisy environment. ### Our take AI-generated videos can help you get content out quickly, but will they capture your brand’s unique story? Are they engaging enough to help you stand out? And do they have the creative polish and narrative depth you need to turn a basic video into a high-converting ad? ## The Bottom Line There’s no doubt that these new AI tools are impressive, and they’ll definitely help Sellers streamline tasks. But, as with all AI, relying on it without strategic, human-driven input leaves too many gaps – and those gaps could see your brand slip behind the competition in this most dynamic and busy of marketplaces. These tools are a great starting point, but they’re just that – a starting point. Our expert team can help you get the most out of Amazon’s new AI capabilities, bringing our commercial clarity and vision to use these tools in a way that’s designed to deliver your brand and business goals. Ready to go beyond the basics? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval: What it means for Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-vision-assisted-package-retrieval-what-it-means-for-brands/) **Published:** November 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new VAPR tech streamlines deliveries. Learn how faster, error-free shipping boosts sales. **Content:** Amazon vision-assisted package retrieval is the company’s latest innovation to speed up and simplify last-mile delivery. While it’s great news for logistics, the real winners are the brands that rely on fast, accurate fulfilment to drive customer satisfaction and marketplace performance. ## How Amazon Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval Helps Brands Let’s get right down to it – for brands, better delivery efficiency has a direct and positive impact on customer satisfaction and therefore, ultimately, profitability. Hooray! ## But how does it work? Set to be rolled out in 1,000 electric delivery vans by early 2025, VAPR uses AI to reduce the time drivers spend identifying the right package, replacing manual sorting with visual and audio cues. ### The system… - Projects a green “O” onto packages for the current stop and a red “X” on others. - Provides visual and audio prompts to guide drivers, minimising confusion. - Operates in real-world conditions like poor lighting or tight spaces. ### And it should be good for Sellers because: - Fewer errors = happier customers. Misdelivered or delayed packages create customer frustration, negative reviews and unnecessary costs. With VAPR highlighting the right package for every stop, the objective is to improve accuracy and reduce the risk of those issues. - Prime customers expect speed. Faster deliveries help Amazon maintain its service standards, which is part of what grows trust in your brand, and keeps your marketplace customers coming back for more. - Operational gains at scale. It might only be seconds saved but, when it’s at every stop, VAPR should help Amazon handle higher volumes more efficiently. Which in turn means your products can reach more customers in less time, especially important during peak seasons. ## Our take Anything that makes the delivery process smoother and more error-free is a welcome refinement so, though such an incremental change might not grab the headlines, Amazon’s broader strategy to keep its logistics network reliable and efficient is something everyone benefits from. The real value for Sellers lies in the knock-on effects: fewer delivery mistakes, better customer experiences and a logistics system that can handle higher order volumes without compromising service. As always with Amazon, the key is to focus on how these developments translate to your customers. The more friction Amazon can remove from the delivery experience, the better positioned you are to meet (and exceed) customer expectations – and ultimately drive greater sales and profits. Want more insights from our logistics experts? [Click here](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to speak to a member of team. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Brands chosen for the 2024 Amazon Sustainability Accelerator](https://venture-forge.com/blog/brands-chosen-for-the-2024-amazon-sustainability-accelerator/) **Published:** June 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Accelerator backs 15 ClimateTech startups with funding, mentorship, and a shot at £2m. **Content:** [We’ve explained our admiration for the Amazon Accelerator programme before](https://venture-forge.com/freshly-forged-amazon-seller-and-vendor-news-at-28-march-2024/), loving how it gives a fantastic boost to sustainable start-ups on an equity-free basis. For this year’s programme, Amazon partnered with Europe’s leading climate hub, EIT Climate-KIC, and innovation strategy consultants Founders Intelligence to give 15 new brands from across Europe the specialist tools, bespoke training and mentorships they need to hone their skills, build their contacts and scale their businesses. This year, the brands selected operate in one of three categories; circular economy, energy in buildings and packaging. And for the first time, they will also get the opportunity to pitch for a trial within Amazon’s European operations, with earnings of up to £2m on the table as well as plenty of potential for implementation across international markets and future partnerships. In the past, the initiative has given a leg-up to brilliant brands like eco-toothbrush company Suri and innovative, insect-based pet food makers Grub Club. For those thinking of applying next year (entries usually open in March), we thought we’d offer a little inspo by sharing some of the brands chosen to participate in 2024. ## ACS Clothing (Circular Economy) With a mission to minimise landfill waste and turn the clothing industry away from a take-make-dispose model, [ACS Clothing](https://www.acsclothing.co.uk) is already the UK’s leading circular and sustainable fashion enabler, working with the likes of Chloé, The North Face, LK Bennett and Timberland. Based in Glasgow, the clothing renewal brand processes more than 6 million pieces of clothing every year for return, rental, subscription and resale through its cleaning and repairs service. ## Cheesecake Energy (Energy in Buildings) Created at the University of Nottingham, [Cheesecake Energy](https://cheesecakeenergy.com)’s core technology is billed as the “world’s greenest battery”, storing surplus electricity and turning renewable energy sources (like surplus solar and wind power) into reliable power that can be drawn upon on-demand. With cost savings of up to 30-40% against the cheapest batteries currently available, their circular economy approach sees them repurpose long-life industrial components from the automotive, oil and gas industries, further enhancing their green credentials and helping users to increase their energy resilience in the most sustainable way possible. ## Breathe Batteries (Energy in Buildings) London-based Breathe Batteries have developed software that can enhance the performance of any lithium-ion battery, improving both its charging time and lifecycle. Recently partnering with Volvo (to help reduce the charging time of their electric cars by 30%), the brand is playing a key role in the clean energy transition, making electric mobility more efficient and accessible. ## Interested in signing up for the 2025 ClimateTech cohort? - [Learn more](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/sustainability-accelerator) - [Register your interest](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/sustainability-accelerator/interest-form) - [Get advice from our Amazon experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The reports of Prime Day’s demise have been greatly exaggerated…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-reports-of-prime-days-demise-have-been-greatly-exaggerated/) **Published:** July 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day 2024 broke records again. Discover the data behind its growth and why brands should get involved. **Content:** Every year it seems people are keen to downplay the success of Amazon Prime Day, pointing to low figures in 2018, the extension from 24 to 48 hours and the expansion of its international reach to say that growth figures are disingenuous – but the stats show that’s just not true… After the 2024 event, [Channel X published a chart showing the staggering growth of Prime Day over the last 10 years](https://channelx.world/2024/07/10th-amazon-prime-day-2015-2024/), which sees sales spike from a modest 34.4 million items sold in 2015 to an estimated 400 million items in 2024 (projected figures after Amazon India’s Prime Day later in the summer). While it’s true that Prime Day has evolved – a lot – can it really be that such growth is just the result of more countries taking part, or extended hours? Channel X says not. Taking a deeper dive into the data, they’ve analysed the total sales for the 10 Prime Days, and adjusted the figures to account for the number of participating countries and the duration of the Event – right down to calculating sales per second! ## What’s the truth about Prime Day’s growth? In a nutshell, the stats prove the Event’s stratospheric success. In 2015, each country site averaged 44 sales per second; in 2024, that rises to a record-breaking 96 sales per second – and that’s with no China, and before figures from the India event. Yes, figures dipped in 2018 (back to 45 sales per second), but growth has accelerated YOY ever since and shows no signs of slowing. And better still? It’s not just good news for the big boys – in 2024, small and medium-sized Amazon brands sold more than 200 million items during the Event; accounting for half of the total sales made. ## So should you participate next time round? We would say that’s an emphatic yes – but that doesn’t mean we’d always recommend you discount! As we say above, exactly how you participate in Amazon Events comes down to your own unique circumstances and objectives. But, with the stats showing such clear potential for sales, having some skin in the game is a no brainer for us. It’s time to start working on your next Event strategy – [click here to get the guidance you need from our Experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why You Should Consider Multi-Country Sponsored Ads for Your Brand](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-you-should-consider-multi-country-sponsored-ads-for-your-brand/) **Published:** January 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Expand your Amazon Ads globally with ease. Discover how multi-country Sponsored Ads can boost your growth. **Content:** If you’ve not considered dipping your brand toes into multi-country sponsored Amazon Ads yet, here’s why you should… ## Why you should be pondering multi-country Sponsored Ads [We’ve said it before](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-master-international-expansion-through-amazon/) and we’ll say it again – Amazon offers one of the easiest and best ways around for your brand to test the waters of international markets. It’s low risk, you don’t need specialist in-market knowledge or expertise, you don’t have to commit, fulfilment is simple (especially with FBA) and there’s lots of Amazon help available, not to mention award-winning experts like [our very own Venture Forge team](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/our-team/). Europe alone has Germany, France, Italy and Spain to target – Germany being the 2nd grossing marketplace worldwide in 2023 behind the US, and France and Italy reporting 200 million monthly visitors each. And of course, Amazon Ads are a brilliant way to increase visibility and put your products in front of new eyes, no matter where in the world those eyes may be. Love a stat? [Amazon says that advertisers see an on-average ROAS (return on ad spend) of 2.4](https://advertising.amazon.com/en-gb/library/guides/global-advertising), just four months after launching Sponsored Products campaigns in a country that’s not their brand’s own. ## Multi-country ads are easier than ever If you’re wondering why this is suddenly topical, it’s because a new Amazon Ads update has just made multi-country advertising a breeze. Now you can: - Manage your multi-country ads through a single sponsored ads account - View and manage your campaigns in one place - Create a single campaign report that covers all the countries you advertise in ## Totally new to Amazon Ads? It’s easier for you too! New advertisers only need to create one account – and then they can register for sponsored ads in all eligible countries. ## Want to explore more? [Our award-winning Amazon Ads experts](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-advertising/) are on hand to help with your queries, strategy planning, implementation, management and more. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s New Ad Tech: How Brands Can Reach More Customers in 2025](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-new-ad-tech-how-brands-can-reach-more-customers-in-2025/) **Published:** October 23, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover how Amazon's latest ad tech boosts shoppable, interactive video ads to drive engagement. **Content:** Senior Amazon Ads execs took to the stage this month at UK Upfront, explaining how Amazon is transforming advertising for its customers – and announcing new ad tech coming in 2025, including interactive and shoppable video ad formats… With more than 19 million ad-supported viewers on Prime Video in the UK alone, the potential for brands to connect and expand their reach to audiences through Prime Video, Fire TV and beyond is growing bigger by the day. In fact, Amazon data shows that a massive 52% of Prime Video viewers don’t watch any paid linear TV at all, making Prime Video ads a unique opportunity for brands to engage with an audience they can’t reach elsewhere. (Better still? These viewers also spend 36% more on Amazon.co.uk than the average customer…) ## Who’s seen success so far? Amazon cited the tales of brands like HASBRO and Nivea, who have both driven strong results through combining Prime Video ads with Amazon’s first-party shopping data – Hasbro seeing a +21% increase in branded searches and +18% increase in sales, and NIVEA a 50% higher ad attention score compared to TV benchmarks. What do these insights show? They demonstrate just how powerful Amazon’s ad ecosystem can be when it comes to improving brand engagement and sales – with the right strategy to boost brand visibility and drive results. ## Interactive and Shoppable Video Ads are coming… One of the most exciting announcements was Amazon’s unveiling of new interactive and [shoppable video](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-using-shoppable-videos-to-their-full-potential-yet/) ads on Prime Video in 2025, designed to help brands “seamlessly connect content to commerce”. These new formats will allow viewers to add items to their Amazon cart directly from video ads, interact with brands via shoppable carousel ads and engage with interactive pause ads during their viewing experience. ## Our take These Amazon Ads innovations offer new ways to convert viewers into customers without interrupting the entertainment experience – always a heady mix. Looking to optimise your ad spend and leverage these new ad formats? [Speak to our Award-winning team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Prime Video + Fire TV Ads come together for greater Reach Amazon also highlighted the power of combining Prime Video and Fire TV ad campaigns, which can double incremental reach with just a 5% audience overlap. This multi-channel approach offers brands an efficient way to extend their reach and ensure maximum visibility across Amazon’s ecosystem. ## Our take A multi-channel strategy like this calls for a deep understanding of where your audience is most active – so that you can tailor your campaigns accordingly. ## Live Sports and Entertainment: A Whole New World for Amazon Advertisers And Amazon also shone a spotlight on their continued investment in live sports, from Tuesday night UEFA Champions League matches to their upcoming partnership with the NBA. With millions of sports fans tuning in all over the world, these events present new opportunities for brands to engage with a whole new audience – a must for those with big ambitions. ## Our take Live sports are a dynamic space for brands who know they can resonate with fans to make an impact – with content designed to drive engagement and encourage conversions. ## The Bottom Line? Amazon’s latest ad tech advancements offer brands exciting new ways to reach their audience – as always, the key to your success lies in your execution. With our award-winning expertise in Amazon Ads, we can help you craft full-funnel campaigns that don’t just reach more customers – they convert them too. Ready to make the most of Amazon’s expanding ad capabilities? [Speak to the team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Why Do I Need An Ecommerce Strategy?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/why-do-i-need-an-ecommerce-strategy/) **Published:** November 7, 2018 **Author:** Andrew Banks **Excerpt:** You've built a great website, now what? Success rarely happens by accident, and success comes with plans, not luck. **Content:** Customers are forgoing the shop around the corner to stay at home in their comfies and shop online from their own sofa instead, or on the go, or even on their lunch break. It’s a known fact that consumers are starting to shop online more, with retail footfall now forecasted to decline at a rate of 4% for each of the next 5 years. What comes with this rise of the norm of shopping online, is that the customer expectation for a positive and hassle-free online experience is growing at an exponential rate. While more customers start to shop online for more items, their demands are also increasing; customers expect satisfaction during their online shopping experience, and if they don’t receive it, they’ll simply turn to your competitors. > Gone are the days of it being acceptable to wait 5-7 working days to receive an item, customers expect to click, pay, and receive within 2-3 days, sometimes even 1-2, product dependent. In October 2017, 70% of online customers said they want flexible delivery options, and 55% said speed of receiving their items was of high importance, yet only 40% of retailers say fulfilment is an area of focus for them in upcoming months. Take Amazon for example, they’ve come a long way from the online book retailer the hit the UK in 1998, now offering one hour delivery on more than 10,000 items across 4 major UK cities. With the rise of Amazon and convenience shopping, your business needs to be on top of your ecommerce play in order to have a chance of competing against the bigger players. ## So you’ve built a great website, now what? As with any business, success doesn’t tend to happen by accident, except for the lucky few. There are plans and procedures within most successful businesses, and while a plan or strategy may change, that’s the beauty of having an agile strategy. The fact is, only 2-3% of customers that visit your website will actually make it all the way through to purchase. Customers can fall off at any time, for multiple reasons – slow loading pages, your price is too high, the delivery options aren’t desirable, other customers have left bad reviews, and the list goes on. > It’s not like the good old days when you could simply ‘build a website, and they will come’, no, no. **The competition has grown much too strong.** To start to understand why customers are dropping off, an ecommerce strategy allows you to get to the bottom of this and introduce some clarity and structure into how you sell online. Your website may look top of the range, but if it doesn’t function or work properly for the intended customer, then they’re not going to purchase. Does it work well on mobile? What is the load time? How are you bringing customers to your website? Is the bounce rate too high? Are you even targeting the right audience? It’s not just the big boys that need an online strategy these days; anyone selling online requires a strategy. ## Consider who your target market is Are they UK based? If not, how will you ship to them? What is your plan for marketing? Are your customers using social media? Do they need video content to help them decide on their purchase? All these questions, and more must be considered. Considering building an ecommerce strategy can seem overwhelming, but it’s a necessary step to take in order to ensure the success of your online endeavour. Knowing your business is your job, but knowing ecommerce is our job. At Venture Forge, we can work with you to help you plan the right moves to take to ensure your online business is a success. With an agile way of working, we take steps in ensuring effort, time and money are being spent optimally, and as the market changes, we work to adapt your strategy to stay in line with market trends, ensuring your product is in the right place, in front of the right customer. Our defined processes ensure we deliver great growth time after time for our clients, working with you to ensure your knowledge and ours is combined for success. Interested? [Get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact-venture-forge/) to find out how Venture Forge can work for and with your business. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Ecommerce Metrics For Growth](https://venture-forge.com/blog/ecommerce-metrics-for-growth/) **Published:** November 15, 2018 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** A delve into the key ecommerce metrics you should be monitoring today to grow your business quicker **Content:** **Shopify recently published an [excellent guide looking at the most important website metrics](https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/website-metrics-to-track) that your business should track.** A great article from industry veteran [Paul Boag](https://boagworld.com/), that covers a lot of high-level metrics that will give you a really good read on your business and also prompt some great thinking. It got us thinking about the questions we often hear from new clients, so we thought this was a great opportunity to look at the key metrics that drive the trading pulse of a high-growth ecommerce business. ## The basics Start by getting the basics right, as there are some real fundamental stats you must have a grip on to get a simple read on your ecommerce business. In ecommerce, there are only three basic variables that you need to track when it comes to growing your business. - Traffic - Conversion rate - Average basket value Whoa…. what about orders and revenue? This may sound odd, but bear with us here and all will make sense. > The three most fundamental and important metrics to ecommerce are traffic, conversion rate (how much of your traffic places an order) and average basket value (how much the average customer spends). These are the things you can directly influence and shape. But what about the number of orders and total revenue? Well, of course, these are important, but you can’t influence them directly – they are simply outputs of the three basic measures above. - **Orders = traffic x conversion rate**. You can’t create more orders, but you can create more traffic and you can increase your conversion rate. - **Revenue = traffic x conversion rate x average basket value**. You can’t create more cash! But you can create more traffic, you can increase your conversion rate and you can convince your customers to spend more each time. Now we’re not suggesting that revenue doesn’t matter as a metric (it is arguably the second most important, next to profit) but what we’re saying here is that you can’t control it directly and that by breaking it out into its component parts, you are going to get a much better read on your business and be in a better position to deliver growth. ## The mysterious profit KPI Perhaps for good reasons most analytical tools don’t give you the capability to track product profitability natively. Google Analytics [can do it with workarounds](https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Using-Google-Analytics-to-Track-Profitability-by-Product) and Shopify only recently introduced the [ability to track product costs](https://ecommerce.shopify.com/c/api-announcements/t/new-cost-property-on-inventoryitem-547532) in their platform. > In almost every online guide we’ve read about ecommerce KPIs, profit is the least mentioned but perhaps the most important. Growth is good, but growth at all costs isn’t, and keeping a keen eye on profitability is critical. After all, turnover is vanity and profit is sanity (we had to get that old adage in somewhere). So, what KPIs could you be tracking to better understand your profitability: - **Profit** – cold hard profit in £. - **Bought in Margin (BIM)** – the % profit you would have achieved if the product was sold at full price. - **Net Achieved Margin (NAM)** – the % profit margin you actually achieved when you sold the item. It’s important to track these two separately so you can further evaluate full price sales Vs discount-driven sales to understand what is driving your top line. - **Unprofitable order mix** – you’ll always have some unprofitable orders in there, but understanding these will help you understand why and help you manage them. A simple percentage KPI here does the job. ## The influencer KPIs Not all KPIs are created equal. So far we’ve looked at the business level KPIs and the real nuts and bolts, but now it’s time to go a little bit deeper and look at what we call the influencer KPIs – those that shape and come together to change the overall picture. - **PLP view rate** – Product list pages (PLPs) are also known as category pages or department pages. These are the pages on your site where you display your products and are an early driver of the purchase funnel. Tracking the percentage of your visits that contain a visit to a PLP will give you an indication of how many people are at the earliest part of their shopping journey. Seeing this number dip, typically indicates lower sales coming through downstream. - **PLP click-through rate** – Tracking the click-through rate from a PLP to a Product Detail Page (PDP) is another great influencer KPI. This gives you a good indication of the number of people browsing in an early part of the purchase funnel that are starting to progress. Increasing this metric by working on relevancy, urgency or social proofing (for example) will typically drive further downstream purchasing behaviour. A dip in this number is a clear warning sign that something has changed in the customer’s mind or on your PLPs themselves. - **PDP view rate** – Similar to the PLP view rate, this gives you an indication of the number of visits that result in a view of a product page. This is a very different metric to PLP Click Through Rate, as this metric looks at all views of product pages regardless of how the customer got there. A declining PLP view rate should give cause for concern. - **Add to basket rate** – Tracking the percentage of users who click the add to basket button on a PDP gives you a really good feel for where your conversion rate is coming from. By clicking this button your customer is saying “I think I want this item” and this gives you so much insight if tracked correctly. Once the customer has added an item to their basket, the only blocker between them and an order is your checkout and a checkouts conversion rate typically remains relatively stable and constant – unless you change your checkout, of course. This is your best upstream metric if you are looking to understand your overall conversion rate earlier in the journey. > Make each of these metrics a board level KPI in your business as these are the ones that are really shaping it and, more importantly, ones that you can really start to influence. Once you’ve got to grips with these, start segmenting them and things will get really interesting. What’s you PLP view rate by traffic channel? What’s your add to basket rate by product category? What’s your PLP click-through rate for each product slot on your PLP, and by category? This gets really powerful if you’re looking to supercharge your growth. ## The operation shapers So far we’ve looked a lot at the revenue drivers, but there is another group of KPIs that will typically have a cost impact in your business particularly in the distribution of your products to customers. - **Items per order (IPO)** – Tracking how many items you have per order will give you an indication of how many picks your distribution centre team has to do to get each order out to customers. Typically, the higher this number the more work your pickers have to do, the more time it takes them and the more it costs you. A high IPO on its own isn’t a bad thing and this isn’t a metric to track in isolation. - **Average selling price (ASP)** – How much each of your items is selling for is another consideration when thinking about the operational costs of your business. You are likely to have a fixed cost to pick an item and ship it from your distribution centre regardless of whether you’re selling an item for 10p or £100. A low or declining ASP is one to watch when considering your operational overhead. Neither of these two metrics in isolation is overly powerful, but when combined and put alongside profitability data they give you a good grasp on where your ecommerce order profile may be having a knock-on effect on your operational efficiency and profitability. Look for high ASP, low IPO orders for good operational efficiency and be wary of the low ASP, high IPO orders. ## Time to get a grip? If you’re battling with your KPIs, and don’t know your ABVs from your IPOs, we can help. We’ve created a free Google Data Studio dashboard that will give you the KPIs above, and more, at the touch of a button for your business. Simply [drop us a line](https://venture-forge.com/contact/), and we’ll set you up with access. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How Small Steps Can Help You Grow Quicker](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-small-steps-can-help-you-grow-quicker/) **Published:** November 21, 2018 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Starting your ecommerce journey may seem overwhelming, but success comes from small steps taken at the right time. **Content:** **To many, starting and growing your ecommerce journey may seem like an overwhelming endeavour, but the wins come from small steps integrated at the right time to ensure maximum growth for your business.** Figuring out where to start may seem like the hard part, but considering real statistics and buyer behaviour, we’ve pulled out a few key areas to consider. ## Are you functioning well on mobile? Mobile growth may show a lower conversion rate than desktop in your site Analytics, however, while mobile shoppers make up only 17% of all consumers, they account for 21% of all ecommerce sales. Having a website is all well and good, but is it fit for purpose? Sure it may look great on your high spec office desktop, but remember your customers may be having a browse on the commute home from work, so ensuring the customer experience is consistent across all channels is key. As mobile shopping conversions increase annually, a mobile site that is not fully optimised and easy for your customer to buy from could mean a serious cash hit for your business. > If you’re running a £2m turnover business with a £50 average basket value and your share of mobile traffic grows from 60% to 70%, the dilution of your conversion rate could mean a £110k hit to your sales. With seven in ten commuters using their smartphone on their commute, and 27% of 18-34s engaging in at least five online activities while commuting, this is prime time to get in front of a customer who has time to kill. The last 12 months have seen a conscious shift from customers browsing on their desktops to their mobiles, with over 65% of traffic to UK retailers coming from mobile devices. This focus on mobile shopping is forecast to continue to grow towards 75% in the next three years, so having a mobile optimised website is vital to your business growth online. If we consider that customers now pay bills, manage their finances, order take-out and groceries, and even keep an eye on their home security systems from their mobile phones, then we have to make use of this additional time customers are now spending on their devices. Mobile commerce offers a way for us to make life easy for customers to purchase when in browsing mode while catching up on Netflix, customers enjoy multi-tasking, and easy ordering on the go; why do you think Amazon is so popular? Not only does having a mobile optimised website make way for those customers that like to browse and shop on their phones, using mobile to research products is also now influencing purchase in brick and mortar stores in a big way. Data shows that one -third of our decision to purchase is influenced by researching a product on a mobile device before purchase, so if your customer does not have access to research on the go, then we’re afraid you’re out of the game. How do you know if your mobile experience is good or bad for customers? Ask some friends or family members to make a test purchase on your mobile site, try it yourself as if you were a consumer visiting. Try running some A/B testing to see how people are behaving on your mobile site, or consider trying HotJar to find out how customers are really navigating through your site. You may find that there are some obvious show stoppers on your mobile site that are forcing customers to abandon their purchase and shop with your competitors that really you could fix in a matter of hours to save those sales. Think about the speed of your site and your conversion rate, how are these performing and what is the trend? ## What’s going on with the competition? We’re not saying you should always be comparing yourself to others, because there’s a lot to be said about focusing on your own thing and setting your own mini goals to achieve, but, it does pay to check in on the competition once in a while. Keeping an eye on what’s going on in the market you’re in allows you to see what kind of things your customers are expecting from you. Also, it’s good to get an idea of any trends within the current marketplace so you’re not missing out on getting involved with new products. > A common issue for online businesses is that the competition is playing the price game, driving sales with rock-bottom prices; you can’t afford such a low margin, how can you compete? Easy; not every customer is price driven, so consider taking a different standpoint by offering a higher standard of product and service instead. > For example, some customers want to shop simplicity and for one of our clients we offered their customers just that; By simply increasing one item from £19.99 to £20.00 including free delivery on Amazon, our client’s sales grew by 25%. Think about this; ASOS is not the cheapest market option, and rarely take part in the most common online sales, and yet they remain one of the most popular options for the fashion-conscious online shopper. Why? Because of their additional customer care options – next day delivery, pay £9.95 and get free delivery for one year, easy returns, buy now pay later with Klarna, and more. ## Ramp up your email marketing focus If you’re just dipping in and out of email marketing for your business, then you’re doing it wrong. You need a clear idea of who you’re going to target, where, and when. Email marketing is one of the easiest and cheapest ways of communicating with an audience already engaged with your business; having a newsletter sign up feature on your site means that you have direct access to people who have actively signed up to find out more, and your customer list gives you access to people who have previously purchased from your brand. Both have an organic interest in finding out about what you’ve got to offer so why not give them what they’re looking for. Launching an email marketing campaign is cheap and easy and can be built up over time; set realistic goals and adapt them as you learn and grow. ## Ensure you have a solid place on social media We discussed this in part earlier, but ensuring you have a place on social media is essential if relevant to your brand. 66% of users between 18-24 are more loyal to the brands they follow on social media, and it’s a similar story for the older generations as well, so it makes sense for social media to be a focal part of your online strategy to ensure success. A good tactic is to consider where your audience is, there’s not much point in spending time promoting posts on LinkedIn if your audience is consumer based and spends their free time on Facebook and Instagram, is there? Have a think about where your audience hangs out, what do they do there? When is the best time to post? Are they an evening shopper or B2B shopping during the day while at work? Start with a small budget and get promoting, this way you have a small cash risk and you can see what works and what doesn’t work for you. ## Sound doable but don’t know where to start? At Venture Forge we define, challenge and iterate strategies, helping you to come up with the right tactics to take small steps to accelerate growth in your online business. We can offer insight into your market, help you determine how you should be marketing and when, or we can take your online marketing efforts and work with you through an agile working process to deliver results continuously. Sounds good? [Drop us a line](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Role Of Amazon In An Ecommerce Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-role-of-amazon-in-an-ecommerce-strategy/) **Published:** June 25, 2019 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Retailers are unsure of Amazon’s role in their ecommerce business. Should they resist, embrace it, or sell on Amazon? **Content:** **You’ve only got to listen to the news, or read the business headlines, to hear that UK retail isn’t in the best of places right now. In the same breath, you’ll also hear about the growth of online, the challenges posed by business rates, minimum wages, decreasing high street footfall and you’ll almost certainly hear the word Amazon.** Love them or hate them (consumers typically love them), they are now the dominant force in UK retail, a threat to many businesses and an opportunity to them also. Retailers are often perplexed when looking at the role Amazon should play in their ecommerce business – should they resist their dominance and take a competitive stance, should they embrace it and sell on Amazon, and if they do; how should they approach it strategically? ## The size of the Amazon opportunity Official sales data from Amazon UK is hard to come by, but in 2018 Coresight Research reported that Amazon’s UK revenues came in at around £10.9 billion, which would make them the UK’s 5th largest retail business, only beaten by the four major grocers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Morrisons. Looking at their online market share Amazon is the clear market leader, with 10x the traffic of Argos at position number two. Amazon is the second most visited website in the UK capturing 3.4% of all UK web traffic in 2018 – only beaten by Google. > The next closest retailer to Amazon is Argos who attract just 10% of the traffic that Amazon gets to their website. Amazon has become synonymous with ecommerce with 56% of US, UK, German and French shoppers start their online shopping journey on Amazon – not a search engine. > In our work and research for clients across various product categories (kidswear, homes and interiors, novelty gifting, beauty…) Amazon has always come out as the clear market leader – often with twice the market share of the second place player. ## The threats With all of this power and dominance, Amazon is obviously a concern to many brands and retailers. Due to the uniqueness of Amazon’s model (typically many sellers of a single product, with an incentive to reduce their prices and win the buy box), prices often come under heavy downward pressure. For the consumer, this is great, however for a brand owner, or retailer, this is a big challenge when you’re looking to protect both your margin and brand position in the market. Many brands and retailers also fear a loss of control over their product in the market. Will selling through Amazon ultimately lead to them losing control of their distribution and the perception of their brand? With selling on Amazon, you also don’t own the customer. The customer buys from Amazon and regardless of the model you sell through Amazon on, the brand/retailer never owns, or has access to, customer marketing data. > Perhaps one of the biggest concerns, is that ultimately, you’re providing Amazon with all of your sales data and in some instances even your buy price data. This makes even the most open-minded of brands think twice about dealing with Amazon – and rightly so. ## Why should you include Amazon in your strategy? This may seem a bit of a blunt statement, but Amazon should be a part of every brand and retailer’s ecommerce strategy. That doesn’t mean you have to sell on Amazon, but strategically every business should have a clear and shared vision on what role Amazon plays in the future of their business. > It is OK for the strategy for Amazon to be “**Do not sell on Amazon**”, but we’d argue that no brand can afford to simply discount it and not debate and consider its role in their business. Reasons you should include Amazon in your strategy, as a sales channel include: 1. **Sales generation** – As the largest ecommerce retailer in the UK, and the fifth largest overall retail business, Amazon presents a great sales growth opportunity to any brand. Even accounting for possible cannibalisation of sales through other channels, we have only ever seen Amazon drive incremental sales if approached strategically and correctly. 2. **Increasing profit margins** – There are various ways of selling on Amazon each of which works differently from an operational perspective and has differing impacts on your unit economics. For brand and product owners, selling on Amazon almost always offers a deeper net margin opportunity when compared to typical sales channels of wholesale, distribution or retail. Couple this with an increased turnover and this is a nice double-hit. 3. **Brand protection** – Brands are quite rightly concerned with their brand image and reputation when their products appear on Amazon. By taking control of Amazon as a sales channel, and making it a core part of your strategy this can be flipped so that Amazon becomes somewhere you are confident that your brand is protected and well represented. 