Co-Founder at eSpark - Full Service Amazon Agency

You know how you struggle with growing revenue on Amazon? That's where we step in to help you take control of your listings in order to drive more SALES.

When you work with us, you'll see:
✅ On-brand CONTENT that looks amazing and GENERATES SALES
✅ PROFITABLE ADVERTISING campaigns that CONVERT
✅ INVENTORY consistently IN STOCK
✅ LISTINGS recovered from the SUSPENSION graveyard
✅ PEACE OF MIND your Amazon channel is UNDER CONTROL

When it comes to Amazon, I know you want to take control and drive revenue for your brand. In order to do that, you need TIME and EXPERTISE. 

As a 7+ year Amazon seller, I understand how frustrating and overwhelming it is to get your products listed, keep them listed (suspensions anyone?), run advertising campaigns with a profitable ROAS, and stay in stock (hello restock limits!).

I’m proud to say me and my team helped 100s of e-commerce managers add millions to their revenue.

You deserve a winning strategy that turns Amazon into a seamless, profitable channel.

Stop missing out on sales and stop watching your competition outgrow you on amazon. 

Website: www.amplisell.com
Email: josh@amplisell.com

Joshua Rawe ⚡

“Won’t Amazon cannibalize our DTC sales?”

Asked a founder doing doing serious revenue in Canada and planning a US launch.

I get this question all the time.

Adding Amazon does 3 things:

1. Yes, it cannibalizes DTC.

But not by a lot.

Some customers who were buying on DTC will now buy on Amazon.

That's simply a better experience for them.

2. It makes the PIE bigger.

You are now visible to millions of high-intent shoppers who:
- Start their search on Amazon
- Buy for the same-day shipping
- Would never have found your DTC site organically

And are net new!

3. Captures your Ad Spend.

Your META/Google/Social spend is driving traffic to Amazon.

Even if you're linking to DTC.

If you're not on Amazon, you are wasting ad money.

TL;DR
Amazon is not a competitor to your DTC site.

It’s another way for your customers to find and buy.

The brands that win focus stop asking: “Will Amazon steal sales?”

And start asking: “How do we leverage Amazon to support the rest of the business?”

That’s when sales growth takes off.

Co-Founder of AmpliSell | Amazon & Tik Tok Growth Agency ⚡| Sharing the strategies we use to scale brands on Amazon & Tik Tok. | Over $100M in Sales Added | Follow to Learn. DM for Help.

Most Amazon brands are trapped by their own success.

One of our clients was doing $2M annually on Amazon, but

They had zero control over their listings.

Resellers were running their entire Amazon channel. 

When they wanted to update product images or descriptions, 

they had to go through middlemen. 

When they tried to take back control, 

Amazon shut down their listings entirely.

They were making money but building someone else's business.

You start by working with resellers because it's "easier." 

They handle the complexity.

You focus on manufacturing.

But then you realize:
 → You're paying 40-50% margins to middlemen
 → Your brand looks terrible on the platform
 → You can't launch new products quickly
 → You have zero data on your customers
 → One bad reseller can tank your rankings

The wake-up call? 

When the CEO searches for his own product and has a terrible buying experience.

The solution isn't firing all your resellers overnight.

The solution is a strategic transition:

1. Launch new products direct while resellers sell through inventory
2. Use brand registry to wrestle back listing control
3. Backfill existing listings as reseller stock depletes
4. Scale with proper advertising and inventory management

This brand went from $0 direct sales to selling on Amazon within 90 days.

The long-term result? 

$2M Sales in Year 1
$3.8M Sales in Year 2

Even better?

Their margins increased.

Are you building your Amazon channel or someone else's?

AGL leaked Amazon's "Big Spring Sale" is happening again this year.

Last year the dates were March 25-31, 2025. 

No confirmation on these dates from Amazon yet, but I'd ballpark the same period.

As with every Amazon promotional event, you should:

1. Forecast sales and ensure your inventory levels are sufficient.
2. Create your advertising plan to tap into the additional traffic.
3. Post your results to LinkedIn so everyone knows you rock!

"clearest explanation I've ever had of ppc advertising on or off Amazon"

^ high praise from Noah

Well done Bernardo Rotta!

When does TikTok impact Amazon sales?

This came up on a recent call with a DTC brand running Amazon and TikTok.

His question was the right one:

“At what point do TikTok views actually create a measurable lift on Amazon?”

Here's what we see:

TikTok videos doing less than ~10k views, you’re not going to clearly see it in Amazon sales.

The halo effect becomes obvious closer to ~50k views per video.

Below that there may be impact, but it's hard to measure.

Above that Amazon sales spikes become visible

and incremental demand shows up above baseline sales

TikTok is NOT a direct-response channel

but it excels at demand creation

that gets captured on Amazon.

Measuring TikTok like Meta/Amazon leads to bad decisions.

Instead track the halo effect (TikTok views vs. Amazon sales deltas)

and evaluate against customer lifetime value, not first purchase.

That mindset change is where TikTok & Amazon starts to work!

