Many of our recent posts have looked at emerging CPG brands such as InstaNatural who are fast gaining traction on Amazon. But what does this trend mean for retailers?
Profitero analysis published in ClickZ reveals that the best sellers on Amazon aren’t necessarily the brands you might expect. While market-leading brands are becoming more effective on the e-tailer’s site, it’s often new and emerging brands which sell on Amazon that are now benefiting from early-mover advantage.
Our Amazon FastMovers reports from January – May of this year reveal that healthy snack brand KIND tops the grocery best seller ranking at Amazon.com, while Beauty, Pure Body Naturals is the top brand in this period.
Best-selling Grocery Brands, Jan-May 2016
| Brand | Total # of Products | Average Star Rating | Average # of Reviews | Average # of Images |
| Kind | 6 | 5 | 3,512 | 9 |
| San Francisco Bay Coffee | 5 | 5 | 23,696 | 8 |
| Viva Labs | 4 | 5 | 9,459 | 6 |
| Planters | 3 | 5 | 2,126 | 6 |
| Quest Nutrition | 3 | 4 | 9,816 | 6 |
Source: Profitero
Best-selling Beauty Brands, Jan-May 2016
| Brand | Total # of Products | Average Star Rating | Average # of Reviews | Average # of Images |
| Pure Body Naturals | 5 | 5 | 5,465 | 5 |
| Oral B | 4 | 5 | 2,102 | 10 |
| ArtNaturals | 4 | 5 | 5,512 | 9 |
| Gillette | 4 | 5 | 2,298 | 9 |
| Dove | 4 | 5 | 604 | 9 |
Source: Profitero
New and emerging brands: an opportunity for retailers as well
It’s evident that new and emerging brands are winning with Amazon because shoppers are increasingly searching for specific product attributes (e.g natural or gluten free), and are able to more efficiently find products on Amazon than navigating a physical store.
By the same token, niche brands and products are often not widely distributed in brick-and-mortar stores, so shoppers have been trained to look for them at Amazon.
Further analysis of our Amazon FastMovers reports demonstrates just how competitive categories such as grocery and beauty have become: the top 5 brands in both categories represent only one-fifth of the best-selling brands in their category on Amazon, highlighting the significant opportunity not only for emerging brands – but equally for retailers, who can identify which new products are selling well, and therefore which they should be carrying in their range.
Competitiveness: % of top 5 brands in Amazon’s Best Sellers by Category, Jan-May 2016
| Category | % Top 5 Brands |
| Watches | 69 |
| Dogs Food | 59 |
| Electronics | 49 |
| Health & Personal Care | 40 |
| Clothing | 33 |
| Baby | 33 |
| Toys & Games | 29 |
| Office Products | 27 |
| Candy & Chocolate | 22 |
| Beauty | 21 |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 21 |
| Prime Pantry | 17 |
Source: Profitero
Spotting product gaps is critical to success in the online channel
For retailers, understanding which products are popular with today’s consumer and identifying where the gaps are in your product assortment is critical to success in an increasingly competitive retail environment – where the shopper is more in control than ever before.
Profitero’s Assortment Analytics module can help retailers answer essential questions about which products to stock by helping you:
- Understand the overlap in your assortment versus the competition, identifying products that competitors such as Amazon may carry exclusively and that you should consider carrying in your assortment
- Analyze the architecture within a category from a pricing perspective so you can see how your own range compares to competitors at different price brands, shedding light on opportunities to carry products at higher or lower prices
Learn more about our Assortment Analytics or sign up for our Amazon FastMovers reports to keep abreast of the hottest products on Amazon.