4. **Price point management** – With no clear and well-implemented strategy, Amazon quickly becomes a race to the bottom, diminishing your price point and de-valuing your brand. Not just on Amazon, but on every sales channel you operate in. With Amazon being so dominant and widely used, a price drop on Amazon so often results in customers in all your other sales channels frustrated that they can’t compete and asking for price support. This isn’t good business for anyone. This isn’t about price fixing or collusion – it’s about ensuring that as a brand you run a healthy business that is respectful to your margin requirements, respectful to your customers across your other channels and fair for consumers. ## Approaches to selling on Amazon There are three ways in which you as a brand can sell through Amazon 1. **Amazon Vendor** – For brands who are used to a traditional B2B model (selling large quantities to wholesalers/distributors for example) Amazon Vendor often makes the most sense. You sell to Amazon, and they sell to their customers. When you register as a vendor, Amazon becomes a full-time distributor of your products. They buy and store the inventory, and take care of everything from shipping and pricing to customer service and returns.Although this is often attractive from an operational perspective, it is limiting in that you are still selling at trade prices and don’t have any control over the retail price that Amazon sells your products at.Vendor works well where you have limited operational capability and ecommerce knowledge in the business, but want to take advantage of the sales opportunity that Amazon presents. 2. **Amazon Seller (FBM/FBA)** – On the Amazon Seller model, you are selling to Amazon’s customers via Amazon’s website. Amazon charges you a commission for the privilege and you are responsible for getting the goods to the customer. You retain control of the listing, pricing and imagery – but you may share the product listing on Amazon with other sellers of the same items (if other sellers exist) and this is where control of your distribution becomes critical. There are two different flavours of Amazon seller. Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) where you hold all the stock and handle all the shipping or returns and Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) where Amazon will hold your stock and ship it for you for a small fee. FBA has additional advantages in that your products become eligible for Amazon Prime and this typically adds up to 15% to your sales volume.Seller works well where you have the internal capability to create and manage your Amazon listings (we can help here) and handle some elements of the fulfilment. FBA is typically preferred by most of our clients as it takes the day to day fulfilment capability away from the business and grows sales quicker, because customers prefer it.Seller gives you more control over your sales growth, profit margins and brand protection if implemented correctly. 3. **Through a third party** – an option that is often overlooked is working with a third party to create and run your Amazon channel for you. This could be a partner like Venture Forge or one of your existing wholesale or distribution customers who have a strong capability in this area. ## What role could Amazon play in your strategy? > Amazon needs to be in your strategy. They’re too big to simply ignore and they’re not going away any time soon. All too often we hear “I don’t really know” when we ask what role Amazon plays, but the more worrying scenarios we see are the businesses that are discounting Amazon based on fear or brand/price erosion or poorly thought through strategies. A manufacturer of car accessories wouldn’t rule Halfords out of their strategy without careful and educated consideration, just as a producer of fruit and veg wouldn’t rule out Sainsbury’s. With Amazon’s dominance and clear market lead across most UK retail categories, no brand can afford to discount them entirely. > Whether your strategy is to avoid or embrace them, is a decision you have to make. And if you decide to embrace them, quite how you do this needs some serious thought. Venture Forge creates Amazon strategies for growth and runs the Amazon channel on behalf of our clients. Can we help you understand how and where Amazon fits into your business? Why not [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Marketplaces Matter for Retail Success Post-Covid](https://venture-forge.com/blog/marketplaces-matter-for-retail-success-post-covid/) **Published:** November 3, 2020 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** The shift from high street to online retail accelerated by 3-5 years, posing a threat to some and an opportunity for others. **Content:** Whilst it comes as no surprise that the world of retail has been changing for some time, and that more and more shoppers are choosing to buy online, the speed at which Covid-19 has accelerated this change was totally unexpected. Since March 2020, the number of shoppers choosing to buy online has rapidly increased and is now at levels that were only expected to happen by 2024. This is due, in part, to the simple fact that you can’t shop on the high street when the high street is closed but also, more importantly, it’s due to a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour created by the Covid pandemic. The shift from high street to online retail has been accelerated by three to five years, and in a world where many retailers were already struggling to keep pace with the digitisation of retail, this poses a big threat to their business – and a big opportunity for those who embrace this change. ## What does the immediate future bring for retail? The next three to six months is perhaps the most uncertain time for consumers and, in turn, for the retailer. If only we had a crystal ball. With increasing local restrictions, talks of national circuit-breaker lockdowns and decreasing consumer confidence in both the economy and even in simply heading outdoors, footfall and spend in the high street is only going to head in one direction: south. > A common trend across retail forecasts is that only the food sector will show growth, and all other retail sectors will show an average 15% year-on-year decline across the next three months. For retailers and brands already struggling to keep the lights on, this is a real threat. With less certainty, increasing restrictions and downward high-street forecasts, retailers and the brands that sell through them, need to rapidly adopt an online strategy to offset this and face into the new and uncertain world in which they operate. ## Online to face greater demand over this peak With demand shifting into online channels, and in direct contrast to high-street retail forecasts, the online world has seen drastic growth throughout the pandemic and forecasts for the final quarter of 2020 suggest that online overall will grow between 25% and 35% vs the previous year. > Nowhere has this growth been more prevalent than with Amazon which saw its dominance continue through the pandemic (albeit not without its challenges) posting a 40% year-on-year sales growth and doubling of profits. With an established customer base, a deep selection of products in almost every retail category, and the vast majority of its customers benefitting from free, next-day home delivery, Amazon became the go-to destination for lockdown home deliveries on everything from essentials to luxuries. Whilst many people scorn Amazon’s growth and dominance, what many miss is that due to its unique marketplace model, over 50% of the goods sold on Amazon are sold by retailers and brands, rather than by Amazon itself, and the vast majority of this sales growth was felt by those brands directly. In the face of an increasing shift to online, and with record Prime Day sales already for 2020, the growth of Amazon through peak trading in 2020 looks set to continue – as does the opportunity for brands to sell to consumers through Amazon in this period and grow their own sales. ## Can the couriers and warehouses hold up? With any growth in online sales, the pressure is typically felt in two places – a retailer’s warehouse and its delivery network. Warehousing efficiencies are difficult to manage at the best of times, but throw on top of that Black Friday and Cyber Monday peaks, followed by an uncertain level of growth this Christmas, plus sick time due to Covid and isolation requirements, and you’ve got a planning and potential capacity nightmare on your hands. As well as the usual annual creaks and pains in the courier network, you’ve only got to look at the recent news from Royal Mail about becoming more of a parcel-collection/-delivery business, and the 6,000 new jobs created at DPD to see how quickly the home-delivery networks are growing and changing to support the shift to online. However, this won’t come without its challenges. In recent years, the home-delivery networks have become so much more robust and rigorous in their planning for peak trading events but this year’s unknowns could bring extra pressure on the couriers’ ability to handle the newfound volume. It goes without saying that Amazon faces the same challenges in scaling its logistics operations through peak trading, but with its significant scale, efficiency and superior infrastructure, it often fares better. This gives retailers operating on its platform, and through its logistics solution, Fulfilled By Amazon, confidence that they can scale sales without worrying about the logistical headaches. ## Amazon and marketplaces – the obvious opportunity? Selling on Amazon and third-party marketplaces (eBay, Etsy, Fruugo, Zalando etc.) is nothing new, but retailers and brands have been, at times, slow to adopt them. This has often been because of fear of losing their own sales to a third party or concern about working with third parties because of a lack of knowledge or capability within their teams. Whilst these are valid concerns, they can easily be overcome with the right level of understanding, strategy and partner in place. > Whilst these are concerns for retailers, the consumer (quite frankly) couldn’t care less and is already shopping in these channels in serious volume for every possible product you could imagine. In 2019, over $1.9 trillion was spent on global marketplaces and very few of those customers cared whether they were buying from a brand, a retailer or a marketplace. They chose to buy from the outlet that had the right product, the right price, the right delivery proposition and the customer’s trust. Even pre-Covid, there were more reasons to sell on marketplaces than there were not to – but fear, ignorance or lack of knowledge got in the way. In a post-Covid world, any retailer or brand facing declining sales in their biggest channel has to start taking marketplaces seriously. With a ready-made customer base, latent demand for almost every product in the market, tools and technologies to help you sell and a logistics infrastructure already in place and scalable, Amazon and other marketplaces must be an integral part of any retailer’s strategy. If you’d like expert guidance and advice about selling on Amazon, don’t hesitate to [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Venture Forge Joins Amazon’s SP Network](https://venture-forge.com/blog/venture-forge-joins-amazons-sp-network/) **Published:** January 5, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Proud to announce Venture Forge is a UK agency on Amazon’s Service Provider Network after accreditation. **Content:** We’re proud to announce that Venture Forge has become one of a select number of UK agencies to be accepted onto the Amazon Service Provider Network after a rigorous accreditation process. The six-month-long vetting procedure required the agency to submit evidence of its Amazon sales growth for clients, verify case studies and undergo scrupulous business checks. > Made up of trusted, authorised third-party experts, the Amazon Service Provider Network aims to take the complexity out of selling on Amazon and to maximise returns for sellers by working with trusted and proven service providers. To sell effectively on the Amazon platform, sellers need the right tools and expertise to navigate the ever-changing and often complex operational processes. Amazon’s network offers sellers the chance to access trusted and local Amazon Service Providers to understand the processes while creating operational efficiencies that increase sales and growth. Joining the network rounds off a record year for the Venture Forge team, with 21 new clients added to the portfolio and existing clients reporting a 450% growth in revenue. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Dog And Cat Food Category Analysis On Amazon UK](https://venture-forge.com/blog/dog-and-cat-food-analysis-on-amazon-uk/) **Published:** May 18, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pet food sales in the UK are worth £138m to Amazon. We take a look into the category to see who's doing well and how to win in this space. **Content:** ## The Rapid Growth of the UK Pet Market Pet care in the UK has been growing consistently year on year, with the most recent stats from the UK’s Office for National Statistics showing that expenditure on pets and related products reached £7.9bn in 2020, up 170% from 2005. > Covid has driven a surge in pet ownership not yet covered in the ONS stats, but recently shared by the Pet Food Manufacturers Association showing that 3.2 million households in the UK have acquired a pet since the start of the pandemic, largely driven by Gen Z and Millennials. Pet owners have, over the last five years, begun to spend significantly more on their pets on average, creating a mini-boom for brands and retailers in the pet space. ## Amazon’s Dominance in UK Pet Food In the last two years alone, Amazon’s sales of pet food have grown by 67% and their sales of wider pet supplies by 79%, with dog and cat food now generating £11.5m of revenue per month (£138m/year) on Amazon UK. Amazon has for some time had a good grip on the pet food market, but the importance of this has become even more obvious with Amazon creating bespoke areas in their warehouses for rapid handling of inbound and outbound pet food products and specific warehouse machinery to facilitate the easy moving of large and heavy bulk pet food items. With pet food being a high-volume, largely commoditised product category, often bought in bulk and too heavy to pick up unless you have a car; pet food made the perfect category for Amazon to dominate online. > With a broad product range on offer from almost every pet food brand, free next day delivery for Prime members, a selling model that drives keen pricing for consumers; it is no surprise that Amazon has become the largest seller of pet food online by a long way. Perhaps more surprising, though, is how complacent some of the larger brands have become at selling on Amazon – treating it more like a grocer, enjoying growing sales but missing out on the full opportunity they have available if they truly excelled at the more technical side of Amazon. ## The Shape of the Dog and Cat Food Market on Amazon UK UK pet ownership is 50/50 across cats and dogs, with approximately 12m of each pet in the population. Due to the different diets and nutritional requirements of each pet, this translates into a monthly sales opportunity tipped in the favour of dog food, with 66% of monthly sales on Amazon UK going into dogs, and 34% into cats. This further breaks down into wet and dry food categories as shown below: ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Dog-and-Cat-Food-Sales-on-Amazon-UK.png "Dog and Cat Food Sales on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")### Selling Models for Dog and Cat Food on Amazon UK With readily shippable items and good average prices, this category is the perfect candidate for an Amazon Seller model using Amazon FBA for fulfilment. For brand owners this would give all the benefits of Amazon Prime (rankings advantages, next day shipping for consumers and increased conversion) and retail level margins – yet most brands operate on the Amazon Vendor model. Despite the increased margin opportunity likely to be available on Seller, the majority of the brands operating in this market are major global brands, more familiar with key account management rather than direct selling through Amazon, and for that reason alone the Vendor model makes more sense commercially to them. It’s about the management of high-value purchase orders and the movement of large quantities of goods, rather than D2C selling. > What we do see in this market though as a consequence of this, is major brands treating Amazon more like a grocer and focussing on the commercial relationship more than the technical aspects of growing sales demand and volume on Amazon (listings, imagery, rankings, advertising etc..) – something which Sellers put more focus on as their success depends on it. ### Brand Owner Market Share Like most mature markets there are a small group of manufacturers producing dog and cat food under different brands in the UK. Looking at the brand owners, we see huge dominance in the market with just four brands taking 75% of the sales in the market. Nestle brands own 34% of the sales, with Mars taking second place at 17%. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Brand-Owner-Market-Share-on-Amazon-UK.png "Brand Owner Market Share on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")> Just under half of Nestle’s sales come through their [Lily’s Kitchen range](https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/4B231421-D81F-4F56-B428-954EC6A4BFE5/) driving £1.5m sales per month. It’s unlikely this range has been developed specifically for Amazon, but what Nestle has got right with the Lily’s kitchen products is great consumer branding that resonates with Amazon’s growing younger audience, an on-trend product appealing to the health-conscious pet owner, a keen price point, bulk packs and a high-quality set of Amazon listings compared to the competition. ## Key Market Trends ### Dry Dog Food Dry Dog food accounts for £5.75m of sales on Amazon UK every month, with the best selling brand being Harringtons at £1.45m per month and three brands taking £1m+ each per month. Harringtons’ bulk bags of dry dog food are listed reasonably well, play to the bulk buying and value mindset of the Amazon customer and appear to be regularly traded on price to entice new customers into the brand. That said, there is still good scope for improvement in their listings to sell the quality of their product better, drive greater conversion and grow sales further. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Top-10-Dry-Dog-Food-Sales-by-Brand-on-Amazon-UK.png "Top 10 Dry Dog Food Sales by Brand on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")Looking at some of the lesser players in this category, we would have expected recognised brands like Purina, Wagg and Iams to be taking greater market share, but all appear to be lacking in most areas of their Amazon strategy. Their listings, imagery, advertising, EBC and storefronts all have significant room for improvement and a great opportunity to grow their market share. **Key trends in dry dog food on Amazon UK:** - Brands with a strong ethos focussing on the quality of ingredients and pet wellbeing are winning through Vs the mid-market brand giants - Lots of smaller, newer brands are disrupting the market - Vendor relationships make up the majority of sales rather than Amazon Seller - Consumers are buying large bulk volume, with lots of subscribe and save listings to drive repeat purchase - There is lots of opportunity for brands to push their brand messaging harder across their USP’s and brand heritage - Listing quality overall is relatively high, however, most brands are using very typical FMCG pack shots designed for the grocers rather than an Amazon first image approach covering product features, benefits and brand messaging. ### Wet Dog Food Wet dog food is a smaller category, but still with a small number of brands taking the lions-share of the market. Lily’s and Forthglade do well here, taking £360k+ each per month in sales, but then there is huge fragmentation in the market with many brands competing hard for much smaller shares of the market. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Top-10-Wet-Dog-Food-Sales-by-Brand-on-Amazon-UK.png "Top 10 Wet Dog Food Sales by Brand on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")Given Harringtons’ success in dry dog food, we expected to see them cross-selling better and owning a greater share of the wet dog market – perhaps an untapped opportunity for them to grow their sales here relatively quickly. > Pedigree seems to have a good share in the mid-market brands, but a disappointing level of competition coming in from Butchers and Winalot who are all owned by different brand owners and should be in a keen fight for market share. Pedigree’s brand recognition is likely to be propping their sales up on Amazon and compensating to some extent for some low-quality listings and an under potentialised Amazon strategy. Butcher’s on the other hand, despite lower market share, appear to be playing well at Amazon with a higher than average listing quality and overall Amazon strategy winning them market share. Looking at some of the lesser players in this category, we would have expected recognised brands like Purina, Wagg and Iams to be taking greater market share, but all appear to lack in most areas of their Amazon strategy. Their listings, imagery, advertising, EBC and storefronts all have significant room for improvement and a great opportunity to grow their market share. **Key trends in wet dog food **on Amazon UK**:** - Vendor relationships again make up the majority of sales rather than Amazon Seller - Consumers are buying large bulk volume, with lots of subscribe and save listings to drive repeat purchase - Listing quality overall is relatively high, however, most brands are using very typical FMCG pack shots designed for the grocers rather than an Amazon first image approach covering product features, benefits and brand messaging - There is a gap in the market for retailer own-brand products – such as Wilko, Pets at Home or Jolly’s to take some market share from other value brands. ### Dry Cat Food Purina has real dominance of the Dry Cat Food market on Amazon UK, with £393k of sales through their premium ONE range and £196k per month through their mid-market Go Cat range. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Top-10-Dry-Cat-Food-Sales-by-Brand-on-Amazon-UK.png "Top 10 Dry Cat Food Sales by Brand on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")Lily’s Kitchen, surprisingly, is the underdog in this category, with 10th place and £40k/month of sales, likely held back by the strength of other players strategies in this market rather than any weaknesses in their own. **Key trends in dry cat food **on Amazon UK**:** - Smaller, newer brands look to be finding it difficult to unseat the brand leaders - Smaller packs are being purchased in this category, but there is still a bulk buying mentality - Vendor relationships make up the majority of sales rather than Amazon Seller ### Wet Cat Food Mid-market brands like Felix and Whiskas dominate this category on Amazon. With keen price points and OK listings, they both have a great market share. Felix however seems to have an odd Amazon strategy. Their listings are dominated by resellers who are selling on Amazon Seller and self-fulfilling, driving volume in a hands-off way but diminishing the brands price point. This is at odds with the remainder of the market where the brand themselves are selling to Amazon on Vendor and as such able to offer the consumer the benefits of Prime, and benefit themselves from greater sales at a deeper margin. ![](https://venture-forge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Top-10-Wet-Cat-Food-Sales-by-Brand-on-Amazon-UK.png "Top 10 Wet Cat Food Sales by Brand on Amazon UK - Venture Forge")**Key trends in wet cat food **on Amazon UK**:** - Consumers are buying large bulk volume, with lots of subscribe and save listings driving repeat purchase - Vendor relationships make up the majority of sales rather than Amazon Seller - Smaller, newer brands look to be finding it difficult to unseat the brand leaders due to their brand awareness - Listing quality overall is relatively high, however, most brands are using very typical FMCG pack shots designed for the grocers rather than an Amazon first image approach covering product features, benefits and brand messaging - There is more consumer consumption in wet cat food than in dry cat food, offering up potential cross-sell opportunities that are being missed. ## Our Tips for Success in Dog and Cat Food on Amazon UK Dog and cat food on Amazon is an exceptionally large market, dominated by major brands – some of which are doing very well through brand recognition rather than being exceptional at Amazon selling. This creates opportunities for everyone. For the large brands that already have a big market share, there is a market share battle to be had by becoming great at Amazon and not just great as a brand. For challenger and lesser-known brands, this creates a great opportunity to take on the big guys who don’t have their eyes (yet) on a pure Amazon selling strategy and to nibble a bit of their market share. Either way, our three tips below apply… ### Treat Amazon as your number one sales channel Amazon has market dominance in the UK for pet food sales online, and are rapidly eating offline market share. Treating Amazon as your number one sales channel, rather than a key account, will set you in good stead for growth. Many of the major brands that dominate this category are re-using image assets designed for the grocers, writing copy that is under optimised for ranking on Amazon for generic terms and not using Amazon’s tools to the best of their ability for advertising. Making Amazon your number one sales channel will shift your focus and set you up for greater success. ### Have an Amazon strategy, not a grocer strategy Continuing from the above, and perhaps one of the most obvious statements we’ve ever written – create an Amazon strategy for selling on Amazon and not a grocer or key account strategy. Looking at the listings from the major brands we see a common theme. Lots of volume and sales going through well-recognised brands but with listings, images, content etc.. clearly carried over from other sales channels as an afterthought. The typical journey for major brands on Amazon is to find themselves opening a Vendor relationship through a national account manager and then having to provide content to Amazon as a consequence of that. Over time this content improves, but it’s very rare an Amazon-first approach is taken to the content and growth strategy for Amazon. It’s almost always an afterthought to the commercial relationship. Flipping this around and looking first and foremost at how you excel at creating consumer demand for your products on Amazon through great content, listings, images, advertising, storefronts etc.. will re-shape your success. > Think first about how you drive consumer demand specifically within the Amazon channel, and then enjoy the rewards that come from this – increased PO’s on Amazon Vendor, or greater sales on Amazon Seller. ### Excel at everything This category is tough. It’s mature and dominated by big brands, so there is no room for a 2nd rate Amazon strategy or looking to only excel in certain areas (i.e. focussing on ads rather than listing optimisation). With large, mature markets, dominated by big brands with huge budgets you have to use every opportunity you have to your advantage on Amazon. In dog and cat food, being exceptionally at everything on Amazon is a minimum requirement. ## Can We Help? At Venture Forge we build all our client’s Amazon growth strategies on solid insight and deep market research, working with major brands from across the world. If you’d like to discuss how we can grow the sales of your pet food brand on Amazon, we’d love to [have a chat](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Expanding Your Brand Globally Through Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/expanding-your-brand-globally-through-amazon/) **Published:** July 10, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Running an Amazon business means always planning for growth. Expanding into international markets is one of the best ways to scale. **Content:** If you are running an Amazon business, you will always be thinking about the next step for growth and one of the best ways to grow your business is to widen your reach and sell your products or services in more international markets. Expanding territories can be one way to bring your product to a new market and audience yet selling globally is a daunting prospect for many businesses and may often seem out of reach. It does not need to be though with Amazon. The platform’s global infrastructure means you can roll out a global selling strategy to engage with audiences across multiple markets relatively easily and the investment needed is often significantly cheaper than investing in a traditional global selling strategy. > However, selling and succeeding on Amazon internationally is not as simple as listing your products in more markets. It requires a detailed strategy like any selling initiative, and there are several different ways in which you can use the platform to engage with your target audience. Amazon provides tools to simplify global selling through its channels, but you must remember that the platform is a competitive marketplace with millions of global players, and you need to stand out to be a success. Also, some of the tools from Amazon are designed to make it easier to sell internationally, but not often the most successful way of doing it. When selling on Amazon, you need to invest in marketing, sales, and fulfilment solutions and understand the markets that you are selling to. Similarly, you need to understand any currency exchanges and taxes that you may be eligible to handle internally as a business – again, it is not as straightforward as simply listing a product on Amazon, particularly in the USA or Europe (thanks to Brexit). Amazon may have the largest e-commerce global footprint, but you still need to be considerate of the nuances of each country, culture, and region to be successful. As an Amazon agency, we have helped multiple clients expand into new territories. Here are our top tips on how you can successfully pivot and introduce a global Amazon selling strategy for your brand. ## Get to grips with Amazon Amazon is unlike any other e-commerce or marketplace website. It is a customer-centric company that has a range of constantly changing guidelines and some of these guidelines vary on a country-by-country basis. It is important to fully understand the platform, how it can work for your business and how you are going to introduce it in each region you are considering. Amazon can offer you fulfilment in each country support, but at a cost, so you must decide what services you will require from Amazon and what you can manage already internally. Allowing Amazon to handle your fulfilment in any territory typically gives you the Amazon Prime badge, which is essential to success, but you also need to consider any challenges you have around getting stock into each country and through customs successfully before getting it to Amazon. Often, a 3PL can be handy for taking care of this for you but it does come at an additional cost. ## Build a global selling strategy If you believe that Amazon is the right marketplace for your product then there are several steps to take before investing in Amazon. You will need to create a global selling strategy that will help you determine who your customer is, how you will drive them to your product, who your competition is and how you will differentiate your products. This is good basic marketing but needs to be considered before you turn to Amazon and expect your international sales to simply flourish. Is your product the fit right for the market you are entering, is it priced correctly and is it culturally appropriate for where you are intending to sell? Assuming this is all good, it is important you do not skip the Amazon basics and begin by optimising your product pages with great localised content, strong imagery with infographics fully translated and keyword rich, localised titles with appropriate search terms and keywords. Planning all of this out at the early stage is crucial to ensure that you stand a chance of succeeding in a new international market. ## Focus on your best-selling products When launching into a new territory, you may have a wide range of products that you can introduce to the market. However, you do not want to stretch yourself too thin. Focus on your core products; the ones that you think will be most successful in the new market based on research, data, and insight. This will mitigate your stock placement risk and avoid you spending on sending un-saleable items or trying to run a strategy for too many products when you only have the resource to launch a few successfully. With any Amazon market, your business model is always more sustainable when you have deeper sales on the lines you are selling, so focussing on generating great sales on a few lines, will always be simpler and more profitable than driving good sales on a lot of your lines. When you throw in the logistical challenges of moving goods abroad, this becomes even more important. Ensure that the selected products that you are taking to that market meet any international retail and fulfilment rules and can be delivered to your customers. It is important to also price your product competitively for the local market (not just converting your price), especially if you are entering a crowded marketplace. ## Get to grips with fulfilment Once you are listed on Amazon, you could experience an influx of orders, but is your business prepared for this? Getting to grips with fulfilment is therefore crucial. While Amazon provides fulfilment services (Fulfilment by Amazon – FBA) and customer support for your shipments, these come at an additional cost, which for some products might not be economical but are vital to get the Prime badge. Running your international business on Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM) may seem more appealing for those with stock placement challenges in new markets, but it is often detrimental to your longer-term strategy unless the majority of your product category also trade via FBM. Research your fulfilment capacity as a business and decide on whether this needs to be outsourced to meet any potential demand from a new marketplace and to work through the import and duty requirements of your target countries ## Build loyalty and positive reviews Building loyalty and cultivating positive reviews are crucial to helping your brand and products find success on Amazon and brands are rewarded by the retailer accordingly. Amazon will emphasise your product pages if they receive positive customer reviews and you will also place higher when customers use reviews as search criteria. Genuine customer feedback is the strongest form of advertising for your brand and building this in a new market is challenging. Make use of all available Amazon review schemes in your new territories (Vine, ERP) to get high levels of initial reviews as quickly as possible to gain traction. > If you can achieve customer satisfaction and merit, then you will succeed as a global Amazon seller and gain traction and growth in international markets that would otherwise be unreachable. ## Think carefully about using Pan European fulfilment A great example of where Amazon makes it easy for brands to expand internationally is through their pan EU (and Pan North America) shipping programs. These allow brands to put products into one country (i.e. Germany) and then Amazon will automatically distribute your goods to regional warehouses (i.e. France, Spain) to allow you to sell in these countries. This may seem advantageous and can speed up a launch into multiple markets, but it does limit a brand strategically. On the Pan EU program, the content of your Amazon listings can be localised, but your images cannot, leaving French customers seeing German infographics and ultimately limiting your ability to sell in the longer term. Thinking carefully about your longer-term ambitions in a market should shape your fulfilment approach, rather than just accepting the programs that Amazon opens. Please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to find out how Venture Forge can help your business achieve significant growth globally on Amazon. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The A-Z Of Amazon Success In 2021](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-a-z-of-amazon-success-in-2021/) **Published:** July 13, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Watch Venture Forge CEO Andy Banks's Internet Retailing Expo workshop on Amazon success and leveraging the A10 algorithm. **Content:** The world of Amazon can, at times, be a pretty challenging place. With regular changes to policies, rules, algorithms and increasingly tough competition, brands are often left asking how to dominate Amazon and become successful. Join Venture Forge CEO, Andy Banks, in our virtual workshop recorded for this year’s Internet Retailing Expo, where we took the audience through the A to Z of how to be successful at Amazon and how to work the Amazon A10 algorithm to your advantage. ## Can we help? Venture Forge are experts at growing sales on Amazon across the world for ambitious brands. If your brand needs additional help in growing on Amazon, or some additional expertise to get you moving quicker, we’d [love to help](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Venture Forge Proudly Shortlisted for Three National Awards](https://venture-forge.com/blog/venture-forge-proudly-shortlisted-for-three-national-awards/) **Published:** July 14, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Venture Forge is shortlisted in three categories across two top agency awards, the only Amazon marketplace agency recognised. **Content:** For the second year in a row, Venture Forge has been shortlisted in three categories in two separate and highly regarded agency awards, and are the only Amazon and marketplace agency to be shortlisted. In the [Global ECommerce Awards](https://globalecommerceawards.com/), we’ve been selected as a finalist in the Global Ecommerce Agency of The Year category, as well as our Account Director, Becca Cain being shortlisted in the Rising Star awards. For the [UK Agency Awards](https://ukagencyawards.co/), Venture Forge are one of seven finalists, and again the only Amazon agency to be shortlisted in what looks like a hard-fought category. It’s with thanks to our entire team and supportive clients that we’ve been able to get to this stage, and we look forward to what should be a great set of award events in September this year. