Running Successful Ecommerce Promotions

I screwed over one of my top engineers when I was a Senior Manager at Amazon. He felt betrayed, found another job, and resigned. This is a dark spot on my career, so learn from my mistake. Here’s the story: I joined Amazon in April 2005. This engineer was a new graduate assigned to my team, which was a new team for a new project. Everyone on this new team was smart and talented, but this engineer was a top performer. Our project had a tight deadline, and he came to me and offered me a deal: he would do whatever was needed to ship the project if I made sure he was promoted as a result. Side note: This is a great piece of negotiation, and I encourage you to strike similar deals with your managers when you can. This engineer trusted me to follow through on the deal, but there was a problem. I had just come to Amazon from the startup world, where there was no formal promotion process. When we wanted to promote someone, we just gave them a new title and a raise. I had no understanding of Amazon's process, so I figured that when the project was over I would talk to my boss and get the engineer promoted. I never gave it another thought because in my mind it was as easy as that. The engineer kept his end of the deal, and the product shipped right around the time of Amazon's fall promotion cycle. The cycle came and went, and I could not get the engineer promoted. So, he left and told me straight up that it was because I did not follow through on his promotion. I am the bad guy in the story, and if I could change the past I would. But, for future managers and employees, here is what I learned. For Employees: 1) At large companies, it is common for new managers to not understand the promotion process. If you have a new manager, odds are it will slow your career progress. You can fight this by making sure they understand the complex process so that they can navigate it on your behalf. 2) Remember that your manager is a lot less focused on your career than you are. I meant no harm to my team member, but I was busy with the project and I was not a mature leader. His promotion was not top of mind for me because I thought my job was to ship software, not to grow the careers of my team members. I was incompetent but not malicious. 3) Make sure your manager really understands your expectations in a deal. This engineer expected to be promoted on a certain schedule. I was on board with promoting him, but I didn’t understand the specific timing he was looking for. For Managers: 1) Knowing the process matters! 2) Your employees cannot move up without your feedback and engagement. 3) Getting distracted from this element of your job has a direct, negative impact on your reports My mistakes cost my engineer his promotion and cost me a star team member. Fortunately, he has done very well at another large, famous company. I am glad my mistake did not get in the way of him having a successful career. Don't make my mistake! Comments on what else to do?

Should #Amazon vendors focus on price promotions in 2025? Deals are an effective lever to grow revenue on Amazon. But the required funding can quickly drain the profit margins of participating brands. So should you even run price promotions this year? Here's my take: 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱: » Avoid costly price promotions like Top Deals » Instead, run SnS or Coupon promotions to retain customers » Divert the promotional focus to slow-moving items » Shift investments to Amazon Advertising Driving a -profitable- portfolio mix will become the new benchmark for brands in 2025. TDLR; High margin & low price elasticity: avoid discounts ❌ High margin & high price elasticity: ideal for deals 🍾 Low margin & low price elasticity: discount only if overstock or EOL✋ Low margin & high price elasticity: discount to activate listings 🎯 --- What's your take on price promotions this year? Let me know in the comments! #amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

Most Amazon brands blow their budget at exactly the wrong time. Here's what I tell them: Sequence matters. Too many sellers invest in the wrong assets too early and pay for it later $$$ I will ALWAYS focus on these things first (fundamentals): → Perfect your individual listing quality → Build steady sales velocity → Stack reviews (social proof moves conversions) Only AFTER you've built this foundation do I invest in: 🔹 Dedicated Storefront Videos: Perfect for showcasing multiple, complementary products and boosting cross-sells. 🔹 Creator Partnerships: Amazon’s Creator Connections can work early, but your conversion rates will skyrocket once you have 100+ reviews not just 10. 🔹 Product Videos (Selective): → MUST-HAVE: Products that need demos (kitchen tools, furniture) → HIGHLY RECO: Beauty products showing application/results → NICE-TO-HAVE: Simple products like supplements Start by capturing ready-to-buy traffic. There's a massive pool of customers searching exact-match keywords right now. Focus there before you chase top-of-funnel brand awareness. Foundation first. Brand-building second. What stage is your brand at right now?

