What founders say
Why founders treat Amazon as retail rather than DTC, what actually moves rank, and the ad maths that lets the channel pay for itself.
“it's the keyword selection more than anything. Organic rank on your keyword is everything… we rank like number seven or eight on wellness shots. So we're on the first page.”
Rank first, ads second. Ads on Amazon are the mechanism for buying rank, not a standalone acquisition channel.
“my ROAS is sitting at like two point four right now… That's a fully functioning machine. That doesn't need me to touch it… I'm paying for all of my advertising with my sales on Amazon.”
Once ROAS clears the point where sales fund the spend, the channel stops competing for cash with the rest of the business. That is the threshold worth engineering toward.
“I really consider Amazon retail. I don't consider it direct to consumer. You're a store. You're a store. We're still paying wholesale.”
Framing Amazon as another retailer rather than as owned DTC changes how you price it, staff it and forecast it.
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“I would go into my local grocery stores or liquor stores and pretty much just pitch my product… we had so many places say yes, we had some places say no.”
Isabella Hoag, A.J. Calvin
Read the answers →1 founder · 2 answers“in the beginning we were selling our a single can wholesale for six dollars, and now we're selling retail for four ninety nine. So you can just imagine the trial and error it took.”
Isabella Hoag
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