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Understanding The Changes In Amazon’s Re-Stock Limits](https://venture-forge.com/blog/understanding-the-changes-in-amazons-re-stock-limits/) **Published:** August 10, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** In April 2021, Amazon set FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) restock limits to manage the surge in sellers during the pandemic, impacting marketplace businesses. **Content:** In April 2021, Amazon imposed FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) restock limits to accommodate the increased number of sellers that started using FBA during the global pandemic, which has had a knock-on effect for businesses that sell on the marketplace. During 2020, e-commerce experienced a boom especially during the pandemic, which saw Amazon increase the number of products that brands were able to stock. Throughout the pandemic, businesses that traditionally didn’t trade on Amazon flocked to the marketplace as it was a sales channel that was still operating when traditional retail outlets were closed. Businesses were able to send stock to Amazon warehouses with enough products to cover a 90-day stock period – this is huge in the e-commerce market. As a trusted Amazon agency, we have helped multiple clients understand and pivot to these recent changes in re-stock limits. In this blog, we will explore the reasons why a re-stock limit was introduced, what this means for your business, how you can remain agile with these changes and continue to be a success on Amazon. ## Why has a re-stock limit been introduced? Although it appears that Amazon has done this to ensure sellers and Amazon have enough room to store their products, it has had a huge impact on businesses because these limits are hugely restricting the amount of stock sellers can now hold in comparison to larger storage limits that they had previously. Amazon had to effectively reset to cope with the huge increase in demand caused by the pandemic. ## So, what does this mean? Across our client base, we’ve seen restock limits drop from Unlimited Storage down to 1000’s of units. This means that we’re having to rethink how we manage FBA storage going forward. Businesses need to be more agile than ever to adapt to these changes and adjust how they are working with Amazon to ensure that it is still an effective sales channel for them. It is possible to run Amazon businesses on much smaller stock covers, but it requires sellers to be more dynamic and reactive to changes in demand and keep a closer eye on stock levels. Having an efficient internal logistics and strong stock management will give sellers an edge over their competition as they head into Q4 of 2021. Ultimately, these changes were made because of insufficient warehouse capacity at Amazon and now vendors on the marketplace need to adapt to make the most out of their restock limits. ## How to work within the re-stock limits? These are our recommendations for best managing FBA limits: - Prioritize your most profitable items – now that it is an overall account level limit (rather than ‘by product’), we advise decreasing your inventory levels in slower selling products and increasing them in your best-selling products. Focusing on products that sell well and make your business more profitable in the long run. - Increase your sales – Generally, Amazon will look at the last 3 months of sales history and update your capacity to reflect this. The more you sell, the higher your limits become. Explore ways to promote your products and increase sales through PPC and promotional activity. - Sell slow-moving items through FBM – If you’re selling solely through FBA, it might be time to try FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) or SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime). With these restock limits getting crazier, you may have to use 3PLs going forward. Why not reserve this for items that don’t sell as fast? - Create removal orders – create room in Amazon storage for your best-sellers and new products by creating a removal order to have your inventory returned on slower selling lines. To get a grasp on the changes, it is important as a business to understand your stock levels, best-selling items, your marketplace and how you perform during seasonal periods. We are heading into a key trading period (Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Christmas), do you have products stocked with Amazon that perform better than others during this time? ## Will Amazon change the re-stock limit again? As with most things Amazon-related, sellers the platform is open to changes. Amazon has promised that it will update restock limits regularly and we believe that it will be refined as time moves on. Your Q3 performance and IPI score will undoubtedly influence your Q4 restock limits – so we advise you to start taking actions now, to stand you in good stead for the busiest trading period for Amazon. To handle the increased demand, Amazon is increasing its number of warehouses so will soon have increased capacity, which we believe will lead to further amends to the re-stock limits. To find out how Venture Forge can help your business achieve significant growth globally on Amazon, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments: What It Is And How To Use It](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-manage-your-experiments-what-it-is-and-how-to-use-it/) **Published:** September 10, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** As the largest e-commerce market in the world, Amazon understands the value and importance of split testing. **Content:** As the largest e-commerce market in the world, Amazon understands the value and importance of split testing. While sellers may never be able to fully understand the minds of shoppers, split testing offers the next best thing with concrete data on how consumers think. Amazon has created split testing mechanics with Manage Your Experiments. As a trusted Amazon agency, Manage Your Experiments, or MYE, is something that we constantly run for our clients to ensure that they understand what works best for their customers. In this blog post, we’ve compiled a guide on Manage Your Experiments on Amazon and how it can be utilised by sellers on the site. ## What is Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments? Brands can now use Manage Your Experiments on Amazon to experiment with product images, product titles and A+ Content to improve sales by testing two versions of the same listing to identify the most impactful page content. Manage Your Experiments lets you run A/B tests (also known as split tests) on your brand’s listings content. Experiments let you compare two versions of content against each other so you can see which performs better. At the end of an experiment, you can review which version performed the best and then publish the winning content. By running experiments, you can learn how to build better content that appeals to your customers and helps to drive more sales. ## How does Amazon Manage Your Experiments work? Manage Your Experiments split tests work just like any other. At random, half of the visitors receive version A of an image, product title, or A+ Content, while the other half receives version B. Both variations are populated as normal on product pages, search results pages, etc., and supplant previous content, for better or worse. Amazon recommends that sellers run an experiment for 10 weeks to get enough data. From there, a seller can see which version performs better. Amazon MYE displays metrics for sales, conversion rates, units sold per unique visitor, and sample size. The data also shows a projected one-year impact, which forecasts sales and units sold if that version were used for a year. ## Who can use Amazon Manage Your Experiments? To be able to utilise MYE for your brand and products there are two eligibility options available: **Brand Eligibility:** To run experiments, you must own a brand. That means that you are internal to the brand and responsible for selling the brand in the Amazon store. **ASIN Eligibility:** An ASIN is eligible if it belongs to your brand and has received enough traffic in recent weeks to be eligible for experimentation. Amazon only lets you experiment with high-traffic ASINs to increase the likelihood that you can confidently determine a winner at the end of the experiment. As an Amazon seller agency, we will be able to support you in becoming eligible to qualify for MYE. ## How do I get started with Amazon Manage Your Experiments? Starting an experiment with Amazon MYE is simple. Your first step is going to the Manage Your Experiments screen from your Seller Central dashboard. When you’re ready, click the ‘Create a New Experiment’ dropdown and select the type of experiment you want to run. Then, choose your Reference ASIN, the product you want to test. You’ll see which products are eligible and which are not. After that, fill in the details of the experiment, including duration and start date, and provide the content for each variation. When you’re finished, submit the content for review. Once Amazon validates it, the experiment will begin on the date you selected. As an Amazon expert, we can support our clients through the MYE process and report on the results and provide them with the best outcome. ## What are the pros and cons of Amazon Manage Your Experiments? For all its benefits, Amazon MYE still has drawbacks to consider. Look at all the advantages and disadvantages before deciding on whether you would like to run an experiment. ### Pros The biggest advantage of Manage Your Experiments is that it exists within the Amazon environment. Other split tests are more like a simulation, whereas MYE is a live run. It works with real shoppers in real time in a real environment. This tends to produce more accurate data to manage your content on Amazon. ### Cons While there aren’t any huge cons to running testing, there are things to be aware of. Because the testing is a live run, it means you can’t feature your established content. Half of your users will receive the different content. Testing may sometimes lead to a loss or reduction in sales with 50% of customers will see the current version of the listing, and the other 50% seeing a significantly better one and it could be a huge win. > Once you have launched an experiment, you will begin to see data on each variation and how well they’re performing. We would suggest running a test for at least 10 weeks, to give you solid results. Once your experiment ends, Amazon gives you: - Recommendations on which content variation is more effective - How confident you should be in the recommendation - The confidence interval of likely outcomes from that content - The estimated 12-month impact on sales Testing is important to understand which title, images best resonate with customers and what changes lead to a higher conversion rate. Testing plays a vital role in identifying the most optimal version of the listing and ensuring customers receive the best content possible. We can support with A/B testing and ensuring the most optimal version of the listing is shown to customers. These performance insights can help you choose the most effective content for your product detail pages which, in turn, can boost sales and conversions for your Amazon products. To find out how Venture Forge can help your business with Manage Your Experiments on Amazon, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Opportunity For Household Name Brands On Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-opportunity-for-household-name-brands-on-amazon/) **Published:** October 10, 2021 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** In almost every conversation with household name brands about selling on Amazon, one consistent theme emerges. **Content:** In almost every conversation we have with household name brands about selling on Amazon, one consistent theme comes up; Why should we sell on Amazon, and will it cannibalise our sales in other channels? For mature brands, this is nothing more than prudence and ensuring that anything they do as a brand has a net-positive effect on both sales and profitability. These brands have mature sales in many other channels and these brands are often working hard to grab just 1% of the market share. Anything that risks cannibalising existing sales, rather than growing them incrementally, could be damaging. At the same time, however, ignoring the revenue and growth opportunities Amazon can offer can be just as harmful. ## Why should a major brand sell on Amazon? Amazon in the UK today has the largest market share of any online retailer across almost every retail category available. Yes, there are exceptions to this (kids’ footwear being one example where Clarks remain dominant), but in the main, they are the biggest online retailer in every product category. 56% of consumers now start their online shopping journeys on Amazon, and of the remainder who start by searching Google, up to 25% of them then go on to shop at Amazon following their search. These two stats together highlight why household name brands need to have a clear and prominent Amazon strategy. Amazon represents the single largest sales opportunity for any brand, with a pool of customers searching for the very product that their brand is selling, in volume and with clear buying intent. This latent demand is of course taken up by products already on Amazon, but all too often these products are not from “Brands” as we would recognise them – but instead from made-up “Brands” coming direct from factories, or through private-label UK sellers with Amazon-only businesses. > In our recent analysis of the best-selling products in the Kettles category, over 25% of the sales revenue on Amazon was going to brands that a UK consumer typically would not recognise, whereas a household name like Kenwood only had a 0.5% market share of a £30m a year category. In our opinion, the reason a household name brand should shop on Amazon is simple. There is a significant (and profitable) sales opportunity in the UK’s biggest convenience sales channel, where your competitors and unknown brands are currently taking market share. Unlike Kenwood, Russell Hobbs and Breville are generating £900k and £500k per month respectively by dominating the kettles category on Amazon in the UK. ## Will Amazon cannibalise my sales in other channels? The simple answer here is yes; there will be some cannibalisation of other sales channels if you are a major brand, at least at some point in your Amazon trading journey. What is a more important question to consider is how huge the risk of that cannibalisation versus the opportunity for growth is – especially when you look at the level of latent demand on Amazon (i.e. people searching by product type “kettles” or “toasters”) and your ability to take market share from the brands already selling into that demand. > Whilst it is possible that a customer looking to buy your products may now buy from Amazon over your D2C website, the opportunity for you to take sales away from your competitors on Amazon, and grow your market share is significantly larger and represents a clear way for you to grow your sales incrementally. Take the example of Kenwood in the Kettles market, above. Their competitor Russell Hobbs has 36% market share of the kettles category on Amazon, worth £10.8m/year to them. The opportunity for Kenwood to take even a small slice of this through selling into Amazon’s latent demand far outweighs any risk that cannibalisation would present. ## Does a brand have a benefit over other sellers on Amazon? From our research, brands that have built a strong presence in the mind of the consumer typically outsell non-brands by a factor of 4 to 1 on Amazon. This is due to many factors, but in the main, it’s down to awareness, trust and quality (which typically manifest themselves in better quality reviews, higher rankings and conversion rates on Amazon) – giving true brands a distinct advantage when it comes to selling on the platform. ## What could your brand achieve on Amazon? Venture Forge offers a no-obligation brand audit, looking at the potential of your brand on Amazon and giving insight into the lay of the land in your categories and the success of your competitor. If you’d like to find out more, please [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How to Supercharge your Brand’s presence on Amazon in 2024](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024/) **Published:** January 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover expert strategies to boost your brand’s Amazon presence in 2024 with key insights from industry leaders. **Content:** We debuted a new format for our Amazon Experts webinars this month, bringing some of our favourite marketplace specialists together for an hour-long masterclass packed with the tips you need to succeed this year. ## Missed out? Fear not! We’ve popped an on-demand link below – but we thought we’d give a little taster here of the hot topics on the table so you know what to expect. ## Introducing our expert panel First, let’s make some introductions. From Venture Forge, our CEO and panel chair [Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) was joined by our brilliant Account Director [Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert/) and our multi-Marketplace Awards winning Senior Account Manager, [Ananda Etges](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ananda-etges/). And we also welcomed two fantastic guest speakers from different Agencies – e-Comas Head of Advertising [Antonella (Nella) Argenziano](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonella-argenziano/) and [Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/), Founder at Vendor Rocket. ## What did we cover? Drilling down into the latest trends and the most effective strategies for the year ahead, our panel shared unmissable tips, tricks and best practices to guide you to better visibility and sales success on the marketplace – including: - Key takeaways and action points from 2023 - What does Amazon success look like in 2024? - Is this the year of Hybrid on Amazon (and if it is, how can brands do it well?) - How can brands stand out against increasingly fierce competition this year? - What’s coming for Amazon Ads, and how will strategies change? - 20 quickfire tips for 2024 – 5 from each expert! And it didn’t even end there, because then we went into a live Q&A session – albeit a short one given the limited time left after all that value! Enough of the preamble… time to watch? --- [**WATCH THE WEBINAR ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024) --- And if you’d like to speak to any of our expert panel, [just click here](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Targets Shein, Temu, and TikTok Store with New Moves](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-targets-shein-temu-and-tiktok-store-with-new-moves/) **Published:** January 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon ramps up competition with Shein, Temu, and TikTok Store by expanding support for Chinese sellers. **Content:** The marketplace makes moves to aid the expansion of the “Made in China, sold on Amazon” trend… In its first major strikes at the trio of Chinese “Amazon Challengers” (Shein, Temu and TikTok Store), Amazon is making several strategic manoeuvres that will make selling on the platform easier for Chinese Sellers. ## New Chinese Centres During December’s Amazon Global Selling (AGS) Seller Conference in Shenzhen, the retail giants unveiled their five key business strategies for the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, including physical expansion with five regional centres across China and an Innovation Centre in Qianhai that will give Amazon a foothold in China’s Silicon Valley. With a remit to help Chinese Sellers “build brands, promote products and digitalise operations”, the centre will act as a hub for AGS organisations, service providers, supply chain experts and suppliers, helping sellers come to market faster and more efficiently. ## What else? New shipping and new tools Hot on the heels of Shein and Temu, Amazon also announced that it’s adding Brazil to its shipping destinations for Chinese sellers. And, to facilitate that, Supply Chain by Amazon (the marketplace’s automated suite of solutions) will also be accessible to Chinese Sellers, as well as a range of new tools and enhanced seller services. ## Should UK Sellers be concerned about Chinese competition? You might, when looking at the increasing flood of Chinese-made products onto Amazon, be wondering if this is something your brand should be worrying about… We know it’s topical, because this came up as an audience question in our recent webinar, “How to Supercharge your Brand’s presence on Amazon in 2024”. [**WATCH ON DEMAND HERE**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024) ## So what did our panel of Amazon experts think? Our own [Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert/) (Account Director extraordinaire), [e-Comas](https://e-comas.com) Head of Advertising Nella Argenziano and [Vendor Rocket](https://vendorrocket.co.uk) Founder Ant Finch all agree… It comes down to quality. Yes, there are more Chinese manufacturers coming straight to market than ever before. But the key to competing with them is to focus on the quality of your own products, your own consumer relationships, your own content and listings. “Consumers are savvy,” explained Ant, to much agreement. “There’s always someone who can do your product cheaper, so it comes back to quality and the implementation of your own brand”. Want us to cast our expert eyes over your strategy, listings, ads – or anything else Amazon? [Get in touch with the team today](http://contact). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Prime Ads are coming, but who's most likely to buy?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-prime-ads-are-coming-but-whos-most-likely-to-buy/) **Published:** January 19, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Prime Ads launch in the UK. Discover which audiences are most likely to convert and why content matters. **Content:** It’s begun – Amazon Prime subscribers across the UK will start seeing adverts on streaming Prime Video from the 5 February and, even if they pay to remove them, they’ll still be shown on live event (i.e. Sports) and Freevee streams. But who’s most likely to buy? ## It’s a generational thing Last year, Amazon published a report which dug into the stats of ads on streaming services. Their findings, which accompanied the retail giant’s announcement of its own ads tier, surveyed 2,000 people across age groups, and showed a clear generational divide. Just over a third of Gen-Z and Millennial adults (34%) said they would be likely to make a purchase if they saw something they liked in an automatic standard ad played during streaming TV content. And of course, they’re the ones who are streaming the most – 93% of consumers between the ages of 18-39 streaming for more than an hour every day. For those whose products are aimed purely at an older market, the figures aren’t quite as promising. Just 10% of the over 55s said they were likely to buy something they saw advertised in their streaming service. But all is not lost… ## Quality content shines through You see, the figures shift for quality and relevance – and that shift goes both ways. Of the entire 2,000 survey pool, a whopping 89% said they are “receptive to ads that are interesting, relevant or help keep subscription costs down”. Meanwhile, boring or poorly targeted ads look set to be punished equally across the age groups – 40% saying they’d skip if not interested, 38% if ads were too long and 36% if ads were irrelevant. ## So the answer is… As always, the answer lies in engaging content and great targeting. And, with the possibility of shoppable ads in the periphery (Amazon, after all, being the ones who can facilitate them), we think it will pay to explore this exciting new Amazon Ads opportunity from the start. Love to explore how Amazon Prime Ads could enhance your strategy? [Get in touch with our Ads experts now.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What Makes a Top Amazon UK Seller in 2024? Insights from Channel X](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-makes-a-top-amazon-uk-seller-in-2024-insights-from-channel-x/) **Published:** January 19, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** What defines a top Amazon UK seller in 2024? Andy Banks shares key insights with Channel X. **Content:** What makes a Top Amazon UK Seller in 2024? We talk to Channel X (links included…) Did you catch Venture Forge’s very own CEO Andy Banks talking to Chris Dawson at Channel X earlier this month? In November, we partnered with Channel X on their Annual Amazon Sellers Report – a must-read for anyone in the Amazon space – with Andy adding his thoughts to the many fantastic insights it contains (including the opportunity to see who’s succeeding and how!). ## To follow up, Andy and Chris got together to discuss what makes a top Amazon UK Seller in 2024. And this is relevant to all brands of all shapes and sizes – because, as Andy and Chris agree, having a strong and strategic Amazon presence is becoming more and more crucial by the day. Why? Over to Andy… “(In retail), what we talked about 5 years ago was omnichannel,” says Andy. “At that time it meant selling in your own store, selling on your own website, maybe with a mobile app. I think what some brands are missing today is that omnichannel really has developed to be not “sell in all of my channels” – it’s “sell wherever my customer is”. And in the UK today, Amazon has the largest market share across almost every product category we’ve analysed. So to see D2C brands today that aren’t yet taking Amazon seriously and deploying a strategy for Amazon success… the consumer is already on Amazon buying what you sell, but from one of your competitors.” Too true! ## What else did Andy and Chris cover in this value-packed 20 minutes? ### Topics included: - What are the prerequisites for success on Amazon in 2024? - What’s the one thing every brand needs in place? - What first steps should a B2C brand take to get into the top 1,000 Amazon Sellers? - How do you choose the right selling model? - What are the top international markets for expansion right now? ## If you missed it, don’t worry! - You can [watch on YouTube here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAui_9XJwf0&t). - And for those who haven’t got round to reading the UK Amazon Sellers Report 2023, you can [grab your copy here](https://channelx.world/2023/12/channe...). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Vendor, Seller, or Hybrid? Why 2024 Is the Year to Rethink Your Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/vendor-seller-or-hybrid-why-2024-is-the-year-to-rethink-your-strategy/) **Published:** January 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Is hybrid the future? Experts debate Vendor vs Seller strategies and why brands are rethinking their approach. **Content:** ## Is this the “Year of the Hybrid Strategy” on Amazon? Early in January, we pulled together a panel of marketplace experts to mull over all things Amazon in 2024 – and hybrid was one of the hottest topics on the webinar table… ## 3P or not to 3P (that is the question) The “Vendor vs Seller vs Hybrid” debate is nothing new, but there’s no doubt that the evolution of the Amazon landscape means it’s at the forefront of many brands’ minds in 2024 – even when those brands have had their strategies fixed on one model for years. In the webinar, we looked at both sides, with Venture Forge’s own Becca Woollin batting for the Seller model and Vendor Rocket’s Ant Finch championing Vendor. And we expected a bit of a battle! But actually, they agreed on the most important point – which is that there’s no blanket “right answer” to apply to all brands. ## Weighing the Pros and Cons After a year where Net PPM (Pure Profit Margin) reigned supreme for our clients, Becca thinks hybrid is the future of the marketplace, “especially for brands with a history of B2B with Amazon”. And, having experienced and managed both sides himself, Ant urges brands to fully understand all their routes to market from a profitability perspective. ## It all comes down to strategy Doesn’t it always! The panel’s conclusion was that, whether you choose one model or a hybrid of both depends wholly on your brand’s overall strategy. Sellers looking to improve profits might find a partial or full Vendor relationship unlocks the door to better margins. Vendors could find that a partial or full transition to Seller Central relieves operational or financial constraints, offers better control and/or presents cost savings that boost profitability. And those operating a hybrid model already might need to revisit whether certain of their brands, products or scenarios would be better switching models following changes to their fees or relationship. ## Read all about it… For those who missed the webinar, two bits of good news! - We’ve pulled a blog summary together (15 min read), which includes an entire section on the Hybrid conversation – [read here](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024-the-expert-tips-you-need-for-sales-success-this-year/) - And/or you can watch the whole thing on catch-up (60 min view) – [click here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024) And if you’d like some expert help from any of our panel, [just drop us a line](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Our CEO shares his 2024 Vendor Strategy Insights with Channel X](https://venture-forge.com/blog/our-ceo-shares-his-2024-vendor-strategy-insights-with-channel-x/) **Published:** January 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendors face tighter margins in 2024. Discover key strategies to adapt, survive, and drive profitability. **Content:** As Amazon shifts more and more towards a priority on profits, the understanding that Vendors need to adapt and survive becomes deeper and deeper. Our CEO Andy Banks caught up with Channel X to share his best strategy insights for Vendors in 2024… ## The new Vendor reality Amazon’s story has always been one of relentless innovation and change. But for Vendors, recent times have seen a marked shift in the retail giant’s overall strategy – a pivot that’s seeing margins squeezed like never before. Why? Because this current marketplace model is based on their growth driven by volume growth, not the inflationary price increases that Amazon have enjoyed for the last year or more. For Vendor brands, this means they need to adapt to a new reality, one where profits are pressured and adaptation is non-negotiable. ## Finding the Vendor potential Luckily for Vendor brands of all shapes and sizes, Andy’s [written a guest post for Channel X](https://channelx.world/2024/01/navigating-the-new-era-strategic-insights-for-amazon-vendors-in-2024/) that’s all about the opportunities that lie amidst the challenges! From innovations designed to set your brand apart from the crowd to strategy alignment, P&L deep dives to hybrid and AVS audits, this quick read is full of thought-provoking points sure to channel your strategic planning in the right direction. [Read more here](https://channelx.world/2024/01/navigating-the-new-era-strategic-insights-for-amazon-vendors-in-2024/) – and remember, harnessing specialist support from Amazon experts like our award-winning team puts everything you need to succeed at your fingertips in one easy move. If you’d like to discover how you can leverage our know-how to drive your Amazon growth to new heights, [get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Fake Review Purge is in session: What it means for sellers and customers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-fake-review-purge-is-in-session/) **Published:** February 15, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon's fake review purge is in full swing. Learn how it impacts sellers and what to do next. **Content:** [Way back in May ’23](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-seller-news-25-may-2023-freshly-forged-by-venture-forge/) we reported a fake review purge on the horizon, and it seems it’s in full swing – in the US at least. Here’s what’s going on, and what else we hope will come out of Amazon’s efforts… ## How is the review purge working? Emails to affected Amazon Sellers and Vendors confirm that; > Amazon has taken an action to remove from your listings product reviews that were associated with buyers who have violated Amazon’s policies. > > To offer better protection for your business, Amazon has launched an automated process to suppress product reviews associated with such buyers. The emails then list how many reviews have been removed, with details of the top ASINs affected. While some sellers are lamenting a lack of greater transparency – for example, you’re not told what the removed review is so you can’t pinpoint the specific reasons why it was an issue – we see this as a wholly positive move towards a fairer and more trustworthy marketplace. ## Bye-bye Bad Acting Buyers \*crossed fingers\* As well as waving bye-bye to fake reviews, there have long been misgivings from Amazon brands about buyers who use bad reviews and feedback for their own malicious purposes – usually angling to force a refund or a discount from the helpless seller. Review removals in the US suggest that these rule-breaking buyers are being targeted, which is good news for honest Sellers and Vendors alike – here’s hoping this is a move that will make a strong mark! ## Worried about fake reviews on your listings? Do this… Bad reviews can have a shattering impact on the performance of your listings, so it’s crucial you keep a constant watch for bad actors posting fake feedback. So, if you’re worried that you’re being targeted, follow [Amazon’s Product Review Policy](http://Amazon’s%20Product%20Review%20Policy) to the letter, and report anything you think is a violation as soon as possible. And if you’d like a helping hand from our time-served Amazon experts, j[ust click here to speak to the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [A Key Opportunity for Vendors in 2024? Take a deep dive into your P&L…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/a-key-opportunity-for-vendors-in-2024-take-a-deep-dive-into-your-pl/) **Published:** February 15, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Maximise your Amazon profits in 2024. Take a deep dive into your P&L and optimise your strategy. **Content:** It’s no secret that we’re all about maximising your Amazon profits here at Venture Forge – after all, you can drive all the growth in the world, but if you’re not making the money you need from your sales, what’s the point? And, with a whole new Amazon landscape unfolding for Vendors in 2024, the issue of maximising every penny of profitability has never been more important. ## But where do you begin? In [his recent guest post for Channel X](https://channelx.world/2024/01/navigating-the-new-era-strategic-insights-for-amazon-vendors-in-2024/), our CEO Andy Banks suggests Vendors make taking a deep dive into their Amazon P&L a priority this year. “A detailed understanding of your Amazon operations is crucial,” he explains. “Knowing where every penny goes isn’t just about financial prudence but strategic decision-making. This deep dive can help you identify areas for cost savings, efficiency improvements and potential investment opportunities.” Find all of Andy’s Vendor tips for 2024 [here](https://channelx.world/2024/01/navigating-the-new-era-strategic-insights-for-amazon-vendors-in-2024/). ## How do you do that? You need access to the most up-to-date financial information you can get your hands on, covering your: - Sales performance - Ads performance - Inventory management - Pricing optimisation data - Operational efficiency (order processing times, fulfilment rates, customer metrics) ## Sounds like a lot? Our experts use a tried-and-tested suite of the best profit reporting tools around to provide accurate and timely Amazon financials to all our clients – if this is an area you need help with, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## And then? - Use unit economics modelling next to drill deep into your product performance, pinpointing the areas that need tweaking. - Make sure you’re on top of your ad spend, continuously optimising it to improve your ROAS. - And make sure your Seller Model is still working for you. Choosing the right Seller Model is a dilemma that should be reviewed regularly, it’s a question that’s more relevant right now than ever before – we’re seeing lots of Vendor brands considering whether they should make the move to hybrid or even Seller. - Want our expert advice on your next move? [Speak to the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). - Want more info on profit maximisation? [Read this blog](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-maximise-your-profitability-on-amazon/). ## Useful links - [How to maximise your Amazon Profitability](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-maximise-your-profitability-on-amazon/) - [The critical importance of accurate, real-time Amazon data ](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Smile Ends: How Sellers Can Still Make a Positive Impact](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-smile-ends-how-sellers-can-still-make-a-positive-impact/) **Published:** February 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Explore alternative ways for Sellers to give back through FBA Donations and Climate Pledge Friendly initiatives. **Content:** As Amazon closes down the Smile charity programme, we look at alternative ways for Sellers to do good. The decision by Amazon to shut down its Smile charity initiative is a sad one, with thousands of good causes set to lose much-needed funds they’ve historically generated through the philanthropic programme. But, for brands still seeking a way to have a positive impact through their Amazon activities, there are other ways you can keep making a difference. We take a look at two… ## The FBA Donations Programme All FBA Sellers are automatically enrolled in it but, if you don’t know what it is, the Amazon FBA Donations Programme allows you to donate overstock and/or returned product to people in need. The process is simple – you manually opt into the scheme at a level that works for you, and Amazon handles the shipping and processing of donations to their extensive network featuring charities like Barnardo’s and Age UK for a small removal fee – a brilliant way to reduce waste, save money spent on accrued storage fees and support great causes. And the programme really does help those who benefit from the donations – in 2021, for example, products reached more than 250,000 people every week. “The programme is huge for us,” says Sonja Green, Head of Gifts in Kind (GIK) & Recycling at Barnardo’s. “The income we make from Amazon donations can be put to where it’s needed the most – for example, with this extra income we’ve been able to set up a helpline for people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine and coming over to the UK.” Sellers might even get a tax relief benefit too. Amazon provides all participants with a donation certificate at the end of each year detailing all the inventory you’ve sent to charity – so if you’re thinking of taking part, you should speak to your tax advisors to see if this might entitle your brand to benefits. ## Useful links - [Amazon Article “More than 15 million Amazon products donated to charity over the last 12 months”](https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/news/community/more-than-15-million-amazon-products-donated-to-uk-charities-over-the-last-12-months) - [Amazon Article “How Amazon resells, recycles or donates unsold products” ](https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/news/sustainability/how-amazon-resells-recycles-or-donates-unsold-products) ## The Climate Pledge Friendly Programme If your products are ethical and/or sustainable already, or if you’re planning to make them more so, then looking to qualify for Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly programme is both a fantastic aspiration AND a great way to entice shoppers wanting to make conscious choices. As we discussed [in our mini-blog way back in March 2023](https://venture-forge.com/hot-off-the-press-10-amazon-seller-news-on-29-march-2023/), qualifying for the Climate Pledge Friendly badge means that you’ve achieved a good standard of sustainability for your qualifying product – either through compact packaging or by gaining a reputable external eco-certification. And giving back with a brand commitment to the natural world can bring welcome secondary benefits too, in the form of boosted sales and margin potential – here’s just a few interesting study stats: - 35% of online shoppers told Empathy.co that they “would only associate with responsible brands”. - 66% of survey participants told Nielsen they would “pay a premium for goods sold by sustainable brands”. - 74% of customers told Trivium Packaging that they would pay more for sustainable packaging. So there are still ways your brand can make a positive difference – and build customer trust and brand reputation in the process! If you’d like to speak to our experts about implementing your own “give back” initiatives on Amazon, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful links - [Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly Guide](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/help/Climate_Pledge_Friendly_Certification_Guide.pdf) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [4 Emerging Trends for Sellers and Vendors in 2024](https://venture-forge.com/blog/4-emerging-trends-for-sellers-and-vendors-in-2024/) **Published:** February 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover four key eCommerce trends shaping Amazon Seller and Vendor strategies in 2024 and how to adapt. **Content:** In the fast-paced landscape of eCommerce, we’re seeing 4 key trends for brands to consider as we move further into 2024… ## Channel surfing on the purchase path The way we shop has changed, again. According to ecomm platform Rithum’s recent study, almost everyone (three in four, to be exact) checks out three different marketplaces before making a purchase. Amazon continues to enjoy substantial trust at 42% – and there’s also a noticeable move towards direct-to-consumer sites (34%) and other private marketplaces (21%), so we’d suggest that a robust seller strategy that explores channel diversification, marketplace advertising and social media commerce is key. ## Make FOMO a sales weapon of choice The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is still having a significant influence on consumer decision-making, with buyers continuing to make impulsive purchasing decisions in a bid to keep abreast of the latest trends. How can you leverage this for your Amazon brand? With 39% of consumers shown to purchase after seeing an ad on the marketplace, you’re well positioned to take advantage of FOMO! [Make use of the most accurate and current data available to you](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/), and rework your strategies and campaigns to tap into the desire for exclusivity and urgency. ## In-person shopping is still dropping There’s been another visible shift towards online shopping, especially among Amazon Subscribe & Save members, with around half saying they prefer their digital subscriptions over in-person retail. We recommend that you make crafting a seamless customer experience an absolute priority, focusing closely on your inventory management and ensuring the smoothest of transitions between subscription membership and shopping and delivery – poor service and/or frequent out-of-stocks are a big no-no in this climate. ## The rise and rise of Social Commerce [We’ve talked before how Amazon are working hard to partner with leading social platforms like Pinterest and Meta](https://venture-forge.com/blog) – and they’re doing that with very good reason, because the integration of shoppable features within social media platforms is one of the most notable trends around right now. The lure of the enhanced user engagement that comes from providing clickable product links, in-ad purchases, product tags, shopping catalogues and augmented reality try-ons is strong. How can your brand put itself in a position to reap the rewards? We’d say it’s key, if you’ve not begun already, to strongly prioritise optimising and refining your Amazon Store and product catalogues so you’re perfectly placed to provide a seamless and effective online shopping experience across all your channels, social included. Deciding on the most viable strategies around in this landscape of rapid changes and competing innovations will be crucial for success in 2024 – [click here to get our team of experts on board](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) for maximum impact! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon shortens electronics returns to 14 days What it means for SFP](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-shortens-electronics-returns-to-14-days-what-it-means-for-sfp/) **Published:** March 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon EU is reducing the consumer electronics returns window to 14 days. Here’s what sellers need to know. **Content:** Announced first in Italy (but with the rest of Amazon EU sure to follow), Amazon is shortening the returns window for consumer electronics from 30 to 14 days (from delivery) from 25 March 2024. ## What products are affected? The shorter returns window applies across the following categories, regardless of channel: - Camera - Electronics - PC, wireless - Office products - Music - Video games - Video/DVD ## What’s not affected? Amazon devices and Amazon renewed products are excluded. **Where will shoppers see details of the new returns period?