Should a DTC brand sell on Amazon and other marketplaces?
Usually yes, if the marketplaces and your store are run as one business. For many categories, product research starts on Amazon. If you are not there, a competitor or an unauthorised reseller is selling to your buyer.
The brands that get hurt are the ones that let the channels compete. The same pack at different prices in different places, separate promo calendars, and separate teams each defending their own number.
How do you stop Amazon and your own store from competing?
Give each channel a job, then build the assortment to match:
- Pack architecture. Different pack sizes or bundles by channel, so customers are not choosing between identical offers on price alone.
- Price parity rules, tracked weekly, with someone accountable for exceptions.
- One promo calendar across every channel.
- One inventory plan, so a stockout on one channel does not quietly push demand to a reseller.
Amazon 1P or 3P: which is right?
3P (Seller Central) gives you control of price, content and customer data, in exchange for running fulfilment or paying for FBA. 1P (Vendor Central) makes Amazon your wholesale customer and brings chargebacks, compliance penalties and less pricing control. Many brands run a hybrid.
The decision comes down to arithmetic: contribution after every fee, chargeback, ad and return under each model. Most brands we meet have never put the two side by side.
How should marketplace performance be measured?
Not by ACoS alone. ACoS tells you what advertising cost relative to ad-attributed sales. It does not tell you whether the channel is making money. Measure contribution by channel after fees, ads, returns and chargebacks, share of voice on the search terms that actually matter, and price parity exceptions. If total contribution is flat while ACoS improves, the reporting is flattering a problem.
We run Amazon 1P and 3P, Walmart, TikTok Shop and Instacart as part of the same business as your store, managed to contribution after fees, ads and returns. See how an engagement works, or what that looked like for other brands.