DTC926: Amazon Post-Mortem, Core Problems in Amazon Universe, and Run Research Ads

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

🪦 Amazon Prime Day Post-Mortem
Key takeaways to apply for BFCM success.

🚀 How To Use Amazon To Grow
Expand reach without losing first-party data control.

🧠 Experiment With Research Ads
Why not all ads need to be a winner.

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Raw Bean, Slatkin + Co., and Amarte Skincare. 👋

⚡ Happening Tomorrow. Can’t Make It Live? Sign Up to Get the Replay.

Margins are shrinking. Playbooks are failing. 2025 has been far from usual...

AI, taxes, and tariffs are rewriting everything you thought you knew.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, October 22 at 10AM PST / 1PM EST), DTC, Swap Commerce, and 3.1 Phillip Lim are coming together for a live roundtable on how top brands are surviving (and thriving) through BFCM and beyond.

Can’t make it live? Register anyway to get the full replay delivered before Black Friday. 👀

💰 What We Learned From Amazon’s Big Deal Days Sale

This year’s Big Deal Days on Amazon proved that massive discounts aren’t the only way to win.

Pilothouse saw strong results across brands but success came from strategy, not blanket price cuts.

Here were some trends we saw:

1️⃣ Profit Over Price Slashing

Across accounts, brands moved away from full catalog discounts and leaned into targeted promos:

• 20%+ discounts on products with high margins or aging inventory to clear stock.
• Smaller 10–15% discounts on core products to protect sell-through and margins.

Even with a more measured approach, many brands still beat July Prime Day numbers and saw solid year-over-year growth.

2️⃣ High-AOV Brands Won Big

Big-ticket items drove the largest lift, with 4x+ sales spikes over an average day.

Lower-priced products ($10–$20 AOV) still performed but saw smaller 2x lifts.

3️⃣ Pacing Patterns Varied

Some brands had stronger Day 1 performance, while others surged on Day 2, reinforcing that pacing can depend heavily on category and audience.

🚨 Why It Matters for BFCM

October’s Big Deal Days continue to be a great way to test Q4 discounting.

It’s the perfect opportunity to:

• Test pricing strategies before BFCM.
• Clear older inventory for incoming stock.
• Collect data on which discounts actually drive profit.

👉 Brands that offered at least 15% off and had inventory ready saw consistent gains. Those with tighter stock or discount limits saw only minimal lift.

Pilothouse Tips for BFCM

• Define your goal early. Are you optimizing for volume, acquisition, profitability, or rank?
• Don’t discount your entire catalog. Focus on SKUs that need movement or can handle margin pressure.
• Be deliberate with promos. Balance sales growth with contribution margin.
• Know your numbers. Understand where profit lies so you can spend confidently.

This year’s results show that strategic discounting beats blanket promotions.

As BFCM approaches, sellers who plan ahead, price intentionally, and protect their margins will be the ones who scale profitably through Q4.

💥 See How The Perfume Spot Went From Small Storefront To Ecommerce Juggernaut

When The Perfume Spot started it was just a small store on Staten Island.

👏 Now, they’re an ecommerce juggernaut with a team of 25 people and 8 figures in sales each year. How?

In part by selling on Walmart Marketplace.

📈 With Walmart Marketplace, The Perfume Spot was able to instantly reach millions of shoppers, access powerful tools for scale, and sell on a platform invested in their success.  

Could you be the next Walmart success story? 🌟

Sign up today to see. It just takes a few minutes to get started.  

🎧 How to Use Amazon as Part of a Unified Growth Strategy

In this episode of the AKNF Podcast, Rob, Amazon Team Lead at Pilothouse, breaks down how brands can use Amazon as a true growth channel without losing control of their first-party data.

If you’ve ever hesitated to sell on Amazon because of margin pressure, lack of customer data, or fear of cannibalizing your DTC sales, this episode explains how to make Amazon work for your brand, not against it.

Rob shares tactical insights on identifying profitable search terms, structuring ad campaigns around “value back to the brand,” and building listings that serve both algorithms and humans, including Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant, Rufus.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Turning Amazon Into a Customer Acquisition Channel: Why targeting generic search terms allows brands to reach new customers.
• Reclaiming First-Party Data: How smart brands use packaging inserts, QR codes, and value-led incentives to bring Amazon buyers back to their owned channels.

“Scan to register your warranty, access a recipe, or get a skincare guide…each CTA creates a natural way to collect emails.”

• Competing Without Losing Margin: How to analyze whether your products are a fit for Amazon search intent, and why adjusting packaging dimensions can dramatically reduce FBA fees.

“Even half an inch in package size can move you into a lower FBA tier and unlock real margin.”

• Building Profit Into Every Campaign: Rob explains why Pilothouse uses an exact-match keyword approach, where every dollar spent ladders up to profit or organic rank growth.
• Amazon and the Unified Growth Ecosystem: Why Amazon performance shouldn’t be isolated from Meta, YouTube, or other channels.

“Anything you do off Amazon affects your Amazon performance. It’s all one ecosystem.”

• Optimizing for the AI Shopping Era: How Pilothouse is structuring listings to help Amazon’s new AI assistant, Rufus, surface client products more effectively.

“The more factual data we feed Rufus, the better it can guide a customer toward purchase.”

👉 Listen to the full episode with Rob here.

🤖 Your next customer isn’t searching Google, they’re asking AI. Shopify & Yotpo leaders break down how brands can stay seen and trusted in the new era of ecommerce. Watch the webinar here. *

Some ads exist to learn, not win.

CRO expert Fraser Cottrell shares how he tested an educational Video Sales Letter (VSL) for a brand to see if the format could build more trust compared to running only UGC.

What happened: Viewers dropped off at the product transition, giving them data on how to improve for the next iteration.

Smart brands don’t chase perfection. They use ads to learn what earns trust, attention, and conversion next time.

📥 Got a B2B Biz?

Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.

Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• ✅ Ad-venturous 24: Q4 Sale Ad Best Practices
• 🦃 TWBERP 55: Talk Turkey; The Q4 Email Gut Check
• 🌿 WYNX Engineered Explosive Growth In a Regulated Environment
• 🔍 AKNF 550: Crown Affair’s Ritual-Driven Growth Strategy
• ⭐ Ad-venturous 23: Brand Differentiation v.s. Alienation
• 🏆 TWBERP 54: Win Black Friday (and Keep Your Rep Intact)

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.

Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.