Inflation often forces businesses into a dilemma—raise prices and risk losing customers, or keep prices stable and shrink margins. But what if data could help strike the perfect balance? 🚀 Challenge: Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce platforms, noticed fluctuating customer retention rates and declining repeat purchases, especially during inflationary periods. Traditional deep-discount campaigns led to short-term sales spikes but failed to build long-term customer loyalty. 🔎 Solution: Data-Driven Discounting Strategy Flipkart’s analytics team uncovered a key insight: Small, frequent discounts (e.g., 5-10% on repeat purchases) led to higher engagement. Personalized offers based on purchase history encouraged repeat buys. A/B testing revealed that customers preferred consistency over occasional deep discounts. 💡 Implementation: Using AI-driven dynamic pricing, Flipkart rolled out: ✅ Tiered discounts for loyal customers. ✅ AI-powered coupon recommendations. ✅ Targeted email campaigns promoting small, time-sensitive discounts. 📈 Results: After three months of testing, Flipkart saw: ✔️ 17% increase in repeat purchases ✔️ 12% uplift in customer retention ✔️ Higher profit margins vs. deep discounting 🎯 Key Takeaway: In an inflationary environment, data-driven pricing isn't just about maximizing revenue—it’s about customer psychology. Businesses that personalize their offers and optimize discounts intelligently can boost retention while protecting margins. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔? #datadrivendecisionmaking #DataAnalytics #DiscountStrategy #BusinessStrategies

Discounts are a hammer that makes every problem in the business look like a nail. Businesses look at challenges like: - Excess inventory - Mediocre products - Low CLTV - Poor retention …and slap on the discount duct tape. The end result? Weak margin. A cheapened brand. And consumers who are conditioned to only buy from you if they get a hefty discount. We help retailers shift from one-size-fits-all discounts to targeted, efficient incentives. The exact playbook varies a lot by brand, but the approach needs to be both Technological (granular data in promo rules, and a wide range of incentive types) and Organizational (measuring marketers on margin & profit, and setting guardrails for offers). Some sample tactics include… 1️⃣ Shift to buy-more-save-more and bundle offers 2️⃣ Use 'challenges' for customers to work towards specific incentives 3️⃣ Require data capture (form, survey, preference center) to get a deal 4️⃣ Scope offers to specific SKU parameters, not entire categories 5️⃣ Don't show discounts too early or to high-propensity customers 6️⃣ Ensure marketers can use all customer, cart, and SKU data in offer rules 7️⃣ Make more offers 'final' (no returns on attractive deals) 8️⃣ Communicate non-discount value on item level (bonus points, gift with purchase) 9️⃣ Shift value prop to experiences & exclusivity with known users 🔟 Optimize promotions & loyalty program to get to break-even (e.g. 5th purchase, not 1st) But the goal is almost always to discount LESS, and to ensure that the remaining discounts are extremely efficient & targeted. Here are a few examples of what this discount discipline has meant for Talon.One customers: → Ecommerce company ($300m revenue) that decreased discount spend by 20% by switching to personalized coupon wallet → Clothing retailer ($1 Bn revenue) that increased promotions margin by 7.7% with shift to ‘buy more, save more’ playbook → Grocery delivery ($100m revenue) that decreased acquisition spend by 50% while ‘exiting’ customers who only buy with a hefty deal Is your business discounting itself to death? Send me a DM; happy to brainstorm ways to break the cycle.

One of the most frustrating lessons I learned as a manager was that promotions don’t always come down to merit. At Amazon, principal engineer promotions had a structured process: documents, assessments, feedback, review meetings. On paper, it was designed to be fair and rigorous. But in practice, it could feel random. I remember one case clearly. My engineer had led a huge, highly complex project for over a year. She had strong assessments, and multiple leaders respected her work. Walking into the promotion meeting, I felt confident. But the discussion took a turn. One leader felt that her team had been “called out” in the promotion document, and grew defensive. Another leader had written a positive assessment months earlier, but changed his mind based on more recent experiences. By the end of the meeting, the vote flipped against her. The result wasn’t just disappointing for her—it was career-altering. She left Amazon, and another senior engineer who supported her did too. That single decision reshaped the team more than the promotion ever would have. What I took away was sobering: if you walk into a promotion meeting without knowing exactly how everyone feels beforehand, you’re not really making the decision in the room—you’re gambling. From that point forward, I treated these meetings as a formality. I learned to surface every concern ahead of time, so the “decision” was already made before we sat down. It was a painful lesson in how processes that appear meritocratic often aren’t. Promotions can hinge on preparation, politics, and timing, as much as on the work itself. In my article, I share the full story of that meeting and the lessons I carried forward. If you’d like to see the details—and a few hard-won insights on navigating promotions—you can read it here.