You probably have a "creative volume" problem on Tik Tok.

That's costing you millions in sales.

You have affiliates posting content. 

You are seeing some sales. 

But you're missing the systematic approach that skyrockets sales.

Here's what I see happening:
- Brands spend 40+ hours/month managing creators manually
- No creator community building (Discord, WhatsApp groups)
- Spray and pray influencer seeding
- Ad authorization not enabled on creator videos

The result? 

Slow GMV growth. 

Wasted money on samples.

GMV Max ads underperforming.

Missed halo effect on Amazon.

What's missing?

You need a CONSTANT influx of new creative content.

To get that, you have to: 
1. Build an active creator community of affiliates
2. Run systematic seeding programs (200+ units/month)
3. Setup ad authorization on ALL creator content

Which leads to:
✅ Rapid GMV Growth
✅ 2 - 4x ROAS on GMV Max
✅ Significant Amazon Sales from Halo

The difference isn't the product or the market.

It's building a process to generate creative all the time.

Social commerce is the future of product discovery.

Brands building these capabilities now will dominate tomorrow.

“TikTok isn’t profitable for us.”
That might mean it’s working. Here's why👇

On a call this week, an e-comm director said something I hear often:

“We don’t know if TikTok is a sales channel for us.

But every time we turn it off, Amazon sales drop.”

That’s the part most people miss.

They’re judging TikTok only by last-click ROAS, 

when TikTok’s real value often shows up on another channel.

Here’s what I see with our clients:

TikTok video view spikes lead to Amazon branded search increases

In other words:

TikTok is doing the top-of-funnel work Amazon doesn't do well.

This is especially true for:
- Gen Z demographic (no cap!)
- Visual products
- High LTV products

If your LTV is high enough, then TikTok doesn’t need to be profitable from a last-click buy standpoint.

It needs to:
1. Put you in front of new customers
2. Sell the dream
3. Let Amazon close the sale

If you evaluate TikTok purely as a standalone P&L, you won't invest.

If you evaluate it as a demand engine, the math changes fast.

The question isn’t: “Is TikTok profitable?”

It’s: “What happens everywhere else when TikTok is ON vs. OFF?”

That’s the metric that actually matters.

"We tried TikTok Shop and it didn't work."

Heard this phrase 5x this week.

What they did:

→ Seeded 20 random creators
→ Waited 30 days for results
→ No creator community building
→ Zero systematic follow-up
→ Missing GMV Max ad links
→ Or not even running GMV Max
→ Measured success only by Tik Tok Shop GMV

This isn't enough.

It's ok. I've been there too.

Here is what top brands like Glamnetic do differently:

✅ Seed 200+ targeted creators monthly
✅ Build Discord communities with weekly contests
✅ Enable ad authorization on every affiliate video
✅ Run constant promos
✅ Offer free shipping
✅ Track performance on Tik Tok AND Amazon

The difference isn't the product. 

It's the system.

You can't DIY social commerce with a part-time intern and expect top tier results.

The brands that figure out Tik Tok in 2026 will dominate social commerce for the next decade.

$60k ADDED Sales in 2 Months

on $10k in Spend and the mechanism was NOT ads...

It was Amazon Creator Connections.

This program used to suck.

Now that they have a lot more creators it's taking off.

And the ROAS can outperform direct spend ads.

They take less than 15 minutes to setup.

Amazon is giving up to 50% commission bonuses to help fund your success.

Go to your ad console and turn these on asap.

Most brands think TikTok Shop is a numbers game.

Send enough samples and sales will follow. Right?

Here’s the truth:

There are 3.5M creators on TikTok Shop in the US.

But less than 1.5% actually drive $1,000+ in GMV a month.

That’s about 50,000 creators who move the needle.

The rest? They’re burning your samples.

We see this every week at AmpliSell.

Brands come to us after sending out a couple hundred products.

They get a handful of posts. Almost no sales.

The problem isn’t TikTok.

It’s creator scarcity.

The real game is finding and keeping the A-players.

The best brands treat top creators like partners instead of affiliaties.

They build relationships.

They offer more than just commission.

They create a community that keeps the best creators engaged and posting.

What’s working for our clients:

1. Vet for performance. Only send samples to creators with proven GMV. Can they actually sell?

2. Build a community. Build a private Discord or WhatsApp group for your top creators. Make it a place they want to stay.

3. Incentivize inputs, not just outputs. Reward creators for volume and consistency.

4. Upgrade your best. Turn your top 1% into partners. Give them early access, higher commissions, or even retainer deals.

If you’re playing just the “spray and pray” game, you’re not just wasting product.

You’re missing the real opportunity.

I'm convinced Google makes me go to YouTube to "verify" my login solely so they can hook me into a doomscroll session.

Jon Derkits

BEST@AMAZON NEWSLETTER --> https://bestatamazon.ck.page/

QUICK CHAT --> https://tidycal.com/jonderkits/quick-chat
AMAZON COACHING & ADVISORY --> https://tidycal.com/jonderkits/amazon-coaching-and-advisory

* * * * *

Hi, I'm Jon and I'm a builder. 