** A new return window will automatically be displayed in the detail page of listings. ## Is there a transition period? Yes – up to April 24 2024, customers can still ask for a return within the 30-day window, to be authorised and refunded based on the normal Amazon return and refund policy. But from April 24 onwards, customers won’t be able to request a return after 14 days from the date of delivery. ## And what’s this potential opportunity for Seller Fulfilled Prime? SFP users do have the choice to offer a longer return window, if they wish. So, as long as your returns window matches or exceeds Amazon’s return and refund policies, there is the opportunity to give your customers an enhanced returns experience. If you decide to do this, you’ll need to update your returns and refunds policies in Seller Central, and customers will need to contact you directly to benefit from the longer window offered. Want to know what our expert team advises for you? [Click here to get in touch](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [3 secrets to help Amazon Vendors rise above the competition in 2024](https://venture-forge.com/blog/3-secrets-to-help-amazon-vendors-rise-above-the-competition-in-2024/) **Published:** March 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover expert insights on how Amazon Vendors can scale, optimise content, and leverage exclusive products for success. **Content:** In our recent expert webinar, we kicked off with one of the biggest Vendor questions going – how can brands set themselves apart in this increasingly competitive Amazon environment? We’re all aware that the days of easy Amazon growth are behind us, and the landscape has undeniably – and significantly – tightened post the Covid and inflation booms. So the question of how Vendors secure success in 2024 is one that’s on the lips of many! Luckily, we had some of the best in the business to offer their pearls of wisdom, from Ant Finch ([Vendor Rocket](https://vendorrocket.co.uk)), Bruno Ferreira ([Bluedot ECommerce](https://bluedotecommerce.com)) and James Wakefield ([WAKE Commerce](https://www.wakecommerce.co.uk)) to our very own [Matt Briggs](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briggs-5a181b145/) and [Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/). ## Their advice for Vendors looking to get ahead? It boiled down to 3 fundamental things. ### 1. If you want to grow, you need to grow a team. “It’s impossible to scale up and run with a one-person team,” said Ant Finch, to a chorus of agreement across our panel of experts. For success at scale, the skillsets needed are so varied that having specialists that cover at least the most important elements of Vendor management is crucial. What are those elements? At the very least, our experts advise you have a cross-functional team across sales, logistics and finance. And ensuring smooth communication between each department is also critical. As Bruno Ferreira explains, “The success of the Vendor lies in them each having a strong understanding of their own silos and the communication between them.” ### 2. You should be updating your content continually. “The days of FMCGs updating their content once a year? That’s the old world,” said Ant. Vendors need to have a process of continual content improvement in place, testing and refining to optimise for changing consumer trends, search patterns and conversions. Ant’s top content tip? He advises Vendors to make proactive use of seasonal content for big improvements in conversion rates, adapting your listings for events like Mother’s Day, Easter, Back to School, Halloween and Christmas. ### 3. It’s time to try Amazon-exclusive products. Ant is a fervent advocate for Vendors using Amazon-specific products, listings you exclusively place on the marketplace with a set price point and margin expectation, citing them as “real game-changers for brands”. Love to get more expert insights, tips and tricks to help power your Vendor brand to greater success this year? This webinar was an hour jam-packed with exactly this! You can [watch it on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), or [read and bookmark our blog breakdown here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Recipe for Success: How ZenB Became an Amazon Best-Seller](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-recipe-for-success-how-zenb-became-an-amazon-best-seller/) **Published:** March 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover the budget-friendly strategy that made ZenB the 2nd best-selling pasta brand on Amazon UK. **Content:** We dish up the budget-friendly strategy that made ZenB the 2nd best-selling pasta brand on Amazon UK (and won us the Amazon EMEA Challenger Award) We’ve no doubt told you how incredibly proud [our team](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/our-team/) made us at the Amazon Partner Awards, when they scooped the EMEA Challenger Award for their work with pasta innovators, ZenB. But you might not know what was so tasty about the strategy they cooked up… We [recently spoke to Channel X](https://channelx.world/2024/03/how-zenb-become-an-amazon-best-selling-pasta-brand/) to reveal how we maximised a lean budget, bringing our best creative ideas and strategies into the mix to generate more customers- and more sales – for this healthy, sustainable and unconventional pasta brand. ZenB’s is a unique, yellow-pea, gluten-free pasta range so, not only did we need to break the brand into the competitive pasta category, we also needed to create strong brand awareness and understanding of the offering. ## How did we do it? We approached the brief with a three-phase strategy based on custom messaging, imagery and video: ### Phase 1 We targeted health-conscious customers first, launching Sponsored Products automatic and exact-match campaigns to remarket high-volume generic browse terms in the pasta category, and Sponsored Brands Store spotlight and product collection ad types to showcase the pasta’s health benefits and unique ingredients. ### Phase 2 We headed down the funnel a little to build on the awareness generated in Phase 1. We re-engaged our in-market customers with high buying intent, using exact match Sponsored Products campaigns and long-tail, product-specific keywords. And we launched a series of Sponsored Brands video ads, strategically placed in the middle of browse results, with exact-match, product-specific keywords and lots of focus on the ZenB hero product. ### Phase 3 With awareness and conversions fired up, we turned our attention to increasing customer retention and boosting profitability. First, we optimised ZenB’s store to ensure the smoothest, clearest journey for customers, packed with gorgeous visuals and custom messaging that effectively communicate ZenB’s product and brand story in both imagery and words. Then we promoted the shopping experience through Sponsored Brands ads designed to drive customers into the store, and used Sponsored Display ads to target two key consumer types – recent viewers (who didn’t convert) and recent buyers (in the last 30 days). ## And those award-winning results? We’re proud to say that this smart strategy smashed it! - Sales exceeded the client’s targets by 355% - Cost per acquisition stayed at 20% below the client’s targets - And ZenB saw their hero product become the 2nd best-selling pasta brand on Amazon UK That’s one winning recipe. If you’d love our incredible team to cook up something similar for your brand, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful links - [Channel X Article](https://channelx.world/2024/03/how-zenb-become-an-amazon-best-selling-pasta-brand/) - [Speak to our Award-Winning Team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Applications closing for Amazon Sustainability Accelerator](https://venture-forge.com/blog/applications-closing-for-amazon-sustainability-accelerator/) **Published:** March 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Apply now for the 2024 Amazon Sustainability Accelerator gain funding, mentorship, and support for innovation. **Content:** If you’re planning to enter your brand for the 2024 Amazon Sustainability Accelerator programmes, it’s time to get your skates on because applications close on April 4th! ## Why we love the Accelerator Designed to give a big boost to start-ups driving sustainable innovations, the Accelerator is an equity-free programme that gives entrepreneurs specialist tools and training to help them develop their skills and scale their businesses. This year, Amazon has partnered with Europe’s leading climate hub, EIT Climate-KIC, and innovation strategy consultants Founders Intelligence to provide workshops, mentorships and bespoke programmes for the initiative, which in previous years has helped the likes of eco-toothbrush company Suri and insect-based pet food pioneers Grub Club to thrive. And for 2024, it’s not just about consumer products – there’s a new cohort, the Amazon Pilot Challenge, which is for post-prototype European climate-tech start-ups in waste management, circularity and buildings efficiencies who can pilot their technology with Amazon as it works to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. ## How does it help participants? We’ll let Suri and Grub Club’s results do the talking… According to Suri Co-Founder Mark Rushmore, participation when their start-up was still at concept stage helped them increase their gross revenues to over £10 million in the last 12 months, as well as “providing unparalleled access to resources and expertise”. And Grub Club cites a massive year-on-year growth of 290% after participation in 2022, with co-founder Alessandro di Trapani adding that they still share office space with 4 startups from their cohort – a testament to the “amazing network” they’ve gained access to. ## The benefits in full - Monetary grants in the form of cash and Amazon credits - Specialised Mentorship from relevant experts - Tailored curriculum including workshops, bootcamps and expert speakers - Flexible access across the UK, EEA and Switzerland, featuring with virtual events alongside in-person attendance - Climate Impact Assessment that includes management strategies and external validation - Events and community, both while participating and through alumni and network events post-graduation ## Useful Links - [Learn more](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/sustainability-accelerator#programmes) - [Apply for the Consumer Products programme](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/launchpad/sustainability-accelerator/interest-form) - [Apply for the Amazon ClimateTech Pilot Challenge](https://sell.amazon.co.uk/programmes/launchpad/sustainability-accelerator/interest-form) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [“Help! We just can’t make the right level of profit on Amazon…”](https://venture-forge.com/blog/help-we-just-cant-make-the-right-level-of-profit-on-amazon/) **Published:** March 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Struggling with Amazon profitability? Learn expert strategies to optimise products, selling models, and operations. **Content:** Boosting profitability is an age-old problem for Sellers and Vendors on Amazon, and it’s a cry for help that our CEO Andy Banks must have heard a thousand times! So where do we look when we hear this marketplace lament from clients? ## Andy says profitability problems normally stem from one of three places… ### 1. The Architecture behind your Product Range When it comes to profitability problems, range architecture is so often a key culprit. If you’re simply selling the wrong assortment on Amazon – whether that’s in terms of market fit, unit economics or another factor – it’s crucial to step back, assess and pinpoint what’s really going to perform for you. How can Venture Forge help? To meet growing demand in these profit-pinching times, we’ve just launched our Product Range Optimisation Service. Our service reviews your entire offering in the context of: - The market - The competition - Your existing sales - Unit economics The result? You’ll be able to ensure you’re taking the right range that will drive the right profit outcome to Amazon. ### 2. Your Selling Model The Vendor vs Seller vs Hybrid debate is undoubtedly one of the hottest Amazon topics around this year, and it’s one we’ve covered a few times already (see below for the links you need). The current Amazon environment is seeing lots of brands knee-jerking from Vendor to Seller as they look to overcome their profit challenges. But should you be doing the same? Truth be told, we think many of those making snap decisions will find it’s not the right one – but there’s definitely no “one size fits all” approach to this incredibly fundamental Amazon question. This is a big move, and deciding what’s right for your brand needs careful, considered thought. You need to evaluate why you’re facing challenges, grasp the unit economics of your business (and Amazon’s) and assess your own operational capacity to deliver on the different models – all before you take any action at all. Need expert guidance? [Ask us about our Selling Model Evaluation service](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/). ### 3. Inefficient Operations From back-office inefficiencies to shortages and chargebacks, if your internal processes are leaking profits, you need to plug the gaps now to protect your margins. How do you do that? From defining your cross-functional team to ensuring your processes are as robust and compliant as possible; leveraging your Amazon partnerships for better service levels to introducing constant monitoring and improvements for internal performance, you need to be deep in the detail to boost your operational profitability. But it’s worth it. As our CEO Andy Banks says, “if you plug the leaks, it stays in your P&L from the outset.” Can we help you do that? You bet we can. To find out how, [drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO Andy Banks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/) - [Watch our Expert Masterclass “How to supercharge your brand’s Amazon presence in 2024”](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024?type=detailed) - [Read our blog breakdown](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024-the-expert-tips-you-need-for-sales-success-this-year/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [3 standout things we love about the Amazon Big Spring Sale](https://venture-forge.com/blog/3-standout-things-we-love-about-the-amazon-big-spring-sale/) **Published:** March 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Big Spring Sale offers brands opportunities with wider audiences, seasonal demand, and exclusive deals. **Content:** As Amazon brings a “Big Event” feel to the Spring sale, we highlight the 3 benefits that excite us about the prospect of this becoming an annual thing… A Spring sale is nothing new, but this 2024 version has seen a real ramping up in the marketplace’s attitude to their pre-Easter deals. Why do we see this as a good thing? Here’s our 3 top reasons… ## It’s a good time for bargains Traditionally, the end of March through April marks the time that shoppers look to spend again after the splurge of Christmas and the dirge of winter. The arrival of warmer weather leaves people eager to refresh their homes, gardens and wardrobes; the spring cleaning mentality is in full force – happy news for sellers of cleaning products and storage alike – and seasonal holidays like Easter bring opportunities for gift-giving. But, whatever your own consumer’s driving forces might be right now, the one thing that’s always going to make your products more attractive is a good deal. And, by throwing the power of an Amazon event into the mix, the marketplace is serving up an excellent opportunity for brands to take advantage of increased traffic and visitors with strong purchase intent at another key time of year for retail. ## It’s not limited to just Prime members By opening up offers to every Amazon shopper, Sellers and Vendors can look to create deals that pull in a wider audience, with the opportunity to create new customer relationships and expand your brand’s reach to new audiences. ## And Prime members won’t feel left out, because… Brands have the opportunity to pull in Prime members with exclusive “WOW!” deals, with Amazon dropping discounts across different categories throughout the sale period. We’re intrigued to see the results from this first big Spring event – and of course, we’re already helping clients plan for the Prime event in July! If you want our experts to help you supercharge your sales strategy to make the most of all these important events, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Expert advice to negotiate the best Vendor terms for your brand](https://venture-forge.com/blog/expert-advice-to-negotiate-the-best-vendor-terms-for-your-brand/) **Published:** March 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Secure the best Amazon Vendor terms with expert negotiation strategies for profitability and brand success. **Content:** From the very beginning of your Vendor relationship with Amazon, it’s crucial to take time and secure the best terms you can for your brand – but how? We asked a panel of Vendor veterans… In our recent Vendor Mastery webinar ([watch again here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)), our panel of experts were asked whether Vendor negotiations are still a fundamental pillar for a brand’s long-term success – and the reply was a resounding “yes!”. Not only that, but one of the most important points that came out of the discussion was how essential it is to stay strong right from your very first round of talks. “It’s key to take a measured approach from the very beginning,” explains our very own [Matt Briggs](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briggs-5a181b145/), Senior Account Manager and all-round Amazon maestro. “Lots of Vendors commit to terms they don’t understand and then they’re fixed in their account.” ## Your first terms are the basis for every round that follows And this is something many new Vendors don’t grasp – that the first terms they negotiate will form the basis for the round that follows, and so on. But, with our experts agreeing that the onboarding process can be incredibly confusing for those who don’t know their way around all the acronyms, programmes and trade terms, how do they suggest Vendors approach their negotiations to get the best result? ## Here are their 5 best tips: ### 1. Keep your commercial hat on Vendor Rocket’s [Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch/) was the first to highlight the importance of keeping a keen commercial mindset throughout. The key is to only add products you know will bring real value to your topline. “Many Vendors start out and list all their products – not a lot of commercial thought goes into that,” said Ant. If a product’s not delivering to your topline sales, don’t launch it. Be very clear about adding the things that will bring you value.” ### 2. Be clear about your long-term objectives, and take your time “The key is knowing what you want to achieve in terms of your long term strategy,” explained Matt. “Your terms should be specific to your brand – for example, if returns are a particular issue to you internally, include a damage allowance. “Take the time to look at everything and follow the data. You don’t need to rush into any decisions or agree to anything blindly.” ### 3. Make sure you fully understand what’s on the table It’s important that you completely understand what Amazon is offering so you can ensure you’re investing in the right places. “A Vendor needs to go in with an open mind, but fully understand what Amazon is offering them before they pass judgement,” said Ant. As an example? “AVS can be interesting for brands if used correctly, but you need to dig into what it will do for you, how it will work, how you will manage it internally and will it definitely add value to what you’re doing. “Amazon will always find ways to take your money – you have to make sure you’re investing in the right areas to boost your profits and sales growth.” ### 4. This is just a classic Buyer-Seller negotiation “You have to remember that Amazon’s vision for Vendor Central has always been about long-term partnership,” said [Bruno Ferreira](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruno-ferreira-8aa607102/) of Bluedot ECommerce. “It’s a “we relationship – ask for something in return, don’t just give.” “I think sometimes people confuse what a Vendor is,” agreed our own [Andy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/), Venture Forge CEO. “Don’t miss that, at either end, it’s just two people – one selling, one buying to sell on. “You can get wrapped up in the platform and the acronyms and the negotiations – but it’s about creating a holistic, long-term partnership.” ### 5. Get expert help where you need it In the perfect summing-up phrase, Bruno described Vendor negotiations as being “like a poker game”. “And if you’re playing an expert without knowing the rules, you’ll lose.” “It’s very rare a Vendor is sophisticated enough, and Amazon are quite ruthless and experienced at taking advantage of that lack of knowledge, so having a team behind you that understands the negotiation process is crucial,” agreed [James Wakefield](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wakefield-amazon-consultant/) of WAKE Commerce. “Go in blind and Amazon wins.” With ramifications that can impact your Vendor account throughout its lifetime, our panel wholeheartedly agreed – if you don’t have the real internal know-how to handle your Vendor negotiations, it’s key to look for expert help elsewhere. Know you need help, or just want to chat with any of our expert panel? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Watch the webinar on demand here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Read / bookmark our blog breakdown here](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [For your Blueprint to Prime Day Success? Join our next webinar](https://venture-forge.com/blog/for-your-blueprint-to-prime-day-success-join-our-next-webinar/) **Published:** April 18, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Maximise your Prime Day success with expert insights on ads, listings, and inventory in our upcoming webinar. **Content:** It’s almost that time again! With preparations and planning in full swing, now’s the time to tweak your Prime Day strategy with the best insider insights. So it’s lucky that [our upcoming expert webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/countdown-to-prime-day-your-blueprint-for-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) will be jam-packed with just what you need! ## What will we cover? Make sure to [save the date for our next expert webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/countdown-to-prime-day-your-blueprint-for-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), where a panel of Prime Day maestros will be joining us to share their exclusive insights on maximising your brand’s impact throughout the summer event. This is an unbeatable opportunity to supercharge your seasonal sales, with top tips on all aspects – from optimising your listings to amplifying your ad campaigns to streamlining your inventory and logistics for the big moment. Think of it as your essential guide to the tactics and strategies you need to drive greater success, and stand apart from your competition! ## When is the webinar? Thursday 23rd May 2024 at 10am ## How do I sign up? [Save your seat](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/countdown-to-prime-day-your-blueprint-for-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) – We look forward to seeing you there! Got a specific Prime Day question for our experts? [Drop us an email](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) and we’ll try to cover your query. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon-funded Quantity Discounts in the Marketplace Pilot](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-funded-quantity-discounts-in-the-marketplace-pilot/) **Published:** April 18, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon is piloting Quantity Discounts funding discounts themselves. Sellers benefit, but is there a catch? **Content:** Is your brand enrolled in the “Discounts Provided by Amazon” Programme? You might soon benefit from their newest pilot scheme… ## What is the “Discounts Provided by Amazon” Programme? Through this programme, Amazon offers discounts to Seller items, lowering the original price set by the Seller on certain items and funding the discounts or coupons themselves. The rationale behind the scheme is twofold – to ensure Amazon customers get the most competitive prices around, and to clear inventory taking up warehouse space that Amazon feels could be put to more profitable use. ## And it costs Sellers nothing? It costs nothing to be in the programme and Amazon funds any discounts themselves. Sellers still receive the amount they would normally expect for the sale of the item/s in question. ## What’s the catch? There are three key issues that might impact some Sellers. The first is that Sellers aren’t made aware of any discounts being applied. The second is that the discounted sale prices could violate reseller agreements or pricing policies where Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) – or similar – is in force, and you could find yourself falling foul of manufacturer agreements without your knowledge. And the third is that, although you can opt out of the programme, the opt out is at an account level and affects all your ASINS – not just those which could potentially violate a manufacturer contract. ## Is there a solution? If you don’t want to opt out of the scheme completely (which you do by contacting Seller Partner Support), you could add clauses into your manufacturer policies to cover any potential price disruption caused by Amazon. ## OK. Back to this pilot scheme – what is it? The pilot is a limited four-week run called “Quantity Discounts by Amazon”, which encourages multiple unit purchases by offering shoppers a discount on quantity buys of the same item. Again, Amazon chooses which products will be selected, Amazon funds the discounts and Amazon has sole discretion about how long the pilot will run and whether it’ll become a more permanent thing. But, for Sellers who can participate, it’s a win-win for them and the customer alike. Want to chat through with one of our experts? [Drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Are you the masters of your own Amazon Growth?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/are-you-the-masters-of-your-own-amazon-growth/) **Published:** April 18, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Boost your Amazon success by mastering key metrics like market share to navigate marketplace dynamics. **Content:** Are you [following our CEO Andrew Banks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/)? If not, here’s one golden Amazon nugget shared recently, with a key tip to put brands in better charge of their own marketplace destiny… If you were asked to name your most critical metrics to measure when plotting your brand’s future Amazon success, would market share be high in the list? We hope so – because in our expert opinion? It’s overlooked far too often. Yes, of course, brands should look to turnover and profit levels – and then, depending on your own unique business model, there might be any number of more granular statistics you need to help regularly refine and perfect your strategy. ## But market share deserves far higher billing than it often gets. We spoke to a brand this month who is delighted with their current Amazon success. Turnover and profits are up, and there’s visible growth… … to some extent. But their market share is down nearly 50%. And they don’t know exactly why they’re growing. The truth is that their category is growing around them, and they’re benefitting from that. They’re not driving their own growth – it’s not coming from their own strategy. ## They’re not the masters of their own marketplace destiny. The question is, how much better could they be doing if they were in control? Where could they get to if they knew the context of their growth and built a strategy around taking more market share in this expanding category? With our help, they’ll find out very soon! If you’d like to join them, get a fresh perspective on your own market share prospects and potential by [speaking to our expert team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). And for more nuggets of Amazon wisdom? [Follow Andrew on LinkedIn here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Prime Day is coming! These golden webinar nuggets will help your planning…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/prime-day-is-coming-these-golden-webinar-nuggets-will-help-your-planning/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day is coming! Watch expert webinars to refine your strategy, optimise listings, and maximise sales this summer. **Content:** July might seem like it’s months off, but we know from experience that the time flies by! But there’s still plenty of time to maximise your strategy to get the very best out of the event – and we’ve got a couple of invaluable webinars up our sleeves that you won’t want to miss… [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-prime-day-presentation) It’s always useful to recap strategies that were successful in the past, so taking the time to rewatch our 2023 Prime Day dissection is a brilliant starting point. Pulling back the curtain on 2023’s results, our webinar revealed key stats, top-performing categories and emerging trends, alongside real success stories full of actionable inspiration from those who achieved extraordinary results. [**WATCH ON-DEMAND HERE**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-prime-day-presentation?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) Save the date – 23rd May at 10am Don’t miss our next expert webinar, [Countdown to Prime Day: Your Blueprint for Success](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/countdown-to-prime-day-your-blueprint-for-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page), where our panel of Prime Day veterans will be sharing all the insights you need to maximise your impact this summer. This is a great chance to get all the tips you need to put a rocket up the bottom of your seasonal sales – covering everything from optimisation to Amazon Ads to streamlining your inventory and logistics. We know this will be a popular one, so [reserve your seat today](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/countdown-to-prime-day-your-blueprint-for-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page)! Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [4 extra reasons to love the Search Query Performance dashboard…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/4-extra-reasons-to-love-the-search-query-performance-dashboard/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** 4 ways to use Amazon’s Search Query Performance Dashboard to optimise listings, track sales, and boost growth. **Content:** When it comes to Brand Analytics, the Search Query Performance dashboard has one clear and unbelievably valuable benefit – it lets us identify what customers are searching for that leads them to your brand. But there’s more to this tool than that alone… It’s no secret that we love data here at Venture Forge, the whole team being avid champions of a timely, fully informed, insight-driven approach. One of the stats sources Becca Woollin, our brilliant Amazon Account Director, turns to most frequently for our clients is the Search Query Performance dashboard. Offering a comprehensive overview of customer search behaviour and the pathways to sale for our clients, the dashboard would be invaluable anyway – giving us key information to optimise listings and ads, boost conversion rates and enhance discoverability. But, [as Becca says](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7185898458988306432?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7185898458988306432%29), you can use it for so much more… ## Here are 4 extra reasons your brand should fall for the Search Query Performance dashboard too. ### 1. It helps you identify areas for growth By letting you determine your impression brand share for key search queries. ### 2. It helps you track the customer journey From click-throughs and add-to-carts to completed purchases, here is where you can spot purchase patterns and pathways. ### 3. It helps you find new keywords for SEO and advertising If your customers have a way of searching for your products that you never thought about? Here’s where you can uncover it. ### 4. It helps you stay on top of the success of your key search terms With regular review, it’s easy to see how your key search terms are performing against previous periods. So, if you’re not making full use of the dashboard, make a deeper dive into this vital tool one of your next Amazon priorities. Want some expert guidance? [Drop us a line to book time with the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [52% say AI improves their experience. Here's 3 wins for brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/52-say-ai-improves-their-experience-heres-3-wins-for-brands/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** AI is transforming ecommerce. Discover 3 ways to integrate AI into your Amazon strategy for better sales & efficiency. **Content:** With new research showing 80% of shoppers are open to greater integration of AI into retail, it’s clear that the benefits of intelligence technologies are on the table for any brand looking to boost their Amazon success. But, if you’re new to AI, where do you turn first? New research from SAP Emarsys has put some intriguing data on the table for brands who’ve shied away from integrating AI into their ecommerce offering so far – including: - More than half (52%) of shoppers surveyed say AI has improved their retail experiences (up from 40% in 2023). - A third (33%) say AI has made shopping easier (up from 26% in 2023). - 29% say AI is helping to personalise their shopping experiences. - 35% say AI helps them to find new products. There’s no doubt that AI still has its limitations and it needs human input to get the right results. But, with measures in place to counter those issues, it’s definitely time for Sellers and Vendors to dip their toe into the AI world. Where better to begin than with some easy wins? Here are our 3 favourite starting points. ## Smart Ad Tech Smart Amazon Ads automation is a simple stepping stone into AI that can reap massive benefits – something we can confirm from first-hand experience. Here at Venture Forge, we use [our very own exclusive intelligent Ads automation](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-advertising/) to manage our clients’ spend at scale on Amazon. Giving us automated recommendations, AI-powered and rules-based flexible bid management, competitor insights and unbeatable performance, it’s one of the secrets to how we can grow Amazon sales faster and more efficiently than our competition! Intrigued to see how we could boost your Ads performance? [Speak to the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Content Optimisation Natural language processing (NLP) tools like ChatGPT can be useful aids when it comes to enhancing your Amazon content. AI can suggest changes to make your listings more engaging to improve conversions, refine product descriptions, titles and keywords to improve search visibility and generate ideas for product bundles to increase customer satisfaction. And, though brands will surely want to tweak what’s produced to keep it unique and preserve their own tone, the AI’s output is a great starting point to build on. ## Data Analysis With lots of information to sift through, AI is a simple way to get to the crux of data and unlock the insights you need to refine your Amazon strategy. What sort of data could it look through? Well, anything – from product sales figures to competitor research and market trends. Want our expert guidance on incorporating AI into your Amazon strategy? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Has 2024 brought you profit issues on Amazon? You’re not alone](https://venture-forge.com/blog/has-2024-brought-you-profit-issues-on-amazon-youre-not-alone/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Facing profit challenges on Amazon? Learn expert strategies to identify revenue leaks and optimise profitability. **Content:** In fact, many of our new clients have come to us with exactly that problem – and although their challenges are unique to each brand, here’s the basic method we’ll be using to pinpoint what needs plugging, and how we can do it… There’s no denying that Amazon has become much more profit-focused this year – but hasn’t everyone? The world’s biggest marketplace tightening the purse strings and wringing margin wherever it can isn’t all that surprising – but, coming hot off the back of a few years of rapid growth and inflation, it’s definitely crept up on a lot of brands. And so, with easy gains off the table, it’s time to turn inwards and ensure that you’re not leaking profits from your Amazon channel. How do we do that? We dive deep. ## A deep, holistic understanding To solve a profit issue, you need to dig into the heart of your Amazon operation and gain a complete, holistic understanding of what’s going on. Why? Because leaky margins can come from lots of areas – and usually it’s lots of areas combined, from Amazon management to channel strategy to back-of-house operations. You need to look at: ### Your market and its opportunities To identify untapped niches, emerging trends and areas for growth where you can capitalise on new revenue streams. ### Your Trading model with Amazon 1P vs 3P vs Hybrid – there’s no “one size fits all” answer and what’s right for you can change. We covered this in more depth in our recent expert masterclass, [“How to supercharge your brand’s Amazon presence in 2024”](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/webinar-how-to-supercharge-your-brands-presence-on-amazon-in-2024?type=detailed). Just follow the link to watch. Or if you know you need expert guidance? [Ask us about our Selling Model Evaluation service](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/). ## Your ability to operationally service your current (& future) trading model Your ability to do this effectively ensures smooth operations, efficient fulfilment, customer satisfaction, minimised costs, a better negotiating stance and more. ### Catalogue Efficiency When was the last time you optimised your product range? We see so many clients who’ve not done this exercise for far too long that we’ve recently launched a dedicated Product Range Optimisation service, where we review your brand’s range in the context of: - The market - Your competition - Existing sales - Unit economics And identifies the right range to take to market for top and bottom-line growth. ### Chargeback and Shortage Opportunities Addressing issues in inventory management, logistics or customer service, preventing revenue loss and improving overall profitability. Lots of brands are tackling their Amazon profit leakage by using some of the fantastic chargeback and shortage recovery services out there working on a no-win, no-fee basis. But, while recovered revenues are great news, the truth is that you’re still leaking profits. And you’re paying a percentage of your money to a third party to get it back, instead of stopping the gap in the first place. Far better to find the source and prevent future leaks. If you’d like expert help, [get in touch to talk through our profit and recovery service](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). With exceptional success rates – £160k recovered for clients already this year – we find lost revenue, recover it quickly and stop it happening again, all at a market-leading rate. ### Profitability Analysis down to ASIN level This kind of in-depth profitability analysis will give you the insights you need into the performance of individual products to make informed decisions on your range, your pricing and more – all with a view to maximising every penny of profit. When it comes to identifying and plugging profit leaks, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees, and this is especially true when you live and breathe your Amazon business day in, day out. Plugging profit gaps and driving growth are what we do best – so if your Amazon brand is leaking margin? [Let’s talk](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Will FBA low inventory fees affect you and how to avoid charges?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/will-fba-low-inventory-fees-affect-you-and-how-to-avoid-charges/) **Published:** May 29, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new FBA Low Inventory Fee is now in effect. Here’s how it works and how to avoid unnecessary charges. **Content:** April was just a transition month for this new, and rather controversial fee. But now it’s being levied, what does it mean for you – and how can you mitigate the chances of being charged? ## What is the Low Inventory Cost Coverage Fee? This contentious fee, which saw uproar on Seller Central after its announcement in December, applies to products with consistently low inventory levels relative to their unit sales, with the threshold set at less than 28 historical days of supply. Amazon’s view is that the fees are there to help maintain sufficient inventory levels, which in turn allows for effective product distribution across its fulfilment network, improving speeds and generating more sales. But Sellers flocked in droves to flag their concerns, highlighting how seasonal fluctuations, supply chain issues and impact on business operations could render the charge both impractical and unfair – and calling for more understanding and transparency from Amazon. ## Why were April fees returned on 1 May? [Dharmesh Mehta](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7180582640146649088/), Amazon VP of Worldwide Selling Partner Services, said that Amazon decided that April should be a transition period only – where fees would be charged but re-credited to help Sellers learn whether they’ll be impacted and, if so, by how much. So, although the fee was set to be introduced from 1 April onwards, Amazon returned amounts charged between 1-30 April to Sellers on 1 May. The idea is to allow time for adjustments to be made, and to show many Sellers that the fees won’t impact them. ## And if you were charged? Now’s the time to look at how you could improve the health of your inventory levels. Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - Amazon Announcement – [Introduction of the Low-Inventory Cost Coverage Fee (Pan-EU)](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/seller-forums/discussions/t/e3a2eb37-1587-4d0f-9bb2-f60d73f5f092) - [Amazon’s Low Inventory policy page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/GV43F6S76Y9DHYRH) - [FBA inventory page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/ap/signin?clientContext=258-5898550-5828218&openid.pape.max_auth_age=900&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fsellercentral.amazon.co.uk%2Finventoryplanning%2Fmanageinventoryhealth&openid.identity=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0%2Fidentifier_select&openid.assoc_handle=sc_uk_amazon_v2&openid.mode=checkid_setup&openid.claimed_id=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0%2Fidentifier_select&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&mons_redirect=sign_in&ssoResponse=eyJ6aXAiOiJERUYiLCJlbmMiOiJBMjU2R0NNIiwiYWxnIjoiQTI1NktXIn0.U3ifyh5OJzODdLOni3W0c1O6YXZIcWh9tn0KwRBqn5Q7pwJfuBnNgg.kbXOswaQbe2cOaBe.2wrIqvg_ryo4UAJMzjmts_HDObcVRdyr5i271AhPiZ-vm-bCcoUSahZtBNW1vxw6qoyeUE2znFWVYFmj2y2_FLrB9uMk3yCzxYCvX0XKiVY2hr0MjENPL8dO3zGM6fyV5Uvnuo-Th6FZtem1bozicsJGVHFJj-LN_3n721MISJzpclndWEKKliHuhmjrfHvNRxIijPquzMLw.1nsODdE5Jcn93b92E7lx8g) (to track historical days of supply) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Much anticipated, Amazon South Africa is live at last…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/much-anticipated-amazon-south-africa-is-live-at-last/) **Published:** June 5, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon South Africa is officially live! Here’s what it means for Sellers, Vendors, and brands looking to expand. **Content:** After news originally broke back in 2022, [Amazon South Africa](http://amazon.co.za) is live – marking the marketplace’s first foray into Africa… With a market of more than 60 million shoppers and the continent’s strongest economy, there’s no doubt this is a significant addition to Amazon’s global reach, and Amazon seemed to have employed their usual strategic nous to time their entry as perfectly as possible. Takealot, their biggest competitor with 48% of current online sales, have seen a [YOY decline in growth](https://techcabal.com/2024/05/07/amazon-south-africa-launch/#:~:text=Amazon%20has%20launched%20its%20South,slated%20as%20the%20launch%20date.), dropping from 72% annually to just 15% over the last two years. And, though Amazon has enough financial muscle to tackle the competition anyway, it won’t hurt that the retail giant already has a strong base in the country – Amazon.com is one of South Africa’s most visited websites. We think this is a really exciting prospect for Sellers and Vendors looking to gain a foothold in Africa. South Africa is a country with a burgeoning middle class and ever-advancing internet penetration – better still, it’s a market in which shoppers are already active. Opening a dedicated store simply makes it easier and more attractive for them to buy. Is South Africa a market you’d like to test? See what our experts suggest – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Want an insight into scaling into new markets? Our hour-long webinar on expanding across the EU is full of transferable insights](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/scaling-you-brand-into-amazon-europe-strategy-taxes-and-delivery?