I discovered why my competitor was dominating with half our ad budget. He was spending $12K monthly on ads with incredible results. I was spending $25K and barely keeping up. I convinced my client to “diversify across all Amazon ad types.” Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, the works. Sounded smart. Felt strategic. Within 30 days, our ROAS couldn’t compete. That’s when I learned the uncomfortable truth about Amazon advertising allocation. Most sellers spread their budget too thin trying to be everywhere. Smart sellers concentrate where conversions actually happen. Here’s what I discovered during the competitor analysis: He was putting 90% of his budget into Sponsored Products. We were splitting ours across every available ad type. His ads looked native. Customers clicked without hesitation. Our fancy Sponsored Display campaigns had terrible conversion rates. The breakthrough insight: Amazon customers don’t want to be advertised to. They want to find products that solve their problems. Sponsored Products feels like organic search results. Everything else feels like interruption advertising. The reallocation strategy that changed everything: - Moved 85% of budget to Sponsored Products immediately - Kept 15% in Sponsored Brands only for products with strong video assets - Eliminated Sponsored Display campaigns that couldn’t prove profitability - Ignored Sponsored TV completely unless running massive branding campaigns The performance difference was immediate: - Overall ROAS improved significantly within weeks - Cost per acquisition dropped across all campaigns - Total sales volume increased despite same total spend - Ad efficiency reached competitor levels The mindset shift that matters: Stop thinking about ad type diversification. Start thinking about conversion optimization. Put your money where customers actually buy, not where Amazon suggests you spend. I am the founder of GigaBrands.ai, helping Amazon brands allocate advertising spend for maximum profitability rather than platform recommendations. What’s your current experience with Amazon ad type performance? Are you seeing better results from concentrated or diversified spend? Found this helpful? Subscribe to my newsletter through the link in my bio for more profitable advertising strategies.

Understanding how effective your promotions and discounts are is tough. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, and the success or failure of a promotion is highly dependent on what you do elsewhere. When you run a promotion and sales go up by a larger ratio than the discount, then that might look like the promotion was successful. But it is 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲. Promotions have two key impacts which are crucial to understand the real impact: - Promotions 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 or pull demand from other sales channels.  - Regular promotions start to train customers to 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘀. When you account for those impacts in measurement, we see that the true impact of promotions is 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟱𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱. So while it looks like promotions have driven a significant impact, a large proportion of this is from demand which otherwise would have purchased in later weeks or through a different sales channel. To understand the real impact of these promotions, you need to get a view of the baseline of "what would have happened if we didn't run the promotion".  This relies on being able to separate purchase behaviours from brand demand.  Promotions create a spike in 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱. This is why we see the demand pulled forward and delayed purchase behaviours. These impacts also have a drastic impact on how you assess marketing performance.  Campaigns run while customers are waiting for discounts appear to perform badly despite being crucial to generate the underlying demand that promotions later activate, while campaigns pushing promotions appear strong until you remove the pull forward promotional impact. Some common findings from our modelling outputs below:  • Increased Amazon sales driven on promotions (eg prime day) are around 𝟰𝟬%-𝟳𝟬% 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 from future Amazon demand or other sales channels (eg DTC or Retail.) • 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 with customers waiting for promotions they have been trained into expecting. These effects have been long established in US, and are increasing YoY in UK and Europe. • 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 (limited by either audience, product range or duration) show lower demand pull forward impacts and typically stronger incremental revenue and margin impact Without accounting for these impacts, promotions can look very successful on a weekly revenue graph but actually net out to be detrimental to longer term business growth.

