Why Direct-to-Consumer Brands Need To Be On Amazon (Whether They Like It or Not)
If you run a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, you’ve probably debated about whether to sell on Amazon. Many founders worry about losing control of their customer data or competing with a crowded marketplace. But the reality is that Amazon is the largest retail platform in the world, and if your products aren’t there, you’re missing out on a huge number of potential customers.
Amazon as the New Storefront
Amazon isn’t just a store anymore. It’s the first place millions of people go when they want to buy something. Even if you have a great-looking website and strong social media marketing, there’s a good chance a customer will still check Amazon before making a purchase. If you’re not there, a competitor or reseller is. By having your own Amazon presence, you’re not just selling products, you’re protecting your brand and giving customers an easy place to find you.
The Performance Marketing Boost
One of the best parts about selling on Amazon is that you don’t need to rely only on Amazon’s own ad system. You can use performance marketing digital strategies you’re may already be utilizing like Google Ads, Facebook advertising, TikTok advertising, and even CTV (connected TV) campaigns to drive shoppers directly to your Amazon listing. People trust Amazon more than a site they may never have heard of, they love Prime shipping, may have gift cards to use, and checkout takes seconds. When you combine digital advertising with Amazon’s ease of purchase, you make it much easier to turn clicks into sales.
How Smaller Brands Can Compete
You don’t need a massive budget to get noticed on Amazon. Smaller brands can run targeted campaigns on other platforms and send traffic directly to their Amazon product pages.
By using direct response marketing, you can track results, adjust your strategy, and focus your budget on the ads that are delivering the best ROI advertising.
Why This Works for DTC Growth
Many D2C brands focus too much on their own e-commerce sites, but customer acquisition costs on platforms like Meta and Google keep rising. Adding Amazon to your digital marketing strategy gives customers more ways to buy and makes it easier to meet them where they’re already shopping. When used correctly, Amazon can convert new customers who could then potentially return to purchase on your site, once they become a fan of your brand.
Final Takeaway
If you’re in the D2C space and ignoring Amazon, you’re probably leaving money and market share behind. The brands that win are using every digital advertising tool available, from TikTok advertising to CTV ads to old-school infomercials, to send customers to the place where they’re most likely to buy. Amazon is where the shoppers are, and in direct response advertising, that’s what matters most.
And gradually some of those people started to hire me to produce their infomercials. It was exciting and scary because they knew right away how many people were calling and ordering. The immediacy was incredibly exhilarating.
I lived a double life for several years, shooting Madison Avenue spots while sneaking around with the infomercial crowed. I just could not pull myself away from them. It was like driving on the highway and seeing an accident, the blood, not wanting to look, but somehow not able to turn away.
And I always looked forward to those NIMA conferences. I became a member. I went to all the conferences and met more and more amazing people.
We networked on the show floor, in the hallways, in restaurants, in the airports, on the planes. In fact, I met one of my largest clients on a plane coming back from a conference. It was fantastic. I worked with famous actors and models, musicians, circus animals, athletes, Doctors, and tons of real people who testified through affidavit that the product they used changed their lives forever and ever. 
NIMA changed their name to ERA (Electronic Retailing Association) and added more conferences. Miami. Vegas. Washington. Europe.
At one point, just after 9/11 in NYC, in a moment of reckoning, I abandoned Madison Avenue and went full throttle into the client direct business. ERA became my best friend. Most of my business came directly through ERA functions. I volunteered for committees, became part of a community, people started to know and trust me, and I started to forge life long friendships.
Each year, the ERA dues went up and up. Membership started declining. The shows seemed more and more empty. People did business in suites, in other hotels, bars, many never even came to the host hotel. It all crumbled.
I began to feel my dues were more like a charity contribution. And if I really wanted to contribute to a charity, I would send to St. Jude, not ERA.
So, with much guilt, I stopped paying dues in 2017. I saw no value proposition and was receiving nothing in return. And apparently I was not the only one.
I watched my dear friend ERA die a slow and excruciating death, until its final breath on June 1st, 2018, the day I received an email that ERA was no more. That ERA could not continue operating “in the face of declining dues receipts, fewer sponsorships and an overall shortage of revenue coupled with burdensome expenses”. 
With terminal illness, you know that death will come; yet when it does, it is still a shock. 28 years of friendship. Now death. So final. So sad.
ERA failed to keep up with the times. Failed to serve all their members, just focusing on the top few big spenders. Failed to incorporate new technologies and new ways of selling into the equation. They lost their relevance, ran out of oxygen and died.
So, as I mourn my good friend of 28 years, I reflect on the good memories, the friends and colleagues, the career that I would not have, had I not befriended ERA. But let’s keep alive the community and camaraderie that was forged through ERA. And let’s do this as an industry together.
Perhaps this death, as many deaths do, will even bring us closer together as an industry.
Good by, old friend. Eternal thanks. I will miss you.