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Have you saved the date for Amazon Accelerate 2024?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/have-you-saved-the-date-for-amazon-accelerate-2024/) **Published:** June 5, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Accelerate 2024 is happening this September in Seattle! Here’s why it’s a must-attend event for Sellers. **Content:** It’s time to start planning for Amazon Accelerate – live in Seattle from 17-19 September 2024! The marketplace’s annual conference is one of the year’s unmissable events for Sellers, full of invaluable information about the latest tools and innovations, insider tips and tricks from Amazon staff and offering lots of opportunities for smart Sellers to team up with strategic relationships designed to boost mutual growth. ## Who’s invited? Amazon offers the chance to attend in-person to Seller accounts “in good standing”, so if you want to reap the benefits, now’s the time for a quick health check! ## Who’s on? Amazon is still to announce the line-up, but past speakers have included inspirational CEOs like Tracee Ellis Ross, the award-winning actress and activist whose haircare brand PATTERN is a fast-growth e-commerce success story. And of course, the event is full of Amazon’s own experts sharing their knowledge, with lots of opportunities to speak with Amazon staff one-to-one in the Amazon Café and get their take on your specific issues and ways to grow your business. ## Wait – are there any flight and hotel discounts available? Yes, Amazon announces their travel partnerships and offered discounts closer to the time that they open registration. ## We can’t go – can we attend virtually? Yes you can, and Amazon will announce details closer to the event; you can also stream keynotes and many of the breakout sessions on-demand for free for some time after the event too. But attending in-person – if you can – offers lots of additional benefits, from the chance to expand your network within this friendly and supportive community and speaking directly with Amazon employees to being inspired by the lessons of your peers. ## Our 5 best reasons to attend – whether in-person or virtually… You can… - Be the first to learn about new tools and innovations – Amazon shared more than 30 launches at Accelerate 2023. - Be inspired by stories, lessons and tips from Amazon leaders and successful Sellers. - Meet Amazon employees face-to-face and get answers to those burning product and account questions. - Get together with other Sellers – some of whom might offer strategic opportunities that will help your growth. - And one for those watching online – it’s free! And afterwards? When you’re full of inspiration, plans and strategic ideas you want to implement, [our expert team is on hand](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to help you tweak, hone and implement the best! ## Useful Links - [Accelerate Homepage](https://sell.amazon.com/events) - Amazon Announcement – [Save the Date for Amazon Accelerate 2024](https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/amazon-accelerate-2024-save-the-date) - [Save the Date explanatory video](https://youtu.be/rjJUvHW8Rsk?initialSessionID=146-1084634-0888314&ld=NSGoogle&ldStackingCodes=NSGoogle) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Prime Day: A Must for Your Brand or Just Another Retail Event](https://venture-forge.com/blog/prime-day-a-must-for-your-brand-or-just-another-retail-event/) **Published:** June 5, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Day isn’t for everyone. Here’s how to decide if it’s a smart move for your brand. **Content:** With all the hype surrounding Prime Day, it can be easy for brands to feel like participation is a must – but is it really? We asked our experts… The simple answer? It’s great for some – but it’s not for everyone. And just because you’ve done it before? It doesn’t necessarily follow that you should do it again. Like all things Amazon, whether your brand should take part in Prime Day is like any other trading decision – it depends on your individual situation at that particular time; your category, strategy, position and objectives. ## Control your own sales destiny In fact Becca Woollin, our brilliant Account Director, is firmly of the view that Prime Day isn’t as much of a big deal to consumers as brands might believe. For Becca, those seeking peak periods to drive sales uplift should look to Q4 – “it’s all about Black Friday,” she explains. But actually, she’d prefer brands to seize their own destiny. “Rather than relying on big seasonal peaks from Amazon, understand how you can make the most out of what’s happening in your category. “Be aware of what’s happening around your competitors – how often are they discounting, what levels are they dropping to – and then you can start to create your own peak periods. “They might not be as intense from an influx of traffic perspective but you will start to be able to track and pinpoint exactly how to manipulate your category – and your competitors.” ## Amazon? It’s just another retail channel For our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon/), this just goes to underline something many brands forget or misunderstand – Amazon is just another retail channel. That means that trade planning is key, just as it is for the other sales channels in your business. “There’s a bit of a fallacy that Amazon needs to be traded differently to other sales channels,” he explains. But Amazon Prime events, whatever name they’re given, are just another date to add to your trade planner – the same as generic events like Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and category-specific events like Back to School. “For me, go back to good old-fashioned retail trade planning and ask what the trade calendar is like for your category and retail e-commerce as a whole – then build your activity and plans around that.” ## And if you are doing Prime Day? Think \*how\* you should be doing Prime Day “I would be asking questions about how you should participate in some of these Amazon-specific events,” adds Andrew. “Do you need to discount? There’s going to be a big influx of traffic coming in on Prime Day, do you want to just take advantage of that? As ever, for the Venture Forge team, these decisions come down to one crucial question – “What’s the impact on your bottom line?” If you’d like our expert help to answer that for your brand, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [We dissect Prime Day 2023 and unlock sales strategies you can implement again in this 1-hour webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-prime-day-presentation?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [We share some surprising results from strategic Prime Day choices in this 45-minute webinar](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-prime-day-presentation?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Watch this full clip from our recent webinar (3.5 minutes) on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_how-different-is-trade-planning-on-amazon-activity-7191343843802259456-b_En?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Using DSP to drive sales on Amazon? Here’s what not to do…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/using-dsp-to-drive-sales-on-amazon-heres-what-not-to-do/) **Published:** June 5, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Running DSP ads on out-of-stock products wastes budget & sales potential. Here’s how to prevent it. **Content:** Watching TV at home, our CEO Andrew Banks was surprised to see a leading UK food brand promoting out-of-stock products direct on the Fire TV Homepage… … and he was even more surprised when, more than two weeks later, the same products – still out of stock – appeared again. “I held off posting ([on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_this-is-just-one-example-why-brands-selling-ugcPost-7196245964620210176-c6ux?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios)) as it could have been just a moment in time and a short term out of stock,” says Andrew. Citing it as just one example why brands selling on Amazon and using DSP in their upper funnel need to ensure seamless communication between internal teams and their media and trading agencies, it’s the commercial impact that concerns him the most. “I dread to think how much media spend has been wasted here over the last two weeks,” Andrew adds. So what’s the solution? “If you’re looking to use DSP to drive sales on Amazon, then you simply must ensure the ownership and co-ordination of that activity comes from your Amazon team, not marketing,” Andrew advises. If using an agency, then work with an Amazon Agency for your DSP, not a broader media buying agency.” Want more insights from Andrew? [Make sure to follow him on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app)**.** And if your brand needs to revisit your DSP Agency partners, [speak to our expert team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/)**.** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Here’s why stopping your Amazon Ads will never boost your profits](https://venture-forge.com/blog/heres-why-stopping-your-amazon-ads-will-never-boost-your-profits/) **Published:** June 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Cutting Amazon Ads might seem like a money-saver, but it risks lost sales, market share & long-term growth. **Content:** Recently, our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) spoke with a brand who were thinking of cutting their Amazon Ads to see whether it would generate more profit. While the entrepreneur in him admitted the idea of testing and stopping advertising might appear intriguing, Andrew was the first to point out that Venture Forge’s vast Amazon expertise meant he actually felt very differently. While stopping advertising might save money in the short-term, the longer-term impacts are pretty terrifying – and worse of all, will take even more investment to recover from. But why do we say this? We just need to revisit the 3 undeniable benefits of Amazon Ads. ## Amazon Ads are critical to… boost your visibility An effective Amazon Ads strategy doesn’t just drive sales, it also significantly elevates your product’s visibility – which in turn leads to better organic rankings. Creating what Andrew calls a “virtuous cycle of growth”, removing any element that’s contributing to your sales velocity will – quite simply – have a compound impact on your overall sales. ## Amazon Ads are critical to… long-term Sales Growth Various studies (and our own extensive first-hand knowledge!) have shown that brands who invest consistently in Amazon Ads see sustained sales growth over time – growth which then far outweighs their initial outlay. ## Amazon Ads are critical to… growing and protecting your Market Share As Andrew says, any good advertising strategy should contain defensive and offensive elements that are designed to protect your own sales, while taking sales away from your competition. Stopping all your advertising spend means you’re pulling your attempts to both protect and grow your brand’s market share. (Do we even need to say that this is a terrible idea?) ## TLDR: Don’t pull the plug on your growth and market presence In short , stopping your Amazon Ads is a move that can jeopardise your visibility, stifle your long-term sales growth and relinquish your hard-earned market share to competitors. As Andrew has aptly highlighted, the costs and efforts required to recover from such a decision are substantial and often outweigh any perceived short-term savings. So, before you consider cutting your Amazon Ads, remember the three critical benefits they bring to your brand’s success. In the competitive landscape of Amazon, continuous investment in advertising is not just a strategy; it’s necessary to secure sustained growth and Amazon dominance for your brand. What next? [Speak to our award-winning experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to revitalise your Amazon Ads strategy and boost your ROI to all-new heights. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How can you recover £150k for your Vendor Business?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-can-you-recover-150k-for-your-vendor-business/) **Published:** June 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Discover how Amazon Vendors can recover up to £150,000 by addressing revenue leaks. **Content:** Did you make our recent expert webinar? Designed for Amazon Vendors who want to take proactive steps to plug revenue leaks and recover substantial amounts on chargebacks and shortages, this is definitely an hour that’s well worth your time. Our internal dream team of Andrew Banks, Jonathan Newton and Matt Briggs were joined by Vendor Rocket’s Ant Finch for this 60-minute deep dive, in which they offered their expert take and advice on dispute resolution and dynamic measures that will help Vendors secure their financial future and boost their profitability on Amazon. [**WATCH NOW**](app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/chargeback-insights-protecting-your-amazon-revenue?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) ## What did we cover? - We talked long and hard about revenue leaks, with tips to uncover why your revenues might be slipping away and how to assess if your brand is affected. - We shared real-life success stories, full of insights into how we’ve helped clients recover substantial amounts. - And we opened the floor to webinar attendees with a Q&A session, so our experts could answer your most pressing questions right then and there. [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/chargeback-insights-protecting-your-amazon-revenue?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) ## Nearly £500k back in our clients’ bank accounts… We launched our cashback service in Beta just 6 months ago, and already we’ve recovered close to half a million GBP in lost revenues – 1 client alone has had over £150,000 identified as a potential cashback opportunity! Our service and expertise in this field are second to none, and the exceptional results we’ve gained in such a short space of time just prove that this “no win, no fee – no tricks, no surprises” service is solid. If you’re an Amazon Vendor generating £2m+ in sales to Amazon per annum, there’s a very good chance we could put £100k+ back in your bank account. Want to learn more? [Speak to our team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon delays FBA fee changes here are the new dates to note](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-delays-fba-fee-changes-here-are-the-new-dates-to-note/) **Published:** June 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon announces FBA fee changes, including a Pan EU oversize surcharge and fees for high return products. **Content:** In December, Amazon announced they were changing Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) fees, with a Pan-EU oversize surcharge and Returns Processing Fees on high-return rate products. But, reacting to feedback from FBA users, Amazon decided to tweak the timing of these changes to give brands a bit more breathing room. ## What are the new dates for the 2024 FBA fee changes? - Pan-EU Oversize Surcharge – 1 Sept 2024 - Returns Processing Fee – 1 Jan 2025 ## More on the Pan-EU Oversize Surcharge Good news! The Pan-EU oversize surcharge update has been delayed by 3 months, from 1 July to 1 September. Even better, this surcharge won’t apply to the France, Italy, and Spain stores if you’re shipping and selling within the same country – but, it does apply to the Germany store if your shipping and selling countries are different. For more details, check out the [2024 Pan-EU oversize surcharge changes page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/nms/sellermobile/redirect/a69b1a0e-7053-302f-acac-326a3d98f490?nt=MM_OVERSIZE_SURCHARGE_9462&sk=80XkkkOsx14-2lW2hIDsB5eXOY9BVra8BilB3FnMAsuHZ6piYyW1U-Ck4u_ASrv4ksn84jGeapBdLt7GMIh6Pg&n=1&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWxsZXJjZW50cmFsLWV1cm9wZS5hbWF6b24uY29tL2hlbHAvaHViL3JlZmVyZW5jZS9leHRlcm5hbC9HUVA3NDJTTlBXVFZOR1ZB). ## More on the Returns Processing Fee The returns processing fee is now set to kick in on 1 January 2025, instead of 1 October this year. Targeting high-return-rate products across all categories (except clothing and shoes), the first charge will be between 7 and 15 April 2025, and will cover returns from January to March 2025. Amazon says the fee is designed to help manage the costs of returns and cut down on waste. For more info, visit the [2024 Returns Processing Fee changes page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/nms/sellermobile/redirect/c214d128-2b45-31a3-b15b-908353e5e7d7?nt=MM_OVERSIZE_SURCHARGE_9462&sk=I-6TleOeWr1CIViFegOU11_fZgsGA6HimKa5OhuDYdhLMLNneiSkJ_HJ812tpjsA9U3tRarq-ERjIaoklmxyNg&n=1&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWxsZXJjZW50cmFsLWV1cm9wZS5hbWF6b24uY29tL2hlbHAvaHViL3JlZmVyZW5jZS9leHRlcm5hbC9HWkdFUUxUTTNSWlhVVjZU). ## And check the Storage Utilisation surcharges for oversized products again… … because Amazon has confirmed that rates they advised for the period October to December were wrong. They apologise for any confusion caused. Need to refine your fulfilment strategy to align it with today’s Amazon landscape? [Speak to our logistics experts now](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How might Fresh Prime perks bring benefits for your Brand?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-might-fresh-prime-perks-bring-benefits-for-your-brand/) **Published:** July 4, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Fresh’s new Prime Member Deals boost customer traffic and loyalty discover how your brand can benefit. **Content:** Does your brand sell products through Amazon Fresh? Here’s how the brand-new Prime Member Deals initiatives can give your sales a boost… ## What’s happening? Amazon has expanded its grocery delivery service to customers in over 100 towns and cities across the UK, providing a new frontier for brands selling on Amazon… …And they’ve launched a first-ever initiative for Prime members, who can now enjoy even more savings through a new “Prime Member Deals” programme that offers hundreds of exclusive promotions and benefits. ## What sort of deals are available? Prime members are set to gain significant advantages from the new ‘Prime Member Deals’ programme, with exclusive promotions on hundreds of grocery products both online through Amazon Fresh and in the 20 Amazon Fresh stores located in London and the southeast. Promotions will include: - 10% Off Price Cut Products – Prime members receive an additional 10% off on already discounted Price Cut items in-store. - Weekly Specials – Prime members will have access to special deals with up to 50% off on a rotating selection of products, both in-store and online. - First-Time Shopper Incentives – To attract new customers to Amazon Fresh, Amazon is offering discounts on their first three orders (over a set spend) to encourage trial and repeat purchases. - Enhanced Delivery Options for Prime members. ## And what are the benefits for Brands selling through Amazon Fresh? This push to bring more customers to Amazon Fresh brings benefits for all brands selling through the platform, not just those participating in the promotions. ### How? - Increased Customer Traffic – meaning higher visibility and potential sales for all brands. - Enhanced Customer Loyalty – deals and discounts will drive more customers to become Prime members or renew their memberships, increasing the potential for loyal, repeat shoppers to use Amazon Fresh. - Increased Customer Satisfaction – a better customer experience benefits everyone. - Spillover Effects from Promotions – just like on Events Days, traffic generated by Prime Member Deals can create a spillover effect as shoppers browse and purchase additional products. - Data Insights and Analytics – more input = more data. Amazon Fresh brands will be able to leverage the platform’s analytics tools to gain more informed insights into shopping trends and customer preferences, helping optimise product offerings, pricing strategies and marketing efforts. - Cross-Selling Opportunities – well-optimised brands can benefit from increased exposure through Amazon’s recommendation algorithms. Want to see how you can best turn these benefits to your brand’s advantage? (note – optimisation will be key!) [Speak to our award-winning experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Shopify vs Amazon Pay: Here’s What It Means for You](https://venture-forge.com/blog/shopify-vs-amazon-pay-heres-what-it-means-for-you/) **Published:** July 4, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Shopify is removing Amazon Pay in Europe what it means for merchants and how to navigate the change. **Content:** For those merchants across Europe affected by [the announcement that Shopify is removing the Amazon Pay function from 6 August 2024](https://channelx.world/2024/06/shopify-amazon-pay-to-end-amazon-respond-with-increased-reserves/), here’s what we know and what we think… ## This is what we know On 27 June 2024, Shopify emailed its European merchants with this surprising and not-very-welcome announcement: > Beginning August 6, 2024, Amazon Pay will no longer be available on Shopify shops in your region. Amazon Pay will be deactivated from your shop and past order information for Amazon Pay will be available on Amazon Seller Central. > > For questions related to the discontinuation of support or managing your Amazon Pay transactions after August 6, please contact Amazon Support. > > We know this may be an inconvenience and we’re here to help. You can still offer your customers other payment methods available in your region > > – Shopify email to merchants ## TL;DR? It says that, from 6 August 2024, Shopify merchants in Europe will no longer be able to offer Amazon Pay as a payment option and encourages merchants to explore other payment options. Shortly after, Amazon responded with this statement: > Following the recent email update you received from Shopify, we want to make you aware that the deactivation of Amazon Pay, effective from August 06, 2024, may require an additional reserve amount from your Amazon Pay account. > > Beginning June 27, 2024, you may see an additional reserve amount to your account based upon your refund and disputes rate over the past 30 days. This reserve ensures your account is sufficiently funded to deliver a seamless post-order experience for customers for any outstanding claims and refunds, and is in accordance with our User Agreement. > > For any enquiries, including requests for additional assistance, please contact Amazon Pay Merchant Support. > > – Amazon email to merchants ## Meaning? So merchants don’t just stand to lose Amazon Pay as an option, they could also face higher reserves on their accounts because of the anticipated decrease in transaction volume – a logical business move from Amazon (to protect against final refunds without further income to cover them), but a double-whammy blow for merchants. ## This is what we think [Like our friends at Channel X](https://channelx.world/2024/06/shopify-amazon-pay-to-end-amazon-respond-with-increased-reserves/), we see this as a classic standoff situation between two major players – each calling the other’s bluff and holding out for a better deal. Though these disputes can be incredibly frustrating for merchants, we’d be surprised if the two don’t come to an eventual agreement – that “Buy with Prime” feature on Shopify is too huge for either to just walk away. And Shopify’s suggestion that merchants contact Amazon Support for help smacks of a strategic move – directing merchants to lobby Amazon directly and putting extra pressure on the retail giant that way. ## What should you do? Whatever happens, this is a “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” situation. We strongly suggest you: - Explore Other Payment Methods – ensure you have alternative payment options ready to go live by August 6. - Communicate with your Customers – inform your customers about the upcoming changes and any new payment options you’ll be introducing. Transparency helps maintain customer trust. - Monitor Communications – keep an eye on further announcements from both Shopify and Amazon. The situation could evolve, and staying informed will help you adapt quickly. - Consider Lobbying – if Amazon Pay is crucial for your business, don’t hesitate to contact Amazon Support. Your feedback might contribute to a resolution. Need some expert advice? [Speak to our team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Generative AI Tool and Listings why a human touch matters](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-generative-ai-tool-and-listings-why-a-human-touch-matters/) **Published:** July 4, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new AI listing tools promise faster, optimised content. Discover why human creativity is still key to success. **Content:** As Amazon introduces two new cutting-edge generative AI tools aimed at SME brands, we explore the benefits, and how best to unlock their capabilities for your brand… These two new AI tools – one designed to simplify the listings creation process and one designed to enrich existing listings – are now available for sellers across the UK and EU. And, already used by more than 30,000 selling partners, they seem to be going down a storm. 7 out of 10 small business owners using generative AI reported already experiencing tangible benefits, including time savings and improved content quality. And a May 2024 survey by Censuswide got the following feedback from early adopters in the UK: - Users agreed AI could or had benefited their business by: - Saving time – 79% - Improving content – 73% - Improving profitability – 73% - Enhancing customer service – 72%; and - Reaching more international customers – 71% - They also felt that AI could help reduce the time spent writing product descriptions from eight hours to one hour per month, on average… - And reduce time updating product descriptions from seven hours to one hour per month, on average. - With participants saying their key challenge was attracting new customers, around a third (32%) thought that AI-generated content could increase a product’s discoverability. Sounds good, right? There’s no doubt that good AI automations help streamline processes, giving back valuable time and allowing brands to turn their focus to other critical aspects of their businesses. But, as with all AI offerings, their powerful capabilities are still best used in combination with a human touch – human input being essential for differentiation and maintaining a brand’s unique voice. ## More detail on those two new Generative AI Tools ### 1. Product Listings Tool (for new listings) Designed to “make listing new products easier than ever”, this AI tool generates high-quality and engaging product titles, descriptions and other listings details from just a few descriptive words and/or a product image. ### 2. Enriched Product Listings Tool (for existing listings) Designed to help optimise existing listings, this AI tool analyses and enriches existing product information, automatically completing missing details and improving overall content quality to provide richer, more comprehensive product information that enhances the customer experience. ## The Essential Human Touch But, while generative AI tools offer brilliant benefits, our opinion is that they don’t eliminate the need for human input. A lot of AI content is very similar in terms of how it feels and reads – not great to help differentiate your brand and products against your competition. Instead, the true power of these tools is unlocked when they’re combined with human creativity and strategic input. A little extra effort allows you to introduce your own creative spin, ensure the brand tone of voice is consistent and avoid just being another generic listing. The result is a best of both worlds – a time-saving, data-driven, AI-generated framework that you can tweak to be more engaging, unique and resonant. Want expert help to elevate your Amazon listings? Our team can help – [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [In-house vs Agency vs AVS - What’s the right approach for your brand?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/in-house-vs-agency-vs-avs-whats-the-right-approach-for-your-brand/) **Published:** July 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Join our expert panel as they break down the pros and cons of in-house, agency, and AVS for Amazon. **Content:** Calling all Vendors and Sellers looking to take their Amazon business to the next level! We’ve got just the webinar for you, as our panel of Amazon Experts dive deep into the pros and cons of managing your Amazon operations in-house, through an agency or with Amazon Vendor Services (AVS)… **The When** Thursday 25 July at 10am **The Where** [**REGISTER NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/pros-and-cons-to-in-house-vs-agency-vs-avs) **The What** Coming next to Amazon Experts webinar series, this hour of insights will see our specialists guide and explain the pros and cons of in-house, agency and AVS strategies – with all the information and guidance you need to make the right decision for your brand. You can expect: - A deep deep dive into the benefits and drawbacks of in-house, agency and AVS management. - Essential insights to drive both top-line and bottom-line growth on Amazon. - Invaluable guidance from our panel of award-winning Amazon experts. And as always, we’ll be wrapping things up with a Live Q&A session, where you’ll have the opportunity to pose your own questions and queries to our panel and get tailored, specialist advice for your own, unique issues! Spaces are filling fast, so move now to secure your seat… [**REGISTER NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/pros-and-cons-to-in-house-vs-agency-vs-avs) Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [New US Discount Storefront set to challenge Temu and Shein](https://venture-forge.com/blog/new-us-discount-storefront-set-to-challenge-temu-and-shein/) **Published:** July 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new budget storefront aims to compete with Shein & Temu. Here’s how sellers can stay competitive. **Content:** At a closed-door event in China in late June, Amazon announced their plans to launch a budget storefront for Amazon US, featuring low-cost fashion, home, lifestyle items and more… We’ve talked before about the threat posed to Amazon by the rise of Temu and Shein, and this move is the marketplace’s boldest bid yet in the fight to maintain competitive edge. ## What will the Discount Storefront sell? Creating a smooth path for Chinese Sellers to ship directly to US consumers, Amazon’s new storefront is set to feature a variety of unbranded items, mostly priced under $20, attracting bargain shoppers into the marketplace and expanding and solidifying Amazon’s reach. Items previewed in the presentation in China included gua sha facial massaging tools, arm weights and phone cases. ## The Offer – Streamlined Shipping and Cost Savings The new model will allow products to be shipped directly from China to US consumers within nine to eleven days, and it will bypass the traditional Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) process where goods are first sent to US warehouses to speed things up. This direct shipping approach aims to cut costs for Chinese sellers and enables them to test new items through small-batch production, a method similar to Shein’s on-demand manufacturing. ## The Impact? Sellers share their apprehensions… Amazon’s plan to introduce this discount storefront is causing significant concern among American Sellers, who fear it will further erode their market share and profit margins for small goods – especially after a year or more of squeezes. ## Let’s say it comes to Amazon UK. How can Sellers stay competitive? We’ve said this before about Shein and Temu – their issue is the quality of their products. Buyers expect to “get what they pay for” and, with no FBA involvement, there are also potential product safety and counterfeit issues – not to mention a significant potential environmental impact that climate conscious shoppers are sure to find off putting. There are a number of strategy shifts that will help Sellers stay ahead of the influx of low-cost goods – including: ### 1. Focusing on Branding and Quality Consistent branding and emphasising the quality and reliability of your products through detailed product descriptions, high-quality images and customer reviews builds customer loyalty and trust. Differentiate your products by highlighting their superior quality, durability and safety, and offer detailed information about product materials, manufacturing processes and quality control standards. ### 2. Exploit Niche Opportunities Use market research to uncover underserved segments and niche markets that may not be as easily replicated by discount sellers – specialised products often attract dedicated customer bases willing to pay a premium. ### 3. Customise and Personalise Offer customisation options or personalised products to attract customers looking for unique items, and combine it with excellent customer service to build a loyal customer base that values the buying experience from your brand. ### 4. Offer Superior Customer Service Provide exceptional customer service, including prompt responses to inquiries, hassle-free returns and proactive communication. ### 5. Keep your Listings Engaging Optimise everything regularly, enhance every element of your listings – including A+ content – and use the tenets of content marketing to engage your audience – share stories, tutorials and user-generated content to build a community on Amazon. ### 6. Invest in Advertising With everything optimised, deploy a robust Amazon Ads strategy to increase your visibility, drive traffic to your listings and boost your sales and growth. Our award-winning experts are on hand to help you create a strategy with all the commercial rigour, vigour and vision you need! [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [SMBs crediting online ads for growth, Amazon Ads set for simplification](https://venture-forge.com/blog/smbs-crediting-online-ads-for-growth-amazon-ads-set-for-simplification/) **Published:** July 24, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** With 86% of UK SMBs seeing customer growth via online ads, Amazon Ads is simplifying its ad offering. **Content:** As 9 in 10 UK SMBs say online advertising has helped their growth, plans are afoot to simplify Amazon Ads. New research from Amazon Ads has shone a spotlight on positive results for UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) leveraging online advertising to fuel their domestic and international growth. So, with those figures in the bag, how are Amazon Ads planning to simplify their offering? First off, let’s just say that it’s great to see such optimistic signs from SMBs about how they view their future… And, with our years of Amazon expertise proving just this, we’re also delighted that there’s a strong recognition of just how crucial advertising is to a brand’s ongoing growth and success! ## What did the study find? The study reveals that: - Nearly nine in ten (86%) UK SMBs report success in acquiring new customers through their current advertising strategies. - More than three-quarters (76%) say advertising has helped them expand within the UK. - Over half (54%) have experienced international growth due to advertising efforts in the last year. - This growing confidence in advertising has led more than two in five (44%) UK SMBs to increase their advertising spend over the past year. - UK SMBs are clear about their motivations for increasing ad spend – 48% using it to drive awareness of new products or services, and 51% to boost brand awareness. ## And what challenges do SMBs face in the world of advertising? Some SMBs opt out of advertising completely – because… - “It’s too expensive” (42%) - “We didn’t get a strong enough return on ad investment in the past” (28%) And those who are investing in advertising still cite certain challenges: - Determining the right budget focus (30%) - Measuring campaign performance (26%) - Creating compelling content (26%) [Our Award-winning Amazon Ads team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) is powered by years of first-hand experience, a full-on stats obsession and tenacity in the face of marketplace mysteries – plus our own smart-ad tech. [Get them on your side today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Maximise Your Amazon Sales Potential This Autumn](https://venture-forge.com/blog/maximise-your-amazon-sales-this-autumn/) **Published:** July 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Boost your Amazon sales this Autumn! Join our expert webinar for strategies to maximise peak season profits. **Content:** Ready to make this Autumn your best Amazon Sales Season yet? Sign up for our next webinar… If you’re looking to take your Amazon game to a whole new level through the peak retail season, our upcoming Expert webinar is just what you need… Join us on Thursday, 29th August at 10am (GMT) for an exclusive, must-watch webinar designed to help you unlock your Autumn sales potential and crush your profit goals through the busiest time of the year. [**SAVE MY SEAT**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-retail-readiness-and-effective-advertising) ## Here’s what’s in store for you: - Get Expert insights from our panel of seasoned pros who know all the ins and outs of Amazon success intimately. - Learn the crucial steps to get your brand Retail Ready, so you’re in tip-top shape for the peak season rush. - Discover how to supercharge your Amazon Ads spend for maximum ROI. And as ever, we’ll be rounding things off with a Live Q&A session – giving you the opportunity to put your burning questions to our specialists. Spaces are limited so act now and grab the chance to arm yourself with the insights you need to dominate the Autumn Sales Season on Amazon! [**SAVE MY SEAT!**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-retail-readiness-and-effective-advertising) Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [4 Questions to Ask if Flexible Customer Financing (FCF) is Right for You](https://venture-forge.com/blog/4-questions-to-ask-if-flexible-customer-financing-fcf-is-right-for-you/) **Published:** July 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Is Amazon Flexible Customer Financing right for your brand? Ask these four key questions to decide before opting in. **Content:** For brands selling products on Amazon with a higher RRP, offering Flexible Customer Financing (FCF) could entice more sales from customers looking to spread the cost. But is it for you? Here are the questions you need to ask… ## How does Flexible Customer Financing work? - Amazon’s FCF offering gives shoppers three financing options ranging from Short Term (3 months) to Long Term (48 months) - It’s available on products costing from £80-£3,000 - Shoppers pay no interest or hidden charges (0% only for purchases over £100) - No credit check or application is required - Fees to the Seller vary, depending on the length of finance chosen ## Should you offer Flexible Customer Financing? It might seem like just another way for Amazon to charge you a fee, but FCF could be a useful tool to make your products more accessible and drive sales – if your offering fits certain criteria. To determine if it does, ask… - Are you selling on other channels where financing is available? If yes, what are you offering your Amazon customers as a differentiator? - Should you be offering your Amazon customers an easier way to pay? Finance offerings from the likes of Klarna, Clearpay and Paypal are on the rise across the e-comm space and we are in a cost of living crisis – now’s the time to consider your customer’s situation and journey from click to conversion. - Are your competitors offering FCF? If yes, are they taking some of your market share? - Do you have the margin to offer FCF? Short Term options come with relatively low fees, but customers opting for Longer Term financing? That’s higher fees plus a good chunk of revenue spread over up to 4 years. Want our team’s expert take on whether Flexible Customer Financing is a good fit for your brand? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Master Retail Readiness: Exclusive Webinar on Seasonal Amazon Success](https://venture-forge.com/blog/master-retail-readiness-exclusive-webinar-on-seasonal-amazon-success/) **Published:** July 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Join our expert webinar on August 29th at 10 AM to master Amazon Retail Readiness and seasonal success. **Content:** From blockbuster events like Prime Day and Black Friday to seasonal opportunities like Back to School, Easter and Mother’s Day, seasonal success on Amazon requires meticulous planning and execution – so our experts are here to help you master the Retail Readiness you need to drive your profits up in these peak periods. On August 29th at 10am, our Expert panel is getting together to share invaluable insights and strategies to ensure your brand thrives on Amazon year-round – helping you up your Amazon game and drive unparalleled growth during peak seasons. As we say above, you don’t win Prime Day on Prime Day – and that goes for every Amazon event going. So we’ll be covering every element of being properly prepared, from your data analysis and strategy planning through to your listings and logistics. And yes, we’ll be covering Amazon Ads too, thanks to our PPC maestro Jake Browett! This is a must-attend event for any brand serious about seasonal growth – sign up today to save your seat and take the first step to turning peak periods into peak profits! [**REGISTER NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/unleashing-the-power-of-amazon-advertising) Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Late Shipment Warning Amazon Automation Could Impact Sellers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/late-shipment-warning-amazon-automation-could-impact-sellers/) **Published:** August 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s automated handling update is causing Late Shipment Rate spikes. Check your settings to stay compliant. **Content:** It was with surprise that some Sellers noticed their LSR (Late Shipment Rate) rising suddenly at the end of July – the culprit being an Amazon update that imposed Automated Handling Times simply unachievable for some Sellers. The problem was twofold: - Sellers were unaware that they were affected, with the changes imposed automatically and without warning. - The default setting for many (if not all) was same-day shipments, made 7 days a week – simply not feasible for some. ## Why does it matter? This is a big problem because of the impact a high Late Shipment Rate has on your Amazon Account Health. Sellers must maintain an LSR of below 4% to avoid having their Amazon account deactivated – clearly a disastrous result with long-term implications for those brands. ## What can Sellers do? We don’t know if it will happen again or if the issue has been dealt with by Amazon, but right now it pays to stay hyper vigilant and check your Amazon settings at least daily. [Some Sellers told ChannelX](https://channelx.world/2024/07/amazon-automated-handling-time-switched-on/) that activations happened on their accounts at the end of working hours, affecting their evening and overnight sales and impacting their next few working days. And if you do discover it’s happened to you? Turn the feature off urgently – once your LSR has been impacted, even Amazon support can’t update or amend it. Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Shoppable Ads Are Coming to TikTok: What Brands Need to Know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-shoppable-ads-are-coming-to-tiktok-what-brands-need-to-know/) **Published:** August 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Shoppable Ads are coming to TikTok, unlocking new opportunities for brands to drive engagement and sales. **Content:** After launching on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, Amazon Shoppable Ads finally come to that most potent of purchasing platforms, TikTok… [](https://venture-forge.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=post)The news that Amazon is bringing shoppable ads to TikTok is a fantastic update for Sellers\*, offering a new and powerful channel with an audience known for their high engagement levels and desire to exercise their spending power. Why do we see this as such amazing news? Because… ## TikTok Shoppers are Primed to Buy ### Engagement and Discovery TikTok users are highly engaged with the content on the platform, and no wonder – the app’s algorithm has been intricately designed to surface new and exciting products to users, often in creative and entertaining ways. The result is a shopping environment where users are more likely to discover and purchase products they weren’t initially searching for – something which aligns perfectly with the nature of shoppable ads. ### Influencer-Driven Sales TikTok’s ecosystem is heavily influenced by creators who drive trends and product discoveries. With shoppable ads, Sellers could collaborate with carefully chosen influencers to showcase their products, leveraging their influence to build trust and encourage purchases – a strategy which has been shown to be particularly effective on TikTok, where content can go viral quickly, amplifying the reach and impact of product promotions. ### Higher Potential than Other Platforms? Yes, possibly. Compared to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, TikTok today boasts a more potent combination of organic reach and user engagement. The platform’s unique content discovery model, where users often stumble upon new content through the “For You” page, is a fertile ground for impulsive purchases – you only need to look at the success of products like the Stanley Cup and The Pink Stuff cleaning paste for examples of items that have gone viral. Also TikTok users are generally younger and more open to trying new products compared to the older, more established user bases of Facebook and Instagram – making TikTok an even more attractive platform for brands looking to engage with the next generation of consumers. ## How will it work? Users will be able to browse and purchase Amazon products directly within TikTok’s app, with shoppable ads appearing in the “For You” feed and offering seamless integration with Amazon’s checkout process. Users can link their TikTok and Amazon accounts through a quick, secure setup (which can be unlinked at any time), allowing them to view real-time pricing, Prime eligibility and delivery estimates without leaving the TikTok environment. And, while it’s not yet confirmed if third-party sellers will be included, it seems likely this will be part of the long-term plan – shoppable ads on the other platforms feature select products from both Amazon and independent sellers. ## \*It’s US first, though Sadly, like the other Social commerce rollouts, yes – it’s US first, with no timescale given for other locations. But, as with all things Amazon, US success that brings plenty of ads revenues into the retail giants is sure to mean an ultimate rollout elsewhere – we’ll keep you in the loop! Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business? [Click here to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team!](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Poland: Growth Potential, New Incentives & Key Challenges](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-poland-growth-potential-new-incentives-key-challenges/) **Published:** August 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Poland’s new FBA incentives slash fees by up to 50%, making now a great time to enter the market. **Content:** If your brand has been looking for a new European market to enter, new Amazon FBA incentives could put Poland on your map… Launched in 2021, Amazon Poland has been growing rapidly, with 11 fulfilment centres already in place to serve an expanding customer base. And from 12 August 2024, Amazon is making the move to entice new Amazon brands into the market, reducing FBA fees by anything up to 50% – a fee change that they say has no expiry date. ## What does the Polish EComm market look like? Poland is the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe, with a growing middle class and increasing online shopping penetration – an e-comm market that’s certainly smaller than, say, the UK or Germany, but one that’s increasing at a pace. Especially if your brand already has a strong foothold in other EU markets, adding Poland could be a natural next step. ## 3 Great Opportunities through Amazon Poland ### **Opportunity 1** Poland is the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe, with a growing middle class and increasing online shopping penetration – an e-comm market that’s certainly smaller than, say, the UK or Germany, but one that’s increasing at a pace. ### **Opportunity 2** With Amazon being a relative newcomer to Polish e-commerce, brands moving onto Amazon Poland now will be taking an early-mover advantage. ### **Opportunity 3** Amazon Poland is still building its customer base, so competition on the platform may be less intense than in more established markets – great news especially for new brands looking to establish themselves. ## 3 Key Challenges of Amazon Poland ### Challenge 1 Amazon Poland is a less mature marketplace, so it will be important to stay on top of your data and keep agile to succeed. And, if you’re looking for high-volume sales immediately, you may want to consider other more established markets within Amazon’s global network. ### Challenge 2 Poland has strong local e-commerce players like Allegro, which is the dominant platform. Brands listing on Amazon Poland will need to create strong brand awareness, with the advertising budgets that go along with that, and employ strategic pricing strategies that align with local buying power to make a mark. ### Challenge 3 It’s essential to localise your listings for the Polish market – and that includes products, language, currency, customer service and marketing approach. ## The Beauty of FBA in International Expansion [We’ve talked before](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/scaling-you-brand-into-amazon-europe-strategy-taxes-and-delivery?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) about how FBA offers a fantastic route to new markets, letting Sellers dip their toes with relatively little effort – and this is no different. Basically, thanks to how Amazon’s European Fulfilment Network (EFN) allows you to store products in one country and ship across Europe, adding Poland to your portfolio could be relatively straightforward. ## Our thoughts? With these new FBA discounts, this could be a brilliant, strategic expansion market for brands, especially if you’re looking to establish an early presence in a growing economy. Your success? That will depend on your ability to localise your offerings, compete with local players and effectively manage logistics and compliance. Have we whetted your appetite for a new Amazon market? [Our experts are on hand](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to help you do it right, with all the commercial clarity, rigour and vision you need to succeed. ## Useful Links - [How to master International Expansion through Amazon (Blog)](https://venture-forge.com/how-to-master-international-expansion-through-amazon/) - [Scaling your Brand into Europe – Expert panel including with FurnitureBox and Taxually (webinar)](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/scaling-you-brand-into-amazon-europe-strategy-taxes-and-delivery?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Freshly Forged 19 August 2024 – “Selling Internationally on Amazon? Don’t overlook the importance of your ima](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-retail-readiness-and-effective-advertising)[gery…”](https://venture-forge.com/freshly-forged-amazon-seller-and-vendor-news-at-19-aug-2024) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [3 Quick and Effective Tips to Help Your Brand Succeed on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/3-quick-and-effective-tips-to-help-your-brand-succeed-on-amazon/) **Published:** September 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Success on Amazon starts with simple, actionable steps. Discover three quick tips to boost growth and profit. **Content:** Sometimes, the best Amazon advice is the simplest. And so we wanted to share a quick take from our brilliant Head of Seller, [Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), with 3 succinct tips that will help you drive your brand to better growth and profit on the marketplace… ## 1. Know your goal Before you even start, it’s crucial to have a clear direction. That way you can be sure your Amazon efforts align with your broader business objectives – without this, you risk wasting time, resource and money making moves that don’t address key issues or opportunities. And more, understanding your goal helps you measure progress effectively. If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, how can you work out whether your changes are getting the results you want? A fixed, measurable goal, like “increasing sales by 20% over 6 months” or “reducing order defects by 20% over 12 months”, provides clear benchmarks to track. All brands have different goals at different times, including: - Boosting profitability - Increasing market share - Building brand dominance And all these objectives have their place – but they don’t always go hand in hand. It’s important that you manage your expectations from your efforts, and focusing on one thing and doing it well – before moving onto the next piece of the puzzle – is always a stronger approach than trying to do it all at once. So pick one goal, give it your all and apply a measurable time frame so you can assess your efforts properly. ## 2. Consistency is KING Consistency across all elements of your Amazon presence is the cornerstone of Amazon success – including: - Consistency of performance. Amazon’s is a dynamic algorithm that rewards sellers who maintain steady performance. Consistently updating product listings, managing your inventory efficiently and maintaining excellent customer service and delivery levels helps increase product visibility in search rankings, leading to more sales. - Consistency of quality. offering quality products means positive reviews and repeat custom, and they in turn help build trust and credibility with new customers, creating a positive sales loop. - Consistency of marketing. Regular promotions, advertising and launches keep your brand competitive and top-of-mind with consumers, positioning you for long-term growth and success. - Consistency of product. There’s not much point listing products that have an end of life within months – when picking your products, go for evergreen lines that last and will deliver for your brand for the foreseeable future. ## 3. List and Hope? No and no Blind chance is not a winning strategy on Amazon. The world’s biggest marketplace is one of the most competitive and dynamic sales environments around, where your brand is up against thousands of others competing for customer attention – without a proper plan, your product might never be discovered. Brand success comes from smart, actionable steps. A well-thought-out launch strategy, backed by research, sets you up properly from the off. Armed with a strong understanding of the customer base you’re serving, the pricing trends and competition in your sector and properly optimised listings, you can help your brand secure visibility, drive better margins and build credibility. And later, with the foundations in place, you can continue to thrive with a brilliant advertising strategy that takes those strong listings and magnifies their reach. Want to leverage more of our commercial clarity for your Amazon brand? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Competitive Pricing causing Buy Box issues? You’re not on your own…](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-competitive-pricing-causing-buy-box-issues-youre-not-on-your-own/) **Published:** September 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Beware of raising price! Amazon’s Competitive Pricing Policy could cost you the Buy Box. Here’s what to do. **Content:** Let’s set a scene. You’ve been winning the Buy Box for a while now and sales are rolling in but, with manufacturing costs and shipping expenses soaring, you need to raise your price. Simple, right? Sadly it might be trickier than you think. It seems that more recently, the application of Amazon’s Competitive Pricing policy means that a price increase can see your Buy Box privileges vanish – even if you’re the only seller of your product on Amazon – frustrating both you and your potential buyers. ## Why is this happening? It looks like there’s been a tweak to the competitive pricing algorithm, which is the gatekeeper of the Buy Box. Amazon say they only feature offers that hit their benchmarks on three fronts: - Price - Delivery - And customer service. If no offers meet all those expectations, you get the dreaded “no featured offers are available” notice. Given brands are losing their Buy Box privileges when nothing has changed except from the list price, it seems that Amazon is now comparing your price on Amazon to pricing for the same products outside of Amazon. And if your price is higher than other retailers? Even if you’re crushing it on all other fronts, it’s bye-bye Buy Box. ## Let’s face this together What makes this issue so tricky is timing. Outside of Amazon, other retailers may still be selling old stock at lower prices – leaving you caught between raising prices and risking your Buy Box or slashing margins to compete until the market catches up. If you’re facing this challenge? We’ve got strategies to navigate this balancing act while keeping your business profitable. [Let’s talk](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [4 Questions to shape your strategy when it comes to Brand Tailored Promotions](https://venture-forge.com/blog/4-questions-to-shape-your-strategy-when-it-comes-to-brand-tailored-promotions/) **Published:** September 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Brand Tailored Promotions can boost conversions, but are you using them strategically? Ask these 4 key questions. **Content:** A brilliant tool to have in your Amazon arsenal, Brand Tailored Promotions (BTP) can be a super-effective way to target audiences like repeat, recent and high-spend customers, as well as cart abandoners. So should you just roll them out across your catalogue? Well, maybe – and maybe not! Like all things Amazon, the key to making BTP as successful as possible for your brand lies in taking the time to think closely about your “why” before you begin… … And then combining your chosen why/s with concrete data! Brand Analytics Data and BTP are a potent mix. Here, courtesy of our brilliant Head of Seller, [Becca Woollin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-woollin-amazon-expert?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), are 4 questions you can use to shape your BTP strategies for each audience: ## 1. Repeat Customers What’s your “Subscribe and Save” (SnS) strategy? If there’s a chance these promotions will overlap, you need to make sure you’ve got enough margins to allow for double dipping. ## 2. High-Spend Customers For Becca, rolling these promotions out to your most lucrative buyers is just a no-no. We’ll let her explain, with one simple question… “Why would you encourage the consumers who spend the most with your brand to shop with a discount?” ## 3. Recent Customers The key here is to think about your normal product life cycle – how long would you expect a purchase to last? And, if these recent customers love your product, where do you really want to send them – to SnS or to buy using a promotional code? ## 4. Cart Abandoners For Becca, cart abandoners are the golden ticket for BTP. Paired with retargeting ads, developing a strategy that targets abandoned carts is one which the Venture Forge team are seeing some really strong results from – and the place you should focus in the first instance. Want us to replicate the success of our BTP clients for your own brand? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [How to Calculate your Digital Services Tax for your Amazon Account](https://venture-forge.com/blog/how-to-calculate-your-digital-services-tax-for-your-amazon-account/) **Published:** September 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Digital Services Tax (DST) is changing. Learn how to calculate your fees and adjust your pricing strategy. **Content:** From 1 October 2024, Amazon is introducing a stand-alone Digital Services Tax (DST) fee as a separate line item on your invoice. But what does this mean for you, and how do you work it out? ## The UK Digital Services Tax – an Explainer But what is the DST? Basically, it’s a levy on the revenues of search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces that was designed to target those large international companies who pay less than their “fair share” of UK taxes. The UK government, alongside others like France, Italy, Spain, and Canada, introduced this tax to “align profits with the value created locally”. ## So why is it impacting our brand? Because Amazon is passing it on to you, the retailer. The idea was to tax the big players, but the reality is that the cost trickles down to sellers like you – and ultimately, if you don’t absorb it yourself and squeeze your margins, to the consumer. ## Argh! How do we work out what we’ll pay? You’ve actually been paying it since September 2020, when Amazon increased UK selling fees by 2% (which covered the DST). It’s just that, from October, Amazon is introducing the fee as a separate payment – reducing your selling and FBA fees and introducing a separate charge that’s based on when your business is based. For example, if you’re in the UK, you’ll face a 2% DST on your fees; in Italy, it’s 3%. How can you plan in advance? You can preview these fees in the Revenue Calculator starting in September and track them via Payments reports. And Amazon’s Automate Pricing tool will also account for DST from October, so at least you’ll be able to see how you’re being impacted. Want to revisit your pricing strategy? Now’s the time – [speak to our expert team for their specialist insight](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Toys & Games on Amazon: Insights for Growth & Market Share](https://venture-forge.com/blog/toys-games-on-amazon-insights-for-growth-market-share/) **Published:** September 20, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Toys & Games sector is full of opportunities. Learn how brands big and small can capture market share. **Content:** With Black Friday and Christmas on the horizon, we thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane and revisit some of our team’s expert insights into the Toys & Games sector – giving you time to get up to speed before these biggest of annual sales events arrive! ## What can you expect to uncover? One of our in-depth sector analyses, we asked our team to take a forensic view of the entire sector, pinpointing the best opportunities for brands of all sizes – from the best selling models through key growth trends to a subcategory spotlight on the 3 strongest subcategories. But the most interesting section to revisit is the one which outlines our keys to success in the category. What we found in this sector was that, while yes – major brands like Lego are dominant forces – this is a tough market for big names, needing complete investment and a robust all-round Amazon strategy to continually defend market share, protect against any detrimental reseller activity and grow through cannibalising the share of their competitors. ## Where it gets interesting is when you look at the Challengers We found lots and lots of Challenger brands making strong sales within the top 100 – which equals plenty of growth potential for brands of all shapes and sizes. “For smaller, challenger brands, there is real potential to take a slice of the market share pie,” advise our expert team. But how? “By drilling down into the opportunities on offer in the sub-categories and coming through consumer trends, and then combining a smart product offering with a strong, holistic strategy that excels at everything Amazon.” Want to learn more, including our top tips for how you can seize some of that market share pie for yourselves? [Hit this link to dig in…](https://venture-forge.com/toys-and-games-on-amazon-uk-category-insight/) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [Click here](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Export Central Updates for MFN Sellers Expanding Internationally](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-export-central-updates-for-mfn-sellers-expanding-internationally/) **Published:** September 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Export Central helps MFN sellers expand across Europe in just three clicks. Discover how to unlock new markets. **Content:** Unveiled earlier this month, Amazon Export Central is a powerful new tool with the potential to transform the way Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) Sellers expand their businesses across Europe.. ## It’s part of the European Export Programme… First, let’s talk about Amazon’s European Export Programme – which the Export Central tool is a part of. The European Export Programme is a free-to-use initiative that helps sellers export products from six key stores: the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. It allows Sellers to reach millions of customers in countries where there’s no Amazon store presence, like Austria, Portugal and Greece, without any of the hassle of duplicating listings or setting up new accounts. The Programme drives additional traffic and conversions to existing listings, opening up incredible growth opportunities. ## Who can join the European Export Programme? Everyone. It’s available to all Sellers, regardless of whether you use Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) or the Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN). In fact, it’s even better news for FBA Sellers, because you’re already enrolled – for free! ## Is it worth it? Well, Sellers who’ve activated Export from their European stores have reported an average sales uplift of up to 10%. ## What challenges should MFN Sellers be aware of? For MFN sellers handling their own shipping, Amazon advises setting accurate international shipping rates and transit times, so be sure to check with your carrier. And don’t forget: to start exporting, you’ll need to be VAT-compliant in the destination country (but enrolling in the Union One-Stop Shop (UOSS) can simplify those EU VAT requirements). ## OK – tell me more about Export Central Export Central is basically a tool designed to make it all as easy and seamless as possible. With just 3 clicks (yes, Amazon likes 3 clicks), Sellers can enable international shipping settings from multiple stores simultaneously, extending their reach to customers in 39 countries across Europe. Those wanting to enable international shipping settings can do so from multiple stores simultaneously. There are even pre-configured international shipping settings for selected stores and destinations, including proposed transit times and shipping fees. Worried they won’t suit you? You can review and fine-tune these settings before you finalise your export setup. ## How do you access Export Central? Just log into your Seller Account, head to Export Central, and start exploring your export opportunities. Want some expert advice first? Smart move! Our specialist team is always on hand to help, bringing the commercial clarity, rigour and vision you need to make the right decisions for your Amazon brand. [Get in touch now](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Big News: Amazon Cuts FBA Fees for Small Oversize Products](https://venture-forge.com/blog/big-news-amazon-cuts-fba-fees-for-small-oversize-products/) **Published:** September 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon reduces FBA fulfilment fees for small oversize products. Discover how sellers save and optimise their strategy. **Content:** Hooray, an Amazon fee reduction to report on! As part of their ongoing efforts to improve FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), Amazon has announced a significant reduction in domestic and Pan-EU FBA fulfilment fees. ## What, when… It’s already begun – as of 16 September 2024, Sellers offering small oversize products have been benefiting from fee reductions of up to £1.60/€1.87 across the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. ## … and why? With these lower fulfilment fees, Amazon is looking to incentivise sellers to offer a broader selection of small oversize products. More choice for customers = better customer experience = more potential sales for Sellers = more profits for Amazon. ## What constitutes a small oversize product? Amazon defines small oversize products as those that fall within the following dimensions: - Length, width, and height – 61 x 46 x 46 cm - Unit weight – 1.76 kg - Dimensional weight – 25.82 kg So it covers a wide range of products, with lots of scope for Sellers to rethink their product strategy and explore expanding their listings while benefiting from reduced fees. ## And how much exactly will fees be reduced by? Here’s a full breakdown: - 12-30% fee reductions for all four small oversize size bands (for items 61 x 46 x 46 cm, up to 1.76 kg) in Amazon’s UK, France, Italy and Spain stores. - 22-28% fee reductions for two small oversize size bands (for items 61 x 46 x 46 cm, up to 1.26 kg) in Amazon’s Germany store. It’s worth noting that all other domestic FBA fulfilment fees across these countries will remain unchanged. To view the updated fees? Just log in to your Seller Central account and visit the [2024 Fulfilment by Amazon fulfilment fee changes page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/external/GABBX6GZPA8MSZGW). This has all the details you need to assess how the new rates will affect your business. ## What’s the opportunity here for Sellers? We think there’s great potential here to review your product offerings and identify where you can take advantage of the reduced fees. ### If you don’t already sell small oversized products… By broadening your product range, you could tap into new customer segments, increase your sales and reduce your overall fulfilment costs – all while staying competitive. ### If you’re already selling small oversize products… Happy days! You’ll get an immediate boost to your margins – savings you can reinvest into growing your business, improving your listings or even expanding your advertising efforts to drive more visibility. Of course, the moves you make should always come down to what’s right for your individual needs and, if you’d like some strategic, commercially driven, profit-focused advice from our team, their expertise is here for you! [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) and we’ll guide you through the details, helping you make informed decisions designed to boost your margins. ## Useful Links - [2024 Fulfilment by Amazon fulfilment fee changes page](https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/help/hub/reference/external/GABBX6GZPA8MSZGW) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Venture Forge Welcomes Travis Chappell As Head Of Vendor Services](https://venture-forge.com/blog/venture-forge-welcomes-travis-chappell-as-head-of-vendor-services/) **Published:** October 14, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Travis Chappell joins Venture Forge as Head of Vendor Services, bringing extensive expertise to drive growth. **Content:** We’re excited to announce that [Travis Chappell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travischappelluk/) has officially joined Venture Forge as our new Head of Vendor Services. Travis brings a wealth of expertise, having worked as a Brand Specialist at Amazon, where he collaborated with some of the world’s largest brands. Later, he served as Amazon Channel Manager (Europe) at Perrigo, one of the leading global self-care companies. Most recently, Travis was Managing Director at Iconic Sales, a leading European Amazon agency, where he led significant growth for their clients. With such a strong background across all aspects of the Amazon ecosystem—both inside and outside Amazon—Travis will be a pivotal force in driving our Vendor services forward. His leadership and expertise will help ensure Venture Forge remains the go-to agency for mid-market and enterprise brands on Amazon across the UK and Europe. Our goal is to continue delivering tailored, data-driven solutions that optimise performance, strengthen vendor relationships, and drive growth for our clients. Travis’s appointment marks a new chapter for Venture Forge, elevating us to new heights and making us the first choice for established Amazon brands looking to compete harder, smarter, and stand out against their competitors. We can’t wait to see the impact Travis will make as he helps solidify our position as the leading Amazon Vendor partner for ambitious brands. Please join us in welcoming Travis to Venture Forge, and if you would like to discuss how Travis and our team can support your Amazon Vendor strategy, feel free to arrange a call by emailing **hello@ventureforge.co.uk** **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Buy with Prime and MCF upgrades bring new DTC enhancements](https://venture-forge.com/blog/buy-with-prime-and-mcf-upgrades-bring-new-dtc-enhancements/) **Published:** October 23, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Buy with Prime & MCF updates offer new ways to grow. Discover how brands can maximise these tools. **Content:** Buy with Prime and MCF improvements announced – we dive deeper into the new DTC Enhancements Amazon Accelerate, the retail giant’s annual Seller conference, is the season of new announcements – and one of the biggest this year was the series of updates to the DTC portfolio – those tools designed to help brands grow across their own Amazon stores and beyond. So, what’s new? With updates to their Buy with Prime and Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF) services, the focus is on improving both merchant and shopper experiences. How could these new tools fit into your wider Amazon strategy? ## Expanding Sales Channels beyond Amazon Amazon’s Buy with Prime and MCF are part of its push to help sellers expand outside the marketplace, reaching customers through their own websites, other selling sites and social media. Obviously, both initiatives present a great opportunity for brands looking to scale across multiple platforms – but the real challenge lies in execution. Buy with Prime leverages the trust of the Prime brand to increase traffic and conversions on your other DTC (direct-to-customer) sites while, with MCF, Amazon handles your fulfilment, picking, packing and shipping orders from any channel, not just Amazon. For brands juggling multiple sales channels, the potential to simplify the logistics process is a potent draw. But, while Amazon’s tools are powerful, they don’t manage themselves – effective growth across these channels still requires a clear strategy, sharp execution and constant optimisation. ### Our take These tools can definitely help you reach new customers, but how effective they are for your brand depends on how well you integrate them into your overall sales strategy. For brands planning to make use of Buy with Prime, MCF or both, the starting point is to optimise your presence across all these platforms and implement these tools so they work together seamlessly to drive results. ## Buy with Prime – Growing, but still needs a strong strategy Let’s look in more detail at Buy with Prime. Launched in 2022, it’s been growing fast – helping DTC Sellers attract Prime members with Prime’s fast, free delivery, easy returns and trusted status. In fact, in 2024 alone Buy with Prime saw a 45% increase in orders and those using it reported an average 16% increase in revenue per shopper. For Prime members, it’s an easy win. For brands? It’s a bit more complex. Getting Buy with Prime set up is just the beginning – you still need a strong strategy to drive traffic, optimise your checkout flow and make sure your fulfilment works like clockwork. ### What’s new with Buy with Prime? Amazon announced new ways for Buy with Prime merchants to boost traffic and lower customer acquisition costs – of which, our two standouts are: ### Amazon DSP for Buy with Prime This tool allows you to run ad campaigns using Amazon’s shopping signals to remarket to customers across third-party apps and websites. Over 80% of merchants using it report meeting or exceeding their ROAS (return on ad spend) goals. ### TikTok Ads with Delivery Estimates From October 2024, Buy with Prime merchants can include real-time Prime delivery estimates in their TikTok ads, helping to increase conversion by giving customers more confidence in when they’ll receive their orders. ### Our take Buy with Prime can boost your site’s performance, but it won’t do the heavy lifting on its own – you need to work on designing and optimising your customer’s journey, so the tool can work to its full potential. And the new enhancements? To get the best out of all the traffic and maximise your return on ad spend, make sure you’ve got a watertight Amazon Ads strategy in place that aligns with your brand’s overall goals. ## Multi-Channel Fulfilment: Are you ready for faster delivery? Also stepping up its game is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF), with the news that standard delivery times have been slashed from 5 days to 3 days at no additional cost, meaning faster delivery speeds and happier customers. MCF also now comes with fast delivery badges for merchant websites, similar to the Prime badge, to boost shopper confidence. And, again from October 2024, MCF merchants will be able to show an estimated delivery time in their Google Shopping ads, Google search results and TikTok ads to boost conversions. This is all fantastic news – but do make sure your brand is well prepared. Faster shipping means more pressure to keep your inventory well-stocked and your logistics streamlined. If your supply chain isn’t up to speed? You could miss out on sales opportunities or end up with out-of-stock items. ### Our take Faster fulfilment is always a win for customers – to make sure it’s as good for your brand, you must make sure your inventory management and supply chain operations are up to the task. ## So, what’s our verdict overall? There’s no doubt that the new, enhanced Buy with Prime and MCF offerings are powerful tools for brands looking to scale across channels and improve customer experiences. But, like any tool, they’re only as good as the strategy behind them. Love some expert advice? To chat through how to get the most out of these tools, and ensure your brand can grow across Amazon, your own website and beyond, [get in touch with the team](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Boost Your Black Friday Strategy with Expert Insights](https://venture-forge.com/blog/boost-your-black-friday-strategy-with-expert-insights/) **Published:** October 23, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Fine-tune your Black Friday strategy with expert insights, real success stories, and data-backed tips from last year’s event. **Content:** With just over a month to go before the Autumn sales events of the year, there’s still time to give your strategy that extra edge – and we’ve got just the inspiration you need, with our post-event analysis from last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday extravaganza… In this hour-long session, our experts dug deep into the sales data from 2023 to identify the categories and strategies that outperformed the rest – and why. ## Alongside these invaluable insights, you’ll hear: - Real success stories from brands that completely transformed their approach and achieved incredible results. - And tips and strategies from our award-winning Amazon experts, Becca and Jake, covering Seller and Ads strategies to help you make the most of peak sales events. So, whether you’re looking to fine-tune your campaigns or overhaul your approach entirely, this webinar has got everything you need to seize the competitive edge and supercharge your Amazon success this sales season! [**WATCH NOW**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazons-peak-playbook-translating-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-wins-into-long-term-gains) Looking for help to maximise opportunities and/or tackle challenges for your marketplace business? [Click here](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to speak to our Award-Winning Amazon Team! **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Key Lessons from Prime Big Deals Day: The Power of Real-Time Data](https://venture-forge.com/blog/key-lessons-from-prime-big-deals-day-the-power-of-real-time-data/) **Published:** October 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Big Deals Day proved the power of real-time data. Discover how brands used insights to drive massive growth. **Content:** We’ve [said it before](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) and we’ll say it again, if you want to achieve great success on Amazon as a Seller or Vendor, your ability to access, interpret and act on accurate, real-time data is crucial – and that’s even more true during a Sales Event… At Venture Forge, we’re all about commercial rigour, clarity and vision. Our experts apply a scrupulous trading mindset to our clients’ Amazon accounts – keeping all things agile and adaptable, staying resilient, managing risk and using data to make informed decisions that turn things in a brand’s favour as quickly as possible. Over the course of a day – especially an Event day – these kinds of commercially savvy tweaks can make all the difference to results. From strategic pricing to Prime-exclusive deals, accurate, real-time data and quick, well-timed decisions have long proven to be key drivers of growth… … as perfectly illustrated by our clients’ results from day 1 of Prime Big Deals day in October! ## Here’s a snapshot of what our team achieved on what ended up being Amazon’s biggest ever October event: - **160% week-on-week growth** for a home & goods brand using strategic pricing. - **877% week-on-week increase** for a sports & fitness client, driven by exclusive Prime Day promotions. - **Up to 149% year-on-year growth** for a brand in tech & electronics leveraging Prime-only offers. - **282% growth** for a health & beauty brand utilising smart discounting tactics. Good, right? Even clients running smaller promotions saw gains of 40% year-on-year, showing that even modest, data-backed efforts can yield results. ## The lesson here? It all comes down to data. In a super fast-moving retail environment like Prime Big Deal Days – or Black Friday, for example – understanding what the market is doing in real-time and acting on those insights is what gives a brand the edge over the competition. Whether it’s knowing the best moment to activate a discount or identifying which products are resonating with customers, quick, informed decisions are the key to success. For any brand looking to maximise their performance on Amazon, the takeaway here is clear – use data to guide your strategy. With the right insights, you can make timely adjustments that lead to tangible growth, just as we’ve seen with our clients. And, when brands are equipped to turn data into action, the marketplace rewards are waiting. Ready to make data work for you? [Speak to our experts today](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/). ## Useful Links - [Read our blog, “The critical importance of accurate, real-time data”](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) - [Watch the 30 minute webinar, featuring Venture Forge’s Andrew Banks and Paul Sonneveld from MerchantSpring](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/the-power-of-accurate-amazon-data) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Key Lessons from Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024: What Brands Need to Know](https://venture-forge.com/blog/key-lessons-from-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-what-brands-need-to-know/) **Published:** October 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024 introduced new tools. Discover new tools to optimise ad performance and boost sales. **Content:** It’s all about the learning in this update! Next, we turn our attention to the important takeaways from Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024, from which our intrepid, award-winning expert Jake Browett has returned full of fresh ideas and insights… The event brought loads of exciting updates, from automated tools to refined targeting capabilities – think piles of new features designed to help brands streamline their campaigns and boost their performance. We’ve done a deep dive [in our latest blog](https://venture-forge.com/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/) – but, while you’re here, here’s a little taste of the most notable highlights: ## Performance+ Performance+, Amazon’s new automated ad creation tool, promises to simplify campaign setup “with just four clicks”. With the reported potential to improve CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) by up to 51%, this tool is set to compete directly with Google’s Performance Max, offering brands a quick and efficient way to launch comprehensive campaigns. ## B2B Bid Modifier option For B2B brands, the new Bid Modifier Option has shown some impressive results – early trials bringing some users 3x higher Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) and a 12% increase in traffic. While it may not be for all brands, this feature allows for more granular targeting and better budget optimization – good news for those looking to fine-tune their audience reach. ## Demand-Side Platform (DSP) Refresh A much-needed refresh is in the pipeline for Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP), promising a new interface that will be faster and more intuitive, helping advertisers save “up to 26% of their budget” and – our favourite bit – gain deeper insights into campaign performance through real-time optimisation tools. From frequency controls to smarter insights via curated performance cards, these upgrades are designed to help brands get more value out of their ad spend. ## What else is on the Amazon cards? There’s plenty more too – Amazon has also expanded Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to include Sponsored Products and Brands, allowing brands to build custom audiences and better track campaign performance. And for those looking to reach global audiences, the Prime Video Ads expansion into markets like Brazil, Japan and India opens up massive new opportunities. ## Curious about the rest? Find much more, including Amazon’s exciting ‘Glitch with Twitch’ feature and the rollout of new AI-powered tools to speed up creative ad production, [over on the blog](https://venture-forge.com/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/). And to discuss how these innovations can help elevate your Amazon Ads strategy? [Speak to our award-winning experts](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) today. ## Useful Links - [Read our blog, “Key Takeaways from Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024”](https://venture-forge.com/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Big Deal Days 2024 Insights: Optimise Your Black Friday Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/blog/big-deal-days-2024-insights-optimise-your-black-friday-strategy/) **Published:** October 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Prime Big Deal Days revealed key sales trends. Discover what they predict for Black Friday and how to prepare. **Content:** We’ve already said how the Prime Big Deal Days 2024, which ran on October 8th and 9th, were officially the marketplace’s biggest October event ever, with record-breaking sales and more Prime members shopping than in any previous October sale. But what’s even more interesting for brands? As with all October events, its best-sellers might just offer a glimpse into what’s primed to fly off the shelves during the upcoming Black Friday frenzy. ## Top Products in the UK Top-selling products in the UK covered everything from Bose Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones to LEGO Minecraft sets, along with everyday essentials like Finish Ultimate Dishwasher Tablets and Vitamin D Tablets. Shoppers also gravitated toward beauty staples like the COSRX Advanced Snail Mucin Serum and Maybelline New York Volume Mascara, suggesting that self-care might already be on the gift radar for some (whether they’re buying for themselves, others or both!). But what might this tell us about Amazon buyers right now? It’s clear that tech, beauty and home essentials were top of mind – and, as we look ahead to Black Friday, it’s more than possible that these categories could continue to dominate as the holiday season begins. ## How should Amazon brands use these insights? These insights might have no direct bearing on your brand – but they’re still good to know so that you can align your product listings and deals with things that are clearly resonating with shoppers. These early indicators from Prime Big Deal Days show that customers are ready to invest in practical gifts, personal care and high-value tech items – and now’s the perfect time to fine-tune your Black Friday strategy accordingly. Better still, if these results are any indication, Black Friday 2024 is set to be another blockbuster event! If you’d like our team of experts help you bring commercial clarity, rigour and vision to supercharge your sales over a bumper festive season, we’re here to help! [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [What you need to know about the new Amazon FBA Reimbursements in Europe](https://venture-forge.