We currently support 30+ businesses with their growth on Amazon. 😎 The first step to becoming successful on Amazon is to develop a strategy or game plan. The second step? Figuring out what to do when that plan inevitably goes wrong. 🧐 When it comes to your strategy on Amazon, a top-down approach works best. Start with your highest ROI-driving products—those that make up 5% or more of your sales. Ensure they adhere to best practices, then move to your second-tier products (1–5% of sales). Refine PPC, SEO, and images, and ensure the products stay in stock. It’s straightforward—until Amazon throws a curveball. But, what happens when your plan gets disrupted? This exact scenario happened recently with a client of ours. To kick off the month, the client was pacing $89,000 in sales for November, with a goal of $220,000. However, their top-performing ASINs suddenly became ineligible for advertising. Immediately, our team pivoted to salvage the situation. Here’s how we navigated this challenge: 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟏: 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐬 We redirected the budget to the B-tier ASINs, ensuring their campaigns were fully optimized across all targeting types. Once that was set, we ensured the campaigns had sufficient budget to scale. This shift improved the pacing from $89,000 to $140,000 for the month. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟐: 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 While continuing to work on resolving the ineligible ASINs, we refined our approach for the B-tier ASINs based on the initial data. By optimizing these campaigns further, we increased pacing to $𝟏𝟒𝟖,𝟎𝟎𝟎as we entered the final two weeks of November. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟑: 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐬 As some top-performing ASINs became eligible again, we shifted budget back to them. However, the client’s top seller was still ineligible. To capitalize on the remainder of the month, we collaborated with the client to maximize Black Friday performance. With this shift, pacing climbed to $𝟏𝟔𝟔,𝟎𝟎𝟎. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟒: 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 In the final week of November, the top seller regained eligibility. With all major products back online and budgets properly allocated, the client had a phenomenal Black Friday week. By month’s end, sales pacing reached $𝟐𝟎𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎. While $205,000 didn’t quite hit the $220,000 goal, the client started the month pacing at just 40% of the target due to the advertising ineligibility issue. By pivoting and taking swift action, we closed a 𝟓𝟑% 𝐠𝐚𝐩, ending the month at 𝟗𝟑% 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥. In business, you can have the perfect strategy, but unexpected challenges will arise. Success depends on how quickly and effectively you reevaluate, adapt, and take action. If you’re prepared to pivot, you can turn a major setback into a near win. 🫵 #Amazon #strategy #digitalmarketing #ecommerce #ecommercegrowth

Let's talk Branded vs. Nonbranded budget segmentation and common mistakes we see within ad accounts: ❌ Lack of proper branded keyword & ASIN negation across nonbranded strategies ❌ One Defense campaign with hundreds of ad groups advertising all products ❌ Overinvestment in SP & SB branded strategies when compared to nonbranded growth strategies ❌ Optimizing branded & nonbranded strategies towards a collective account-level ACOS What can this type of setup lead to over time? ➡ Lack of true budget control across branded vs. nonbranded strategies ➡ Lack of ASIN-level branded budget control ➡ Performance discrepancy - Branded STs converting in nonbranded campaigns, resulting in inflated performance + lesser nonbranded coverage through the day ➡ Significant cannibalization of organic sales due to attributed branded sales across nonbranded strategies + overinvestment across branded strategies to achieve KPI ➡ Lesser growth potential over time when compared to competitors who are properly investing in awareness & consideration strategies Consider implementing the following: 🔸 ASIN-level branded campaigns setup for maximum targeting precision & budget control at the ASIN & strategy-levels 🔸 Proper branded negation across ALL nonbranded strategies for most-accurate branded vs. nonbranded segmentation Once proper setup is complete, it's much more simple to establish: 1️⃣ Proper budget split across branded vs. nonbranded strategies 2️⃣ Proper account-level KPI (TACOS) relative to KPI at the strategy level (Branded doesn't have the same intent as an awareness campaign as an example, and shouldn't be optimized the same way) 3️⃣ Most-accurate performance data at the product-level Are you over-investing in branded strategies? Do you have clear and concise budget split & reporting between branded & nonbranded strategies? The answers are in your campaign setup and search term data. 😉 #amazonads #amazonppc #amazonadvertising #amazonads #btrmedia