Marketplace Briefing: What’s driving a surge in Amazon sales for 3 startups 

Modern Retail spoke with three startups — Suri, P.F. Candle Co. and Pretty Tasty Tea — about what they believe is driving their surge in Amazon sales this year. 

Some hypothesize that — in a year when shoppers are even more conscious of value and price — they are looking to more places where they can do “one-stop shopping,” like Amazon. Others say that the “halo effect” from other channels is particularly powerful on Amazon, and that their expansion into physical retail channels has helped fuel outsized growth on Amazon.

Take Suri, a U.K.-based brand that sells electric toothbrushes with a recyclable head. Suri co-founder Mark Rushmore said the company has had a successful year on Amazon, and Prime Day was a prime example of that. In the U.S., Suri’s sales were up 169.5% during this year’s four-day-long Prime Day event, compared to last year’s Prime Day. 

“I think there are a lot of reasons why Amazon converts so well,” he said. 

The omnichannel lift 

Founded in 2020, Suri has been active on Amazon in the U.S. for the past couple of years. Rushmore said that while both its DTC and Amazon businesses are seeing significant growth in the U.S. year over year, its Amazon business in particular is up “massively.” He thinks this is for a few different reasons: One, the brand launched in Target in the U.S. in February. Additionally, earlier this year, Kylie Jenner organically posted a video of herself using a Suri toothbrush, which has driven more than 40 million views. 

Both of those have been helpful in boosting brand awareness. “People trust Amazon as a great source for their shopping,” Rushmore said, especially for highly considered purchases like electronic toothbrushes. (Suri’s “2.0” toothbrush sells for $134.99 on Amazon.) When people discover a brand like Suri for the first time because they see an influencer post about it, or they see it on Target for the first time, discovering that it’s also on Amazon provides a sign of legitimacy, he hypothesizes.

In order to keep its Amazon business growing, Suri has been focused on embracing more of Amazon’s various tools, like Subscribe & Save, coupons, and different badges. Suri has also been running A/B tests using a tool called Keepa, which helps the brand track competitors’ promotional strategies. 

Rushmore agrees that more customers seem to be focused on “value” this year — but said it’s not always about price.

“It’s about what you get for that money, and how good the performance is, how good the brand is and how much it solves my problems,” Rushmore said. “I think people want to know you have a really great value product.” 

In turn, he said, success on Amazon also depends on clearly communicating your value proposition and “making it clearer for the consumer [who may be making a purchase decision] while they’re on the phone.” 

“It’s about making sure that you have legible text on your main image and on your secondary images,” he said. “We’re constantly testing those, and we’ve seen huge conversions and pieces just by optimizing those with best practices.”

The early sales bump 

Pretty Tasty, a beverage brand that boasts an iced tea with 10 grams of collagen, launched just two years ago. It’s soon going to be in 4,000 retail doors nationwide and is already available at CVS and Sprouts. 

While Pretty Tasty has been on Amazon pretty much since its launch, chief brand officer and co-founder Scarlett Leung admits the Amazon business has been “pretty neglected” until recently. She first had to convince her investors — traditional beverage veterans who believe in the power of brick-and-mortar — that there was also value to having a healthy online presence. 

“I think as a younger brand, Amazon is important because a lot of retailers and investors look at your Amazon growth and Amazon ratings to check whether your product is any good and whether it’s a viable business,” she said. 

So, she just brought on the agency Digishop Girl to help her grow her Amazon business. The focus right now is on accumulating as many reviews as possible and investing in Amazon A+ Content. 

Since Pretty Tasty is a young brand that only just started investing more in Amazon, the brand is seeing solid, double-digit sales growth on the channel. But it is also seeing similar growth in other channels, Leung said. 

Amazon’s Subscribe & Save automatic delivery feature has been an important lever for growth, she said, since that’s how many consumers like to shop on Amazon. “I think the Amazon consumer, once they subscribe, they are quite sticky.” 

Overall, she said she believes the typical Amazon shopper is a high-intent customer seeking value. Leung added that she, like many other customers, recently used Prime Day to stock up on essential products that she would have bought anyway. 

“[Amazon] is an easier way to acquire a customer that is already looking for a specific product — like if they are looking for a collagen drink, it’s easier than finding it on Google because you see the ratings and you see that we’re Amazon’s Choice, which is really helpful.” 

The rise of the “one-stop-shopper” 

Historically, Amazon hasn’t been a big focus for the made-in-the-USA candle brand P.F. Candle Co. “Originally we got on Amazon for brand protection because we had unauthorized wholesalers who were putting us on there,” founder and creative director Kristen Pumphrey said. “We don’t have a huge strategy on there. Our e-comm guy just makes sure everything looks good, and he makes graphic assets that are specific for the Amazon shopper.”

But this year, the company’s Amazon business is seeing outsized growth, Pumphrey said. “We’ve seen our e-commerce go down a little bit, but Amazon has made up for it.”

She attributes that in part to a rise in “one-cart shopping behavior.” That is, shoppers want to limit the number of trips they make and are gravitating toward places — whether online or in-person — where they can get everything they need in one fell swoop. “That’s also something we’re seeing with weather patterns. For example, people are not going out in the heat wave, and we’re just meeting them where they are shopping.” 

Customers are also doing much more research to ensure they get the best value. “We did a Prime Day sale, but a couple of weeks later, we did our summer sale on the website,” Pumphrey explained. “ People were looking at those two sales and comparing the costs, and DMing us to ask whether the discount will be better later.” 

And ultimately, Amazon attracts a slightly different type of customer, Pumphrey said. 

“We don’t do Fulfilled by Amazon; we fulfill orders ourselves. So this is a very discerning customer who is more sensitive to the delivery time and pricing,” she concluded.

What I’m reading

• Whatnot acquires Shaped to power real-time live shopping recommendations (TechCrunch) 
• Costco opens first standalone gas station (Retail Dive) 
• Amazon’s push to automate warehouse staffing runs into human resistance (Business Insider)

What we’ve covered

• “Love Island USA” was an advertising machine for NBC Universal this year. 
• Rising gas prices could threaten impulse purchases at convenience stores. 
• Walmart reveals soccer fans’ World Cup shopping habits.