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-amazon-fba-reimbursements-in-europe/) **Published:** October 31, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s new FBA reimbursement rules take effect in 2025. Learn how to maximise claims and protect your profits. **Content:** From 15 January 2025, Amazon is rolling out significant changes to the FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) reimbursement process – some great news for Sellers, some of which will call for extra vigilance to make sure you’re claiming what’s due. Either way, these are changes that could impact how you manage your lost inventory and claim your reimbursements, so now’s the time to get prepared – here’s what you need to know… ## Your Lowdown of the FBA Updates - Good news – automatic reimbursements for lost items are coming (but see also below). Amazon will proactively reimburse sellers for items mislaid in their fulfilment centres, issuing refunds as soon as the item is reported lost. - Good news – reimbursements will be made at sale price. So no hassle with returns or customer service issues; a lost item becomes, effectively, a free sale. - Extra vigilance needed – because they’re reducing the claims eligibility window to just 60 days (down from 18 months!) - How to stay vigilant – you can stay updated using the Reimbursements report on Seller Central. ## Our take The automatic reimbursement for lost items is a big win for Sellers – no more chasing Amazon to recover funds for misplaced inventory, hooray! But this has already rolled out in the US, and that rollout showed that it’s really important you don’t just rely on Amazon’s automated system to pick up your lost items – because it might not. In real life, early feedback from the US beta trials indicated that only around 20% of lost items were being reimbursed at the beginning, although this number is expected to improve. ## What does it mean for your brand? Simply put, you need to stay vigilant. Regularly check your reports and manually claim anything Amazon might miss – especially since the new 60-day claims window gives you less time to act. And don’t forget: there are plenty of other reimbursement types beyond lost items, so it’s crucial to be on top of all potential claims to ensure you’re not leaving money on the table. If you need a hand with your Amazon cash recovery issues, from shortages and deductions to overbillings, remember that our Revenue Recovery service is designed to help you recoup these avoidable losses, putting them right back where they belong – your bottom line. To enlist our experts for help with any of these issues, [get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendors: Recover Up to £150,000 in Lost Revenue in 2025](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendors-recover-up-to-150000-in-lost-revenue-in-2025/) **Published:** November 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendors lose thousands yearly. Learn how to reclaim lost revenue and recover up to £150,000 in 2025. **Content:** Vendors! What if we said you could recover up to £150,000 in lost revenues in 2025? Our best seasonal present to Vendors? How about the potential to reclaim up to £150,000 of your lost revenues – the perfect way to kick off the New Year… Let’s make 2025 the year you recover what’s rightfully yours. Why? Because every single year, Vendors lose tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds in revenue to chargebacks, incorrect fees and unresolved disputes on Amazon Vendor Central – but it doesn’t need to be this way. What can you do? Allow us to introduce our exclusive webinar. Full of expert insights and essential tactics, our experts got together to offer a roadmap to maximising your financial health and future-proofing your profitability. And if you don’t want to do it yourself? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to find out more about our best-in-class Vendor Recovery service! ## Why you should watch this Webinar Amazon Vendor Central can be a powerful tool – but it can cost you too. Designed to help you unlock revenue you might not even know you were missing, this webinar is full of practical strategies with the potential to make a real difference to your bottom line. ### You’ll learn - How to resolve deductions disputes efficiently. - Proactive tactics to plug the gaps and stop revenue loss at source. - Expert-led strategies from those who’ve been there, done it, and know how to turn Vendor Central challenges into opportunities. ### From our experts… Who’s sharing this actionable advice? - [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), CEO here at Venture Forge who, having led Amazon brands to success across the UK, Europe and North America, brings clear, actionable advice grounded in real-world results. - [Matt Briggs](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-briggs-5a181b145?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), our Senior Amazon Account Manager, who applies his years of experience in Vendor and Seller Central to help brands of all sizes optimise operations and recover lost revenue. - [Ant Finch](https://www.linkedin.com/in/antfinch?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), founder of Vendor Rocket, who uses a decade of Amazon expertise to transform complex data into profit-driving strategies for Vendors. ### Why watch now? New Year, new you – this the perfect time to get your house in order and anyway, what Vendor can afford to leave profits on the table in this competitive Amazon environment? Recovering lost revenues doesn’t just give your business a stronger foundation – it also frees up resources that you can reinvest in more growth. And with the insights you’ll gain in this webinar, you’ll be in prime position to start 2025 with clarity, focus and confidence. Ready to get started? [**WATCH HERE**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/chargeback-insights-protecting-your-amazon-revenue) And, to learn how our expert team can help you get what you’re owed, [drop us a line today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Haul: What It Means for Sellers](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-haul-what-it-means-for-sellers/) **Published:** November 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Haul is here. Discover how this ultra-low-cost store impacts sellers and how to stay competitive. **Content:** Amazon Haul has officially launched in the US, targeting ultra-low-cost products to rival platforms like Temu and Shein… The store caps prices at $20, sources products directly from Chinese manufacturers, and cuts out the traditional “white label” middleman – and it’s sure to be rolled out to other Amazon stores soon. For some Sellers, this might feel like a seismic shift – but there’s more nuance to the situation than meets the eye… ## Is it a challenge for Sellers? The simple answer is yes, it will be a challenge for some Sellers. Amazon Haul is a clear attempt to reclaim market share in the low-cost goods space. For brands who operate in similar categories – low-priced, generic products – the potential downsides are obvious: Pricing pressure – with Amazon dictating maximum prices for products, Haul introduces a level of price competition that could be difficult for some Sellers to match. Customer trust in Amazon – the A-to-Z Guarantee backing Haul products may encourage customers to buy these low-cost items directly from Amazon, as they’ll feel safer doing so. ## But will you really be affected? The good news is that Amazon Haul’s $20 price cap puts it firmly in the low-cost, low-quality segment of the market – so, if that’s not your positioning, any direct competition will be minimal. Plus: - Strong brands still win – customers are generally willing to pay more for products with strong branding, excellent reviews and a reputation for quality. If your product is positioned as premium or mid-range, Haul likely won’t compete. - Specialised and differentiated products will still stand out – Haul’s focus on mass-produced, generic goods means that products with unique features, design or niche appeal will still attract loyal customers. - Anything above the low price cap is outside Haul’s scope, leaving a large part of the Amazon marketplace unscathed. ## Strategies to Stay Strong For Sellers who do find themselves competing with Haul – or simply want to futureproof their Amazon business – here’s are 5 ways to maintain your edge: ### 1. Focus on branding Build a strong, memorable brand that conveys trust and quality, because customers are less likely to abandon branded products they know and love for generic alternatives. And use A+ Content, high-quality images and storytelling in your listings to stand out. ### 2. Differentiate through quality Emphasise what makes your products different – if your offering is better made, longer-lasting or uniquely designed, make that clear in your marketing and highlight verified customer reviews and testimonials to build credibility. ### 3. Optimise your listings for SEO and conversion Make sure your listings are fully optimised for Amazon’s search algorithm, with detailed descriptions, bullet points with USPs and targeted keywords for visibility. And make use of video content – it’s such a brilliant way to demonstrate product value and create an emotional connection with buyers. ### 4. Upgrade your Amazon Advertising strategy Investing in Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and other ad formats keeps your listings prominent – even in competitive categories. Make sure to target ads strategically to reach customers who are less likely to shop in Haul’s low-cost segment. ### 5. Monitor and adjust Keep an eye on Haul’s product offerings and performance in your niche. If you notice shifts in customer preferences, adapt quickly to stay competitive. And stay on top of your data – consistently track your performance with accurate, real-time data to identify opportunities for refinement. ## Our Take Amazon Haul represents a clear move to capture the ultra-low-cost market, but it’s not a threat to every Seller. If you’re in the mass-produced, generic product space, now’s the time to reevaluate your strategies – doubling down on your branding, quality and differentiation to stay competitive. But for most, just take it as a reminder of something we say A LOT – Amazon success comes from building a resilient brand, optimising your presence and focusing on long-term growth. Need expert guidance to refine and implement a new strategy for your brand? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s Black Friday Show Impacts Xmas Sales](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-black-friday-show-impacts-xmas-sales/) **Published:** November 26, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s Black Friday Week Show is driving festive shopping trends. Learn how brands can capitalise on the buzz. **Content:** What if Amazon’s “Black Friday Week Show” sets the stage for pre-Christmas sales? Hands up who else thinks Amazon’s Black Friday Week Show, where Rylan and a cast of celebrity guests talk about their best bargains, could prove to be quite the traffic driver for brands to capitalise on in the weeks leading up to Christmas? If nothing else, Rylan’s highlighted products clearly mirror what Amazon sees as their biggest potential sellers through the festive season – and savvy brands can use any extra visibility to drive sales throughout December. With products like the Ninja Foodi Air Fryer, Bose Headphones and Fitbit making Rylan’s Top 10 list, here’s who can ride the wave – and how. ## Categories getting the Celebrity momentum - Tech & Gadgets: Tech products set to be featured include perennial tech favourites like the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, SteelSeries Gaming Mouse and Bose Headphones. - Home & Kitchen: The top 10 includes the Ninja Foodi Air Fryer and Bosch Cordless Drill. - Health & Beauty: And this always-strong category is set for a boost, with Rylan listing the ELEMIS Face Mask, Bedhead Shampoo Set and St. Tropez Tan Mousse – all perfect nods to the self-care trend and great stocking fillers or pampering gifts. ## How brands can leverage the buzz for Christmas 1. When the show is over, these featured categories are sure to remain popular for Christmas shoppers, so make sure your products in these areas are promoted prominently in holiday campaigns. 2. Heavily target gift shoppers by updating your listings to include keywords like “perfect gift,” “holiday must-have,” or “ideal for \[specific audience\].” 3. Leverage traffic from highlighted brands, because products in adjacent categories like kitchen accessories, tech add-ons and beauty gift sets will be able to benefit from cross-selling opportunities. 4. Increased traffic to these categories presents an opportunity to ramp up Sponsored Products and Display Ads for more visibility – aiming for placements near related products or on pages for complementary items. 5. And don’t forget your Holiday Bundles! Combine products into bundles for greater perceived value. For instance, pairing an air fryer with recipe books or beauty products with gift packaging can encourage higher basket sizes. By leaning into the featured trends and categories, brands can make the most of the visibility and interest generated by the show to capture pre-Christmas sales. At Venture Forge, we help brands take advantage of every opportunity to shine on Amazon during peak seasons. From crafting high-converting ads to optimising product listings, we ensure your brand is ready to thrive – even in the busiest weeks of the year. Ready to make this Christmas your biggest yet? [Let’s talk.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [3 Tech Tools for Amazon Success in 2025](https://venture-forge.com/blog/3-tech-tools-for-amazon-success-in-2025/) **Published:** November 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Unlock Amazon success in 2025 with AI, data analytics, and CRM tools. Discover how to optimise performance. **Content:** We all know tech is fundamental to our success on Amazon now – but which tech categories are the most important? From helping to discover untapped product opportunities to managing ad spend and building customer loyalty, here we shine a spotlight on 3 essential tech categories – and how you can make the most of them for your brand… ## AI – Smarter decisions, faster results Artificial Intelligence has become indispensable for Amazon sellers, with tools for everything from streamlining operations to uncovering opportunities and optimising performance. One standout among Amazon’s own offering? [The Product Opportunity Explorer ](https://sell.amazon.com/tools/product-opportunity-explorer)is a great, and powerful, tool for identifying profitable, low-competition niches and guiding product development. ### You can use it to: - Discover profitable opportunities by analysing customer and competitor data. - Accelerate product research with insights from search terms, product reviews and customizable filters. - Gain a competitive edge by identifying untapped niches and setting competitive prices. - Avoid seasonal dips, using the tool to track sales trends and plan inventory. - Increase product visibility by uncovering high-performing keywords for titles, descriptions and Amazon ads. And Amazon Ads is a brilliant place to use AI technology, helping to navigate such a complex and fast-changing platform with greater ease than ever before. Here at Venture Forge, our award-winning team harnesses our own proprietary AI-powered ad-tech platform, which is designed to manage ad spend at scale and deliver unbeatable performance – giving our clients access to automated recommendations that help us optimise campaigns in real time, rules-based bid management for flexible and cost-effective ad strategies and competitor insights to outpace rivals in your category – among other things. ### Our advice on how to use AI? - Use AI tools like Product Opportunity Explorer to identify new opportunities and refine your product strategies. - Pair Amazon’s AI capabilities with specialist ad tech like ours for smarter spend and better sales performance. - Combine AI insights with human expertise to ensure the data aligns with your brand’s goals and values. [Speak to our award-winning Amazon Ads experts today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Data Analytics: Unlocking insights for growth Data is already the lifeblood of any successful Amazon strategy and, going forwards, as Amazon gets ever-busier and margins tighten, it’s the brands that harness the full power of analytics that will keep ahead of the competition. Why? Because it’s the little refinements made on the back of actionable insights that give a brand the edge – coming from things like the constant monitoring of performance metrics and tracking customer behaviour. There are countless reasons why the smart use of data is game-changing for any Amazon brand, so here we’ll list just 3: - Data gives you total visibility on performance, so you can understand what’s working and what’s not, and make quick adjustments to campaigns or listings. - Data allows you to dive deep into customer preferences and buying habits to accurately tailor your products and ads. - Data is invaluable for correct forecasting, helping you to anticipate demand and plan inventory to avoid stockouts or overstocking. ### Our advice on how to use Data Analytics? - Regularly review your analytics dashboards to identify trends and opportunities. - Use insights to test and refine listings, ad campaigns and promotional strategies. - Invest in training your team to interpret and act on analytics, so you can make sure every decision is data-driven. ## CRM Platforms: Building loyalty and repeat business Amazon’s marketplace may feel transaction-driven, but it’s also a powerful platform for building customer loyalty – and that’s where CRM tools come in. Helping brands to track buyer behaviour, identify repeat customers and create tailored experiences that boost lifetime value, they’re fundamental to creating the kind of loyal customer base that every brand dreams of. What makes a good CRM such a game-changer? They allow for personalisation, meaning you can engage customers with targeted campaigns, upsells and reorders. They foster loyalty, helping you retain customers by providing a seamless, customer-first experience. And they offer a complete view of your customer interactions across all your sales channels – a level of omnipresent insight that’s essential for any e-Comm brand serious about growth. ### Our advice on how to use a CRM - Leverage CRM insights to optimise your Amazon listings and campaigns, making them more relevant to your audience. - Use post-purchase behaviour data to identify opportunities for repeat sales or loyalty incentives. - Align your CRM data with your analytics to create a unified, data-driven approach to customer engagement. At Venture Forge, we combine cutting-edge technology with commercial clarity, rigour and vision to deliver measurable results for brands on Amazon. Ready to transform your approach and dominate your category? [Let’s chat.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Black Friday’s Late Start: Changing Q4 on Amazon](https://venture-forge.com/blog/black-fridays-late-start-changing-q4-on-amazon/) **Published:** November 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor negotiations are here. Learn expert strategies to protect your brand, optimise margins, and grow. **Content:** Black Friday has traditionally been seen as the high point of the festive shopping season, but this year’s later date – and the extended pattern of Christmas buying behaviour over the past few years – is reshaping how brands should approach Q4 2024, with valuable lessons for the future… Sales patterns from the past few years have clearly shown that, while Black Friday itself remains significant on Amazon, the event is increasingly becoming a peak in an extended November sales period rather than the festive season’s starting gun. ## The complexities of Q4 2024 Midway through November, our CEO [Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) ran a LinkedIn poll to gauge trading sentiment this month compared to last year. The results showed that: - 44% of brands are trading up - 27% are holding steady - 29% are trading down This paints a complex picture of Q4 – and it also raises questions about how December will shape up, not to mention what strategies brands should adopt to maximize the overlap between Black Friday’s tail end and the Christmas rush. ## The rise of the long November sales period New research by eBay Advertising UK highlights that two-thirds of UK consumers have already started their holiday shopping, with only 7% waiting until December to buy gifts. And this trend toward a longer, more gradual shopping season fundamentally changes how brands should think about Black Friday and beyond. Instead of a single-day frenzy, Black Friday is now a key milestone within a month-long wave of promotions, meaning brands need to look to a more sustained and targeted approach. > While the festive shopping period is evolving, with consumers starting earlier and spreading out their purchases, key moments like Black Friday remain critical for driving sales. Sellers may need to rethink their approach to peak season—not by abandoning big promotional periods, but by complimenting them with targeted strategies throughout the season. > > Billy Mills, Sr Director, Global Advertising, eBay ## What This Means for Amazon Sellers Amazon brands need to view November as a marathon, not a sprint. With Black Friday sales extending into early December – and then likely to be followed by a rapid pivot to pre-Christmas discounts – a clear and proactive strategy is more important than ever. What does that mean? [Our experts](https://venture-forge.com/about-venture-forge/our-team/) recommend you focus on: ### 1. Avoiding stock imbalances It’s all-too easy to face leftover inventory challenges during peak periods. Careful demand forecasting and inventory management are the keys to staying agile as consumer spending ebbs and flows. ### 2. Super-strategic Advertising Well-timed campaigns are crucial for staying visible during this extended season. Whether it’s leveraging Sponsored Products or running high-impact Black Friday deals, look to creating consistent, relevant visibility all through December. ### 3. Emphasising value Consumers are increasingly intentional in their spending, prioritising deals that offer value over impulse buys. Making sure that your product pages and campaigns clearly communicate your brand’s unique benefits and the pull of any applicable discounts will be vital for converting savvy shoppers. Need help to maximise your Amazon sales success? [Speak to our award-winning team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Speculating on December’s Landscape As Black Friday extends into early December, downtime is likely to be minimal before the Christmas buying frenzy kicks in – and this creates both opportunities and challenges. Our experts recommend you look to: ### 1. Sustaining momentum You’ll need to keep your brand visible and relevant, maintaining your presence throughout December to capitalise on steady consumer demand. ### 2. Generating targeted engagement Yes, broad promotional periods drive volume, and that’s great – but combining a wider footfall with tailored campaigns designed for niche audiences can deliver higher returns. ### 3. Staying as agile as possible A late Black Friday means Sellers need to seamlessly shift from one phase of promotions to the next without missing a beat, so agility is crucial. How do you stay so agile? We’ve said it before (and will say it again), but accurate, real-time data is the key. And if you’ve been caught out this year? Make the most of what you can and simply dust off, learn from your challenges and build a stronger foundation for next time. ## The Bottom Line This year’s peak trading season isn’t being driven by big events like Black Friday, it’s a strategic interplay of promotions across an extended November-December period – and it’s likely to stay this way for the foreseeable. Sellers who adapt to this new rhythm – focusing on agility, value and consistent engagement – will be best positioned to close their Q4 sales on a high note. With our commitment to commercial clarity, rigour and vision, our expert team is perfectly placed to help your brand thrive – no matter how the marketplace landscape twists and turns. Ready to transform your Amazon approach? [Let’s chat](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Vendor Negotiations Talks](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-vendor-negotiations-talks/) **Published:** November 28, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Vendor negotiations are here. Learn expert strategies to protect your brand, optimise margins, and grow. **Content:** It’s that time of year – Vendor negotiations are here, marking what can be one of the most high-pressure periods of the calendar for many. But don’t worry, because we’ve got just what you need… From November to February, Vendor Managers are laser-focused on securing increased investment, internal stakeholders are equally focused on improving margins – and add in the looming expectation that Q4 should deliver record-breaking results? It’s easy to see why navigating these conversations can feel like you’re walking a tightrope. But the good news is that, with the right strategy, you can come out of these negotiations with your margins intact, your brand protected and your long-term growth safeguarded. ## Are you ready for the negotiation table? Whether you’re a seasoned Amazon Vendor or preparing for your first round of annual terms, thorough preparation is non-negotiable. Successful Vendor negotiations don’t just happen by chance – they’re the result of clear data, a well-thought-out plan and strong alignment within your team. Some quick tips from [our experts?](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ### 1. Know your numbers Come armed with data that demonstrates your value to Amazon, from sales performance to operational excellence. ### 2. Plan, plan, plan… Map out each stage of the negotiation, from initial offers to escalation routes. This ensures you’re never caught off guard. ### 4. Educate your stakeholders Make sure your internal teams understand Amazon’s goals and negotiation tactics, so they can set realistic expectations and align with your overall strategies. ### 5. Be patient It’s not a race. Take the time to assess everything that’s put to you fully. ### 6. Build strong relationships It’s well worth the time to develop trust between Amazon’s team and yours. ### 7. Don’t be scared to escalate When things aren’t going your way? Know when to escalate if terms aren’t going in your favour. ## Daunted? You don’t have to do it alone At Venture Forge, we understand the complexities of Vendor negotiations. So last month, we brought together a panel of experts for an insightful webinar designed to help you protect your brand and drive success – one which you can watch on demand now. [**WATCH ON DEMAND**](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement) ## What will you learn? You’ll get: - Expert insights from industry leaders, as they share best practices for negotiating and enforcing terms with Amazon. - Proven strategies to ensure Amazon’s compliance with your negotiated terms, and to reduce risks and safeguard profitability. - Live Q&A wisdom, with answers to real-world challenges conducted at the end of the session. The session was led by Venture Forge’s own CEO Andrew Banks, alongside our new Head of Vendor Services Travis Chappell, Tom Johnson from Cosatto, and Chris Khoo, Director of Khoo Commerce – bringing you years of collective experience in managing successful Amazon partnerships. ## And if you need more help? Negotiating with Amazon is a complex process, but it’s also an opportunity to strengthen your business, protect your brand and lay the groundwork for a successful year ahead. Our specialist Vendor team are the experts in turning negotiation stress into strategic success. To enlist their help to master your Vendor terms, [get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) ## Useful Links - [Watch on demand – Navigating Negotiations: From Negotiation to Government and Enforcement](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/navigating-negotiations-from-negotiation-to-governance-and-enforcement?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Watch on demand – Amazon Vendor Mastery: Winning Strategies for Marketplace Success](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazon-vendor-mastery-winning-strategies-for-marketplace-success?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [The Marketplace Awards 2025: Celebrating Success](https://venture-forge.com/blog/the-marketplace-awards-2025-celebrating-success/) **Published:** December 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** The Marketplace Awards return, bigger, better, and celebrating multi-channel eCommerce success. Get involved! **Content:** We’re thrilled to announce that The Marketplace Awards is back for 2025—and this year, we’re taking things to a whole new level! Now in its third year, The Marketplace Awards shines a spotlight on the brands, sellers and innovators driving the evolution of multi-channel retail. With a focus on integrity and excellence, each award is judged by seasoned industry experts, ensuring a transparent and credible process that celebrates the very best in the marketplace community. But this year? We’ve gone bigger and better than ever before… More attendees, more marketplaces and more categories – plus a bigger venue for bigger celebrations – mean we’ll be shining an even wider spotlight on eComm success and applauding innovation, leadership and achievements in a way that sets the standard for recognising marketplace excellence. ## So what’s new for 2025? - More marketplaces – it’s not just Amazon anymore, now we’ll be celebrating achievements across the entire industry, including platforms like eBay, Etsy, B&Q and more. - More categories – so that, from brands to leaders to agencies, we can laud the innovators driving the industry forward. - More opportunities – for everyone involved to grow, connect and shine. ## And this time, it’s Agency-independent… Now that The Marketplace Awards has found its footing, Venture Forge is taking a step back as the sole organiser – instead, we’re working with a collaborative group of leading agency partners to ensure even greater inclusivity and scale. ## Want to learn more? The Marketplace Awards 2025 are shaping up to be a game-changing event for the retail and marketplace world – are you ready to be part of it? Whether you’d love to enter your brand for an Award or are interested in partnering with the event, you’ll find all the info you need on our brand-new website! [Click here](https://themarketplaceawards.com/) to visit The Marketplace Awards website. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon’s AI Tools: Boost Xmas Sales and Brand Visibility](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazons-ai-tools-boost-xmas-sales-and-brand-visibility/) **Published:** December 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon’s AI tools are transforming Xmas shopping. Learn how to optimise listings for better conversions. **Content:** Amazon’s latest AI tools are making Xmas shopping faster and easier than ever for customers this year, with features like Rufus (the conversational shopping assistant), AI Shopping Guides and Amazon Lens helping shoppers find the perfect gifts with less effort – and there are opportunities for brands here too… Because while yes, these tools are designed to simplify the customer experience, there’s plenty of potential for those who know how to take advantage. By optimising your listings for Amazon’s AI, your brand can improve visibility, engage potential customers more effectively and boost conversions through this critical sales period. But how? We asked our award-winning experts and this is what they said… ## Optimise for AI Shopping Guides By highlighting key product features, explaining technical terms and consolidating customer-friendly information, Amazon’s AI Shopping Guides are designed to help buyers make confident decisions. Make sure your brand is featured at its best by: - Making product descriptions clear and concise, keeping your product benefits front and centre and avoiding jargon (unless it’s absolutely necessary, in which case you should team it with simple explanations). - Emphasise your products’ key features in bullet points – AI prioritises the most relevant details, so this format makes the right content easy to extract. - Leverage your customer reviews, because positive reviews with specific details about your product’s features or benefits can influence how your product is surfaced in AI guides. If, for some unknown reason, you’re not proactively seeking reviews from happy customers, now’s the time to start. ## Be ready for Visual Shopping with Amazon Lens Now Amazon Lens is here to help shoppers search by scanning barcodes, sharing screenshots and snapping photos, your brand needs to be capitalising on the possibilities by making your listings as visually appealing and relevant as possible. Here’s how… - Only use high-quality images, showcase your product from multiple angles and include close-ups of important details. - Add alt text to your images, because it helps Amazon’s AI better understand what you’re showing – and that increases the chances your product/s will surface in visual searches. - Focus on standout packaging or design features – products with distinctive visuals are more likely to catch a customer’s eye in an AI-powered result. ## Tailor your listings for Rufus and Voice Search Amazon’s conversational shopping assistant, Rufus, helps customers find tailored recommendations quickly – for brands? This means you need to be optimising your listings for natural language queries. What to do… - Build in conversational keywords, using phrases shoppers are likely to say, like “best gift for a tech lover” or “great stocking stuffer”. - Focus on intent-driven language, including terms that reflect buying motivations, like “durable”, “easy-to-use” or “gift-ready.” - Cover FAQs in your listing – begin by anticipating customer questions and continue by going through your reviews and answering queries, clearing confusion and tackling any issues directly within your content. ## The Bottom Line AI is changing how customers shop – and brands who optimise their listings to align with these tools can gain a serious competitive edge, not just this Christmas but far into 2025 and beyond. From crafting clearer descriptions and using high-quality visuals to tailoring your content for voice and visual search, these small adjustments have the potential to drive big returns in an increasingly AI-powered marketplace. Need help to get your listings AI-ready? [Let’s chat](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) about how our award-winning experts can help you thrive this holiday season and beyond. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Connect in 2025: Will It Transform Customer Service?](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-connect-in-2025-will-it-transform-customer-service/) **Published:** December 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon Connect’s AI-powered updates promise smarter customer service. Learn how to leverage them effectively. **Content:** Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) have announced powerful new generative AI features for Amazon Connect, the cloud-based contact centre solution – innovations that promise to redefine how organisations handle customer service. As with all things, there are clear benefits to brands – and potential challenges. Dive deeper with us… These new features are designed to make interactions more personalised, efficient and impactful – with lower operational costs as an added benefit. But, while these updates bring plenty of good news for brands, our experts have highlighted some key considerations – here’s what’s new; and what to watch out for. ## AI-Powered Personalisation One of the standout updates is AI-powered segmentation, which allows brands to identify and proactively engage customer groups based on real-time and historical data. This feature enables personalised outreach that anticipates customer needs and ensures timely, relevant communications – for example, say Amazon, an airline could use this tool to identify frequent flyers delayed by several hours and offer them priority rebooking, lounge access or tailored compensation based on loyalty status and past travel patterns. ### What this means for you Proactive problem-solving helps you address customer pain points before they escalate. You can streamline and simplify your outbound communication with conversational commands and automated customer segmentation. ### What to watch out for - Data accuracy risks, because good personalisation relies on clean, accurate data. Misaligned or outdated customer information can lead to irrelevant or incorrect outreach – and that has the potential to damage your customer relationship and trust. - Compliance challenges, because proactive outreach legally has to adhere to data privacy regulations like GDPR, and the onus is on you to ensure your data usage and segmentation practices meet legal requirements. ## Generative AI for Self-Service The new capabilities of Amazon Q in Connect bring a dynamic layer of generative AI to self-service interactions, where customers can receive tailored responses, proactive recommendations and personalised assistance – without the need for human intervention. In another example from Amazon, when that stranded customer asks about rebooking options for their flight, Amazon Connect can analyse their frequent flyer status, ticket details and airline policies to offer a personalised solution in seconds. And, if needed, the system ensures a smooth handoff to a live agent – and shares all the relevant context to eliminate repetitive explanations. ### What this means for you - Improved efficiency, as you reduce agent workloads with self-service options that resolve routine queries. - Better customer experiences that delight, with quick, personalised solutions tailored to customer needs. ### What to watch out for: - An overreliance on AI – because, while AI-powered tools can handle routine enquiries effectively, they can struggle with complex or emotionally sensitive situations. Ensuring smooth escalation to your skilled agents is essential. - The potential for errors, because the accuracy of Generative AI depends on the quality of its training data. That means you’ll need to monitor performance and deploy AI guardrails to prevent inappropriate or incorrect responses. ## Tools for Managers Amazon Connect’s new AI-powered evaluations and intelligent contact categorisation tools have been designed to help managers oversee customer service operations more efficiently – streamlining training and identifying service gaps by automating 100% of agent evaluations and providing actionable insights. Amazon example – the system might flag an interaction as “lacking empathy during a sensitive moment,” enabling targeted coaching. And managers can use natural language prompts to categorise contacts, uncover call trends and improve service quality. ### What this means for you - Actionable insights: Identify and address service gaps faster with comprehensive analytics. - Enhanced training: Build stronger teams with focused coaching based on real feedback. ### What to watch out for: - Automated performance evaluations may raise concerns about fairness and accuracy among your staff, so it’s key to keep communication transparent and explain exactly how the tools are being used and their benefits. - More overreliance because, while the tools are powerful, depending on AI alone to guide your training and evaluation? You risk missing all the nuances of human interaction. ## The Bottom Line Amazon Connect’s generative AI capabilities open exciting new possibilities for improving customer service, but they come with responsibilities. It’s key that brands: - Balance automation with human oversight, because Generative AI is a tool – not a replacement for skilled human judgement. - Monitor AI outputs regularly to ensure quality and compliance. - Stay flexible, because both customer expectations and AI capabilities evolve rapidly – a quickly adaptable strategy will help your brand stay ahead. At Venture Forge, our expert team helps brands navigate complex tools like Amazon Connect to maximise their impact while minimising their risks. Ready to explore how AI might transform your Amazon strategies? [Get in touch today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Black Friday & Cyber Monday: Amazon’s Biggest Event Yet](https://venture-forge.com/blog/black-friday-cyber-monday-amazons-biggest-event-yet/) **Published:** December 16, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Black Friday/Cyber Monday remains Amazon’s top event, driving record-breaking sales, orders, and growth. **Content:** In our last update, we talked about how Black Friday 2024’s later placement in the calendar offered Sellers a unique opportunity to sustain momentum through November and into December – and now we’ve had time to crunch the numbers properly? They speak for themselves… Our award-winning team have conducted their annual analysis of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) Weekend and, as shared on LinkedIn by [our CEO, Andrew Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app), this sales period didn’t just reaffirm its place as the highlight of the retail calendar with record-breaking results for Amazon – it also delivered unprecedented growth for Amazon brands. ## The stats say… Here’s what the data revealed from over £135m revenue across brands and categories: ### Year-on-Year (2023 vs 2024) - Sales Growth was up +54.82% - Orders Growth was up +22.46% - Average Order Value (AOV) was up +26.42% And it also outperformed both Prime Day and October Prime Deals Days across key metrics: ### Vs Prime Day 2024 - Sales Growth was up +19.24% - Orders Growth was up +47.85% - Average Order Value (AOV) was down -19.56% ### Vs October Prime Deal Days - Sales Growth was up +39.36% - Orders Growth was up +51.82% - Average Order Value (AOV) was down -14.44% And, while Prime Day and October Prime Deal Days maintained a higher AOV, BFCM took the crown in both sales and orders, proving its unmatched, volume-driven power and cementing it as the ultimate Amazon event. ## What this means for the future, Amazon Sellers The late Black Friday date extended the sales season and enabled brands to align promotional efforts with evolving shopping behaviors. The result? A perfect storm of sustained consumer demand, higher-value transactions and unparalleled volume. To capitalise on this year’s lessons, look to: - Volume-Driven campaigns – because, with orders growing by over 22% year-on-year, volume-focused strategies clearly deliver during this period. Consider bundling or discounted upsells to maximise basket sizes. - Target high-value customers – because the 26% increase in YOY AOV says shoppers are spending more per transaction, so leverage this trend with premium product placements and well-timed Sponsored Ads. - Carry momentum into December – because, with ever-decreasing downtime between Black Friday and Christmas offers, brands need to focus on staying visible and relevant, using targeted advertising and tailored promotions to maintain engagement through the season. ## The Bottom Line 2024’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday Weekend wasn’t just a peak – it was a paradigm shift in how Q4 unfolds on Amazon. The combination of late-season timing, extended sales momentum and record-breaking performance proves that the evolving retail calendar offers more opportunities than ever – if your brand adapts to meet them. Are you ready to make 2025 even bigger? [Let’s chat about how we can bring our commercial clarity, rigour and vision](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) to refine your strategy, optimise your campaigns and take your Amazon success to the next level. **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon Seller & Vendor News: Key Updates for December](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-seller-vendor-news-key-updates-for-december/) **Published:** December 18, 2024 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon 2024: Lessons, strategies, and AI-driven insights for maximising sales success in the new year. **Content:** Welcome to our end-of-year Amazon roundup… Well, here we are in December again and it’s safe to say that 2024 has been quite the year in the Amazon world! From blockbuster sales events to squeezed margins and deleted Vendor accounts – and not forgetting a tsunami-sized wave of AI innovations – there’s been so much change afoot it’s been hard to keep track, even for those of us who live and breathe the marketplace. So, to round off this 12-month rollercoaster, we’re dedicating our last mini-blog of the year to showcasing the things we think will be most important to Amazon brands as we move into 2025. And, wherever relevant, we’ve popped in links to helpful stuff we’ve shared (or will be sharing) so you’re fully equipped with all the marketplace know-how you need to begin the New Year with a bang! ## But first – kickstart your 2025 by joining us for our first webinar We’ll let the Christmas sales dust settle for you before we run our first webinar of 2025 – but it’s one you definitely won’t want to miss! Join us at 10am on Thursday January 30th, when we’ll be looking at “2024 in Review: Lessons learned and Strategies for a profitable 2025”. In this hour-long session, our expert team will be reflecting on the past year and providing actionable insights to help your brand thrive – because this year’s trends have made one thing abundantly clear: success on Amazon belongs to those who plan proactively and adapt dynamically. [**REGISTER NOW**](http://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/2024-in-review-lessons-learned-and-strategies-for-a-profitable-2025?) On with the round up! ## 1. Lessons from 2024 – The Mega Potential of Amazon Events 2024 saw Amazon’s major sales events – Prime Day, October Prime Deals Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday – break records yet again, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt just how critical they are in driving volume and revenue for brands. Let’s take Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2024 as an example: - Sales Growth: +54.82% YoY - Orders Growth: +22.46% YoY - Average Order Value: +26.42% YoY Wow. For Amazon brands, these figures demonstrate the crucial importance of being fully prepared – not just for the events themselves but for the extended shopping periods that surround them. ### What Changed in 2024? But 2024 has not exactly been a normal year, with the pattern of the Q4 sales window played around with like never before. We saw: - An early start, as October Prime Deals Days kicked off Q4 momentum and ongoing promotions drove increased traffic well ahead of Black Friday. - An extended shopping window, as Black Friday/Cyber Monday stretched into December, offering opportunities to sustain sales beyond the traditional peak weekend. - The greatest successes coming from data-driven campaigns, as brands that leveraged data most effectively – like tracking customer behaviour and demand trends – reaped the biggest rewards. ### What does this mean for 2025? Our expert take for the New Year? To maximise your brand’s sales success over these big events, you need to: - Develop your strategies early (and that includes deciding whether discounting is for you), considering all the options – from direct deals to bundling and voucher promotions – to target as many different customer segments as you can. - Strategise to boost your visibility, even if you’re not participating in the events directly, to leverage all that high-intent traffic. - Always, always, always use your post-event data to refine your approach and carry momentum into the months that follow. ### Resources to Revisit: Useful insights to get you thinking? Watch these on-demand: - [Amazon’s Peak Playbook: Translating Black Friday and Cyber Monday Wins Into Long-Term Gains](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/amazons-peak-playbook-translating-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-wins-into-long-term-gains?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Mastering Retail Readiness and Effective Advertising for Peak Season](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/mastering-retail-readiness-and-effective-advertising?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) Want our award-winning team’s commercial clarity, rigour and vision on your side for 2025? [Let’s chat](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## 2. Our favourite new tools for Amazon Ads Supremacy We shared our [key takeaways from Amazon Ads Unboxed](https://venture-forge.com/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/) back in October – and now, having had the time to have digested what we learned a little more, here are our pick of the portfolio: ### What was new for 2024? Amazon rolled out a whole host of powerful advertising tools in 2024, all promoted with the potential to give brands greater control, efficiency and ROI across their ad campaigns. ### Performance+ Amazon’s new automated ad creation tool, Performance+ is billed as enabling brands to set up campaigns in as little as four clicks – and Amazon has paired this feature with a bold promise: the potential to improve Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) by up to 51%. ### Why we like it: - It’s a time-saver. The streamlined setup is designed to help brands launch campaigns faster, freeing up your resources for other strategic planning. - It optimises efficiently, using automation to manage bids and placements dynamically, and helping you achieve better cost efficiency with less manual effort. ### But watch out for: - Customisation options are limited – it’s a great tool for speed and efficiency, but you might find it less suitable for campaigns that call for highly tailored messaging or advanced creative strategies. - Its success is heavily reliant on the quality of the data you put in – like all automated tools. Inaccurate or incomplete data can result in imperfect campaign performances. ### The upgraded Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Updates to AMC have brought deeper insights and custom targeting, and its expansion to include Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands could be a game-changer for many. ### We like the… - Custom audiences – the ability to segment and retarget customers based on specific behaviours, such as cart abandoners, browsing history or purchase patterns? Perfect for crafting more highly personalised ads. - Audience bid boosting – now we can adjust bids for custom audience segments, from new shoppers to those who’ve seen streaming TV ads. This helps increase engagement by effectively reaching target audiences and enhancing conversion potential. - The new Ads Data Manager, which makes first-party data integration across Amazon’s advertising ecosystem easier than ever before, with simpler conversion attribution, audience targeting and campaign optimisation. ### But watch out for: - The complexity. Mastering AMC’s advanced features is a whole new learning curve and you might need dedicated expertise or expert training\* to unlock their full potential. - It can be resource-intensive – building custom audiences and diving into detailed analytics take time, making this tool better suited for brands with resources to invest in its capabilities. Want expert help to make the most of AMC? [Speak to our award-winning Ads Team today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ### New B2B Bid Modifiers In trials, the new B2B Bid Modifiers were really rather impressive, delivering a threefold increase in Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) and a 12% boost in sales… ### Why we like it - We’re always big fans of anything that helps us target with more precision. With these modifiers, B2B brands can segment their campaigns more effectively so that their ads reach the right decision-makers. - A promise of higher returns? Yes please. A more targeted approach like this means B2B brands can allocate their budgets more effectively, driving higher revenue and improved RoAS. - And B2B opportunities are always expanding. With more businesses relying on Amazon for procurement than ever before, this tool helps marketplace brands tap into a growing customer base. ### Watch out for… - They’re designed for B2B. While shown to be effective for brands targeting businesses, they might add no value if your audience is purely consumer-based. - The cost of competition? As more B2B brands adopt this feature, the cost of bids for B2B keywords might increase – so keep a close eye on your spending, and make budget adjustments as needed. ### Our expert tips to get the most out of these Amazon Ads tools? 1. Start simple. Tools like Performance+ are ideal if you’re looking for an efficient and easy way to launch campaigns, but you need to constantly monitor and adjust performance as needed. 2. Invest in expertise. When it comes to advanced features like AMC? It’s worth considering whether you need to work with an expert partner to leverage its full capabilities. 3. Always evaluate the fit for you. Not every tool will suit every brand – always assess your business needs and audience before you commit resources to a new feature. Our award-winning Amazon Ads experts are on hand to help you drive sales success, building high-performing strategies and delivering them at scale. Learn more today. ### Useful Links - [Our expert’s lowdown on Amazon Ads Unboxed 2024](https://venture-forge.com/key-takeaways-from-the-amazon-ads-unboxed-2024-event-in-austin/) ## 3. The Rise and Rise of AI AI has really taken centre stage this year, reshaping almost every facet of the Amazon experience. From AI Shopping Guides and Amazon Lens to generative AI tools like Amazon Connect, the shift toward automation is undeniable… but what newness did 2024 bring? ### For Customers Tools like Rufus and AI Shopping Guides came to simplify decision-making by offering personalised recommendations and breaking down complex product features, while visual tools like Amazon Lens are designed to make it easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. ### For Brands Generative AI has become a key player in operations and advertising this year. Amazon Connect, for example, is aimed at helping brands deliver a more proactive customer service experience, automate routine tasks and streamline agent workflows—all while reducing costs. ***For more on these, including how you can make the most out of consumer-focused and brand-focused AI tools? Read this*** ### For Advertising We’ve touched on these above, but AI-powered features like Performance+ and AMC are here to help brands optimise campaigns more effectively than ever. Custom audience targeting, optimal frequency tools and multi-touch attribution promise to provide deeper insights into customer behaviour, which in turn will enable smarter ad spend. ### And what does this mean in 2025? There’s nothing optional about Amazon AI anymore – but to get the best results for your brand? You have to implement them effectively, feed the AI the best quality data you can and maintain human oversight at all times. ### Our 3 non-negotiables for Amazon AI use: - Data quality is absolutely crucial to avoid inaccurate or irrelevant results and poor performance. - To maintain customer trust? Make sure to balance automation with personal touches – customers like human contact. - It’s fundamental you stay agile at all times so your brand can adapt quickly to the rapid evolution of AI capabilities – and stay ahead of the competition. ## 4. If we were to share one lesson from 2024 right now? It all comes down to data… This year’s been one of challenges, with Amazon itself driving hard to increase its profitability and passing pressure onto Sellers and Vendors. For many brands, this has meant tighter margins and called for a really heightened focus on efficiency and profitability – while at the same time, customer expectations have continued to evolve, with savvy shoppers looking not just for competitive pricing, but also value, convenience and relevance. And faced with this kind of dual front – meeting customer needs while maintaining profitability? Making data-driven decisions, based on [the most accurate, real-time data](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) and actionable insights gained from it, is more important than ever. ## Key takeaways ### Guide Every Aspect of Your Strategy with Data From deciding when to activate a discount to pinpointing which of your products resonate most with your customers, put data at the heart of your decision-making process for 2025 and beyond. [Read now – our in-depth dive into the critical importance of accurate, real-time data](https://venture-forge.com/the-critical-importance-of-accurate-real-time-amazon-data/) ### Equip your Team with the right tools and training To turn insights into growth opportunities, your team needs access to the right tools – and the expertise to use them effectively. Worthwhile investments? Technology that provides deeper insights, fostering a data-driven culture through training or [specialist partnerships](https://venture-forge.com/get-in-touch/) and automating where you can to reduce manual workloads and increase efficiency. [We’re covering building the perfect team for Amazon Excellence in our February webinar – save your seat here](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/talent-tactics-building-and-structuring-teams-for-amazon-excellence?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) ### Be prepared to act quickly The pace of change on Amazon is relentless – trends emerge and shift rapidly, and your brand needs to be agile enough to respond. How? Monitor your performance daily, keeping an eye on key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer reviews. Regularly experiment with different pricing, ad copy and/or promotional strategies to see what works and use your data not only to react, but to predict. By identifying emerging customer preferences or competitive threats early, you can pivot your strategy before others catch on. Data’s more than a tool; it’s a competitive advantage – and that’s why our commercial clarity, rigour and vision matter! [To harness them for your Amazon brand in 2025, get in touch today.](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ### [Amazon data is gold - but only if you know how to mine it](https://venture-forge.com/blog/amazon-data-is-gold-but-only-if-you-know-how-to-mine-it/) **Published:** March 28, 2025 **Author:** Whitney Griffiths **Excerpt:** Amazon data holds real power, but only if your brand knows how to analyse, interpret, and act on it. **Content:** If you want to win on Amazon, you don’t just need the best data – you need to know how to use it to give your brand the edge. Here are some top tips from our experts… Here at Venture Forge, our award-winning team has always accessed the most accurate, real-time data to underpin the strategies we build for brands because we know exactly how critical the right information is for absolutely everything Amazon – from optimising events like Prime Day and Black Friday to negotiating better Vendor terms or choosing which products to push. So when our CEO Andrew Banks [shared a post on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-banks-amazon_data-is-gold-but-only-if-you-know-how-to-activity-7298363804101345280-0USM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAACHBa84Bi1gbHj4JSwqeds_0BUHJlIJnw3k) about the power of turning insight into foresight? We knew we had to unpack it further. Here’s our team’s take on how smart brands can mine the full value of data to gain the edge in Amazon’s constantly evolving, continually competitive landscape… ## Don’t just track past performance – use it to spot what’s next Every dataset tells a story, and not just about what’s already happened. If you go beyond past performance to analyse metrics like behavioural trends, search intent and category movement, you’ll find you begin spotting patterns before they become headlines and seeing shifts before they make their move – opening windows of opportunity for your brand to take advantage of. ## Are your customers already giving you the answers you need? Your reviews are likely to be full of invaluable, usable insights. From keyword trends to product pain points and emerging wants, don’t ignore the power of feedback from your consumers to fuel your product, content and advertising strategies – a simple trick that far too many brands miss. ## Keep your pricing sharp Your pricing strategy should be as dynamic as Amazon itself – and it’s good data that can drive that for you. Whether it’s staying agile in the face of competitor movements or rapid responses to fluctuations in buyer demand, make sure your optimisation is data-led and always-on. ## Make your content work harder Your traffic and conversion data can give you instant signals about what’s working and what’s not when it comes to your product listings. Continual optimisation is what separates the good brands from the great, so make sure your team is continuously testing different versions of images, A+ content and product copy – and using the results to improve visibility and conversions all the time. ## Data isn’t just for one team Your brand’s Amazon performance impacts (and is impacted by) multiple teams, so make sure your marketing, sales, customer service and operations teams are all in the loop. After all, aligning around shared data results in smarter decision-making and better outcomes across the board. ## The Bottom Line It’s our experience that the Amazon brands who win big are the ones who treat their data as a competitive weapon – not just a reporting function. Whatever strategic decisions your team is making – from scaling your ad strategy to renegotiating Vendor terms or lining up your next bestsellers – accessing the most recent and accurate data and interpreting it with skill is the smartest way we know to unlocking powerful, sustainable growth on the marketplace. Need expert help to transform your data into growth? Our team is on hand to help you unlock your brand’s real Amazon potential – [contact us today](https://venture-forge.com/contact/). ## Useful Links - [Follow our CEO, Andrew Banks, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-banks-amazon?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app) - [Watch our webinar on demand: The Power of Accurate, Real Time Amazon Data](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/the-power-of-accurate-amazon-data?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Watch our webinar on demand: Strategies for Squeezing Profits from your Amazon Business](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/margin-mastery-strategies-for-squeezing-profits-from-your-amazon-business?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) - [Watch our webinar on demand: Strategic Product Selection for Increased Profits](https://app.livestorm.co/venture-forge/maximise-your-amazon-potential-strategic-product-selection-for-increased-profits?utm_source=Livestorm+company+page) **Categories:** Amazon News --- ## Pages ### [Home](https://venture-forge.com/) **Published:** May 31, 2022 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Amazon expertise, commercial clarity and proven results for Seller and Vendor brands ready to grow profitably. --- ### [Terms of Use](https://venture-forge.com/terms-of-use/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Review the Terms of Use for Venture Forge, covering website access, usage, disclaimers and legal governance. --- ### [Contact Confirmation](https://venture-forge.com/contact/contact-thanks/) **Published:** July 13, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Thanks for getting in touch. Our Amazon team will reply soon to help your brand grow and perform. --- ### [Contact](https://venture-forge.com/contact/) **Published:** May 31, 2022 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Get in touch with Venture Forge to discuss your Amazon strategy, operations or advertising goals. --- ### [About](https://venture-forge.com/about-us/) **Published:** May 31, 2022 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Built for mid-sized and enterprise brands, Venture Forge brings commercial clarity, strategy and profit to Amazon. --- ### [The Amazon Content Framework Confirmation](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/the-amazon-content-framework-confirmation/) **Published:** June 5, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Access your Amazon Content Framework and identify where content may be limiting conversion, ad efficiency and commercial performance. --- ### [Cheeky Rascals](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/cheeky-rascals/) **Published:** June 17, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Venture Forge helped Cheeky Rascals strengthen visibility, conversion and sales across a complex multi brand Amazon portfolio. --- ### [Glen Dimplex](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/glen-dimplex/) **Published:** June 12, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** How Venture Forge helped Glen Dimplex capture Q4 demand and increase Amazon sales by 108%. --- ### [The Amazon Content Prioritisation Framework For Established Brands](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/the-amazon-content-prioritisation-framework-for-established-brands/) **Published:** June 5, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover smarter Amazon Vendor negotiation strategies with Venture Forge’s AVN Playbook to protect profit and performance. --- ### [The AVN Playbook: Smarter Strategies for Amazon Vendor Negotiations](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook/) **Published:** October 16, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover smarter Amazon Vendor negotiation strategies with Venture Forge’s AVN Playbook to protect profit and performance. --- ### [AVN Playbook Confirmation](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/avn-playbook-download/) **Published:** November 7, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Access your AVN Playbook to strengthen Amazon profitability with expert strategies, practical frameworks, and Vendor negotiation insights. --- ### [Thermos](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/thermos/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Thermos UK strengthened its Amazon performance through brand protection, improved account control and profitable year-on-year growth across the Venture Forge-managed range. --- ### [Cranswick](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/cranswick/) **Published:** July 18, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover how Cranswick achieved 81% sales growth and 2.3x repeat customers across two pet brands on Amazon. --- ### [For Vendors](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-vendor/) **Published:** April 25, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** We help Vendor brands grow profitably on Amazon with strategy, negotiation support, chargeback reduction and operational clarity. --- ### [Content Lab](https://venture-forge.com/content-lab/) **Published:** February 9, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Performance-led Amazon content for brands at scale, built to lift conversion, visibility and retail media efficiency consistently. --- ### [Designer Fragrances](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/designer-fragrances/) **Published:** November 6, 2024 **Author:** admin --- ### [Pronto Seed DSP](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/pronto-seed-dsp/) **Published:** July 21, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pronto Seed achieved seasonal Amazon growth through product range strategy, peak-season execution and performance uplift. --- ### [Landing Pages](https://venture-forge.com/landing-pages/) **Published:** November 3, 2025 **Author:** admin --- ### [American Golf](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/american-golf/) **Published:** September 4, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pronto Seed achieved seasonal Amazon growth through product range strategy, peak-season execution and performance uplift. --- ### [Instant Pot Brands](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/instant-pot-brands/) **Published:** August 19, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** A scalable Amazon content strategy helped Instant Pot Brands boost visibility, conversion and growth across five EU markets. --- ### [Brand Licensing](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-brand-licensing/) **Published:** August 22, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Align licensors and licensees with a unified Amazon strategy that protects brand equity, drives control, and delivers growth. --- ### [Amazon DSP](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-dsp/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands scale with Amazon DSP through audience targeting, retargeting, brand awareness and programmatic ad strategy. --- ### [Sponsored Display](https://venture-forge.com/services/sponsored-display/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** We help brands retarget and convert customers on Amazon using Sponsored Display and lower-funnel ad strategies. --- ### [Sponsored Brands](https://venture-forge.com/services/sponsored-brands/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands drive visibility and performance on Amazon with Sponsored Brands and full-funnel ad strategy. --- ### [Sponsored Products](https://venture-forge.com/services/sponsored-products/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping UK brands grow on Amazon through Sponsored Products Ads, PPC strategy, conversion optimisation and campaign performance. --- ### [Terms Negotiation](https://venture-forge.com/services/terms-negotiation/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** We help Vendor brands navigate Amazon negotiations to protect margins, improve terms and manage commercial pressure effectively. --- ### [Vendor Operations](https://venture-forge.com/services/vendor-operations/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping Vendor brands optimise Amazon operations to improve margin, reduce chargebacks and scale with supply chain clarity. --- ### [Analytics and Reporting](https://venture-forge.com/services/analytics-and-reporting/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands improve Amazon performance through analytics, dashboards, KPI tracking and marketplace reporting strategy. --- ### [Chargeback Recovery](https://venture-forge.com/services/chargeback-recovery/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping Vendor brands recover chargebacks, protect profit and fix operational compliance issues with Amazon at the source. --- ### [Conversion Rate Optimisation](https://venture-forge.com/services/conversion-rate-optimisation/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands improve Amazon conversion rates with better listings, CRO strategy, creative, and product page performance. --- ### [International Expansion](https://venture-forge.com/services/international-expansion/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands expand internationally on Amazon with strategy, localisation, fulfilment and growth planning across global markets. --- ### [Content](https://venture-forge.com/services/content/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** We help brands optimise Amazon content, improve A+ pages, and boost conversion with strategic copy and imagery. --- ### [Account Management](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-account-management/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin --- ### [Product Range Optimisation](https://venture-forge.com/services/product-range-optimisation/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin --- ### [Selling Model Optimisation](https://venture-forge.com/services/selling-model-optimisation/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands optimise their Amazon selling model: Seller, Vendor or Hybrid, for profit, growth and channel clarity. --- ### [Market Share Analysis](https://venture-forge.com/services/market-share-analysis/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands analyse Amazon market share, track competition and unlock opportunities through strategic performance benchmarking. --- ### [Amazon Strategy](https://venture-forge.com/services/amazon-strategy/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping brands grow on Amazon with strategic planning, performance insight and channel-specific execution across Seller and Vendor. --- ### [Paddington™](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/paddington/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover how Paddington achieved Amazon growth with tailored strategy, ads performance and content optimisation support. --- ### [Events](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-events/) **Published:** May 31, 2022 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Our Amazon events help brands learn, grow and scale through webinars, strategy sessions and expert roundtables. --- ### [Pronto Seed](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/pronto-seed/) **Published:** February 28, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pronto Seed achieved seasonal Amazon growth through product range strategy, peak-season execution and performance uplift. --- ### [Amazon Ads](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-advertising/) **Published:** April 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Helping UK brands scale profitably on Amazon with strategic ads, DSP, Sponsored campaigns and TACoS optimisation. --- ### [For Sellers](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-seller/) **Published:** April 25, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** We help UK Seller brands grow on Amazon with strategy, content, CRO and advertising focused on profit. --- ### [Kodak Batteries Germany](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/kodak-batteries-germany/) **Published:** November 6, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Kodak Batteries achieved Amazon Germany expansion through strategy, cross-border operations and performance-driven customer acquisition. --- ### [Kodak Batteries UK](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/kodak-batteries-uk/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Kodak Batteries UK achieved Amazon customer growth through repeat purchases, international expansion and ad performance improvements. --- ### [Bimson Power](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/bimson-power/) **Published:** November 6, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Bimson Power achieved Amazon international brand growth through strategy, marketplace expansion and improved commercial performance. --- ### [Trends UK](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/trends-uk/) **Published:** November 6, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover how Trends UK achieved Amazon toy brand growth through content, strategy and international marketplace expansion. --- ### [Case Studies](https://venture-forge.com/amazon-case-studies/) **Published:** April 25, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Explore real Amazon case studies showing how brands scaled revenue, improved performance and grew across Seller and Vendor. --- ### [Page Not Found](https://venture-forge.com/page-not-found/) **Published:** August 30, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** This page isn’t available. Browse our services or blog to find the Amazon support you’re looking for. --- ### [Blog](https://venture-forge.com/blog/) **Published:** June 25, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Read the latest Amazon insights, strategy advice, and updates for brands from the team at Venture Forge. --- ## Portfolio ### [Cheeky Rascals](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/cheeky-rascals/) **Published:** June 17, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Delivering triple-digit growth for American Golf with a data-driven Amazon strategy focused on scale, efficiency, and category leadership. **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Seller, Seller Mega Nav --- ### [Glen Dimplex](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/glen-dimplex/) **Published:** June 12, 2026 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Capturing peak Q4 demand and driving 108% Amazon sales growth across a seasonal product range. **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Vendor, Vendor Mega Nav --- ### [Instant Pot Brands](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/instant-pot-brands/) **Published:** August 19, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Scaling revenue, building loyalty and unlocking performance across two pet brands **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Vendor, Vendor Mega Nav --- ### [Thermos](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/thermos/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Thermos UK achieved vendor growth on Amazon through ads, strategy improvements and expansion across international marketplaces. **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Vendor, Vendor Mega Nav --- ### [Bimson Power](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/bimson-power/) **Published:** May 8, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Bimson Power achieved Amazon international brand growth through strategy, marketplace expansion and improved commercial performance. **Portfolio categories:** Advertising --- ### [Designer Fragrances](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/designer-fragrances/) **Published:** May 8, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Explore how Designer Fragrances achieved 120% YoY Amazon revenue growth, improved profitability, and scaled product expansion while maintaining tight control over advertising efficiency. **Portfolio categories:** Vendor --- ### [Trends UK](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/trends-uk/) **Published:** May 9, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover how Trends UK achieved Amazon toy brand growth through content, strategy and international marketplace expansion. **Portfolio categories:** Vendor --- ### [Kodak Batteries Germany](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/kodak-batteries-germany/) **Published:** May 9, 2024 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Kodak Batteries achieved Amazon Germany expansion through strategy, cross-border operations and performance-driven customer acquisition. **Portfolio categories:** Seller --- ### [Pronto Seed](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/pronto-seed/) **Published:** February 28, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pronto Seed achieved seasonal Amazon growth through product range strategy, peak-season execution and performance uplift. **Portfolio categories:** Advertising --- ### [Cranswick](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/cranswick/) **Published:** July 18, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Scaling revenue, building loyalty and unlocking performance across two pet brands **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Vendor --- ### [Pronto Seed DSP](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/pronto-seed-dsp/) **Published:** July 21, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Pronto Seed achieved seasonal Amazon growth through product range strategy, peak-season execution and performance uplift. **Portfolio categories:** Ads Mega Nav, Advertising, Homepage --- ### [American Golf](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/american-golf/) **Published:** October 20, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Delivering triple-digit growth for American Golf with a data-driven Amazon strategy focused on scale, efficiency, and category leadership. **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Seller, Seller Mega Nav --- ### [Paddington™](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/paddington/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Discover how Paddington achieved Amazon growth with tailored strategy, ads performance and content optimisation support. **Portfolio categories:** Ads Mega Nav, Advertising, Homepage --- ### [Kodak Batteries UK](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-item/kodak-batteries-uk/) **Published:** March 3, 2025 **Author:** admin **Excerpt:** Learn how Kodak UK achieved 27% sales growth, improved retention, and boosted profitability with Venture Forge. **Portfolio categories:** Homepage, Seller, Seller Mega Nav --- ## Categories ### [Amazon News](https://venture-forge.com/blog/category/amazon-news/) --- ## Portfolio categories ### [Homepage](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/homepage/) --- ### [Vendor Mega Nav](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/vendor-mega-nav/) --- ### [Seller Mega Nav](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/seller-mega-nav/) --- ### [Vendor](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/vendor/) --- ### [Seller](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/seller/) --- ### [Advertising](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/advertising/) --- ### [Ads Mega Nav](https://venture-forge.com/blog/portfolio-types/ads-mega-nav/) ---