Over the course of my 15-year career in management consulting and technology companies, I've built teams, I've built processes, I've built products, and I've built businesses (the 10-figure kind). I'm at my best when I'm in a role with scope and significance, and my superpower is consistency.

Some things I'm GOOD at include dealing with ambiguity and making good decisions in fast-paced, uncertain environments. Some things I'm *GREAT* at include obsessing over customers and developing my people.

Follow me here on LinkedIn if you want to hear my thoughts on Amazon, building great teams, or the current state of Chicago sports.

* * * * *

CLIFTON STRENGTHS
Harmony, Achiever, Learner, Positivity, Ideation

DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE
eCommerce, Marketplaces/Platforms, Valuation 

FUNCTIONAL SKILLS
Business Performance Measurement, Category Management, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Financial Statement Analysis, Lean Six Sigma, P&L Ownership, Strategic Planning, Team Leadership, Written Communication

TECHNICAL SKILLS
Amazon Seller Central, Bloomberg, Capital IQ, Microsoft Office, SQL, Tableau

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

How I'd fix LinkedIn

1) Add a Copilot button
2) When posts include multiple images, make them swipable carousels (like Instagram); not whatever this garbage UX is called
3) Make it easier to search your own activity history (posts, comments, etc)
4) Reduce AI slop by 50% in 2026, and then by another 50% in 2027. Suppress reach of AI posts and comments.
5) Reduce reach of "comment X for Y" engagement bait posts
6) Implement a Creator Revenue Sharing program, similar to X
7) Create different feed views. One for 1st connections only; one for 1st through 3rd connections (or whatever the feed algo is now); and one for "interests" as defined by the user.
8) Turn LinkedIn into a platform where experts can monetize their expertise more directly -- i.e., build an "intro.co" platform within LinkedIn
9) Fix InMail. At minimum, give me more filing/organizing options than "Focused" and "Other".
10) Get rid of the dumb games feature. If LinkedIn is really meant to be a space for professionals, don't muddy the brand by maintaining this little corner of the platform that is all about juicing user engagement metrics.

Buying & Building eCommerce Agencies | Ex-Amazon

Me, walking away from an otherwise smart LinkedIn post polluted with AI replies

No alternative text description for this image

TWO (RELATED) PREDICTIONS for 2026 👇 

1) AI content will become indistinguishable from human-made content

2) Because of #1, consumers will crave truly authentic human outputs (the pendulum probably won't swing this direction until 2027 or later)

Tell me in the comments why I'm wrong about this 🫠

Lest you feel like you can relax now that Q4 is over, I'll remind you that consumers are sitting on BILLIONS in gift cards from various retailers, just itching to spend them. 

Amazon ALONE reports >$5 billion in unused gift card liabilities on its balance sheet each year.

Amazon hasn't yet filed its FYE Dec 31, 2025 annual report yet, but here's the gift card balances sitting on its balance sheet for the past 3 years:

Dec 31, 2024: $5.6 billion
Dec 31, 2023: $5.3 billion
Dec 31, 2022: $5.4 billion

To put this in perspective, if Amazon were a bank, this amount of "deposits" would put it in the Top 10% of largest banks in the country.

#amazon
#amazonfba
#amazonsellers

This is Amazon's 4th attempt at Making Retail Great Again.

Over the past decade, Amazon has tried (and mostly failed) with:

-Amazon Books (bookstores, duh)
-Amazon 4-Star (gift-focused outlet)
-Amazon Go (automated grab-and-go stores)
-Amazon Fresh (mainstream grocery)

I'll go on the record here:

👉  I don't think Amazon will succeed with the big box format.

I think the only shot that Amazon has at winning in physical retail is to copy the Costco warehouse club format, and create an exclusive bulk buying experience for its Prime members.

***
#amazon
#ecommerce
#retail

The big news from CES 2026 that *no one* is talking about...

👉  Amazon is pivoting from a "hardware-first" strategy to an "AI-services-first" model

And the cornerstone of this pivot is the launch of Alexa.com, which brings the generative AI-powered Alexa+ directly to people's browsers.

Here's why this matters:

1) For the first time, users do not need an Echo speaker to enter the Alexa ecosystem. 

By launching a web-based chat interface at Alexa.com, Amazon is moving into direct, side-by-side competition with ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

2) Amazon's differentiator isn't just "smarter" conversation; it's the ability to execute workflows (particularly shopping-related workflows). 

Alexa+ is being positioned as a "personal chief of staff".

3) This will further fuel the Amazon Prime flywheel.

Alexa+ will cost $19.99/month as a standalone subscription. BUT: It is included for free with an Amazon Prime membership.

At roughly $240/year for the standalone AI vs. the $139/year Prime membership, Prime becomes an even more obvious value proposition for heavy AI users.

#ces2026
#amazon
#amazonalexa

Amazon's big announcement at CES is that it is pivoting from a "hardware-first" strategy to an "AI-services-first" model. 

taplio

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The Battle

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