Amazon Product Launch Strategy: Why Category Benchmarks Matter

Understanding the actions of top competitors is crucial, as this information should directly influence a product’s launch strategy. Frequently, brands launch products on Amazon without first completing the necessary groundwork to understand their category. After uploading listings, setting pricing, and running advertisements, brands often find themselves perplexed as to why their product fails to gain traction.

Generally, the product itself is not the issue; rather, the problem stems from a lack of market context. When a brand does not benchmark its offering against the category, it cannot determine if the product is competitively priced, well-positioned, or even relevant to current customer shopping habits.

Therefore, before any product launch, the process should begin with a detailed category analysis. This is more than a simple compliance step; it forms the essential foundation for a successful go-to-market strategy.

Key Areas To Investigate Include:

• Organic Competition: Identify the top 20 organic competitors for the main target keyword.
• Pricing Strategy: Research the average pricing for various formats and sizes within the category.
• Customer Feedback: A thorough review of the current products’ review counts and rating distributions is necessary.
• Fulfilment Methods: Examine how products are structured regarding fulfilment methods (e.g., FBA, FBM, SFP).
• Advertising Landscape: Consider the ad competition, including CPC levels and ACoS ranges.
• Listing Optimisation: It is also important to observe which titles, bullet formats, and imagery structures are most effective.
• Variation Strategies: Evaluate the use of variation listings by brands to enhance their market share.

These insights prompt the following critical questions:

First, is the product priced to compete, or will a higher price point require justification? Similarly, can a successful launch occur without existing reviews, or is a review generation plan necessary beforehand?

Next, consider the product’s format. Is it aligned with current category successes, or does the strategy need to challenge the norm with strong creative work and compelling messaging?

Finally, will the product listing stand out against the top ten competitors, or is the strategy reliant on customers digging deeper into the search results? This data provides more than just listing strategy. It informs launch pricing, advertising setup, creative priorities, and conversion expectations.

What Should New Products Have?

A new product does not necessarily need to imitate competitors; indeed, disruption requires a fresh approach. However, to disrupt a category successfully, a brand must first understand the existing baseline. Without this understanding, the product launch is merely a guess, and Amazon’s algorithm often punishes guesswork with poor visibility and wasted advertising spend.

Often, category benchmarking provides crucial insights that completely reframe launch plans. For example, the analysis might reveal that a brand is entering an already oversaturated segment, that the product is priced too high, or that it is being offered in a format the market simply isn’t demanding. This early insight is invaluable. This early insight prevents months of underperformance and enables a strategic pivot before significant damage occurs.

Launching without category benchmarking means a brand is creating a listing in a void. Ultimately, the brand must hope that the Amazon algorithm will recognise and reward this isolated effort. This approach is not something a specialist agency would endorse for clients. Therefore, it is a practice that brands should avoid.

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