No CommentsAmazon is a vital element of the ecommerce mix for brands and retailers. It’s also an ever-changing ecosystem that demands ample time and resources to remain competitive in. As Amazon continues to grow, and new channels, competitors, and tools emerge in the world of ecommerce, the complexities of standing out on one of the world’s most influential digital marketplaces can be overwhelming.
In this post, we’ll explore the biggest challenges brands face when it comes to selling on Amazon. We’ll also review real-world results for leading brands, retailers, and agencies that use Jungle Scout Cobalt to overcome those challenges.
Common challenges for brands and retailers on Amazon
Selling on Amazon comes with a wide range of daily hurdles, from time-consuming reporting and analysis, to managing advertising campaigns, to tracking trends and competitors effectively. For large brands and retailers, as well as the agencies they partner with, managing expansive catalogs and multiple brands only adds to the challenge.
Jungle Scout’s State of the Amazon Seller report reveals the biggest challenges that brands and retailers face on Amazon.
Top 10 business challenges for brands and retailers on Amazon
- Product research
- Getting customer reviews
- Managing advertising
- Increasing market share
- Managing finances
- Optimizing product listings
- Finding a supplier
- Branding
- Managing inventory
- Protection from hijackers/counterfeiters
Solutions for easier, more effective Amazon channel management
To overcome the hurdles of such a dynamic and competitive marketplace, teams need reliable data in an accessible format. They also need tools that make research, reporting, and optimization faster and easier. To find both, many of the world’s leading brands, retailers, and agencies turn to Jungle Scout Cobalt to capitalize on market trends, increase advertising impact, improve profitability, and maximize sales on Amazon.
“Cobalt has helped us reach entirely new levels and goals that we never thought we’d achieve.” – Amir Shwana, Listing Optimization Specialist, Reach Brands
“Working with Cobalt has truly changed the way our agency works within the Amazon landscape for the better.” – Kyle Kutchman, Senior Search Strategist, Code3
“Cobalt is great because it gives the benefit of business intelligence in an easy to digest, actionable way.” – Thomas Michael Carello, Marketplace Coordinator, Enzymedica
Real-world results from brands, retailers, and agencies using Jungle Scout Cobalt
Less time spent on reporting & recurring tasks
Cobalt includes user-friendly dashboards, consolidated data, and automation tools. Each of these features help users achieve significant time savings on recurring and manual tasks like conducting market research, building reports, and optimizing advertising campaigns.
Companies like Code3, LSM Global, Libman, Tractive, Caleres, and Reach Brands save time in preparing for critical sales events like Prime Day, and reclaim hundreds of hours per year to focus on revenue generation and strategic efforts.
Tractive gains back over 500 hours annually by using Cobalt to set up granular reporting dashboards and analyze data.
LSM Global saves 20 hours per week by using Cobalt to automatically import data into weekly reports for clients.
“Cobalt’s reporting is top notch and has really allowed us to create more detailed and professional reports for our clients. It gives us real, actionable data to discuss that has a direct impact on sales, and has helped us and our clients spend wisely and efficiently on advertising.” – Dan Nowak, Director of Merchandising, The Resource Group Midwest
“Previously, it took 3-5 days to optimize our Amazon listings. With the help of Cobalt, I am able to optimize 10 listings in one work day.” – Josh Eiker, Ecommerce Analyst, Libman
Greater returns on advertising investments
By leveraging Cobalt’s advertising tools and automation capabilities, businesses see significant gains in key metrics like return on ad spend (RoAS), attributed sales, cost-per-click, and more. Brands and agencies like Fulton Imports, Lineau, iFit, and Pirawna say Cobalt is an essential part of maximizing returns on their Amazon advertising investments.
Fulton Imports reduced total cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by $4.15 by using Cobalt to optimize Amazon advertising campaigns.
Lineau increased ad sales 177% month-over-month by using Cobalt’s automation tools to reach aggressive RoAS growth goals.
“Jungle Scout Cobalt helps us understand the limitations of our budget and bidding. This helps us know how we can raise budgets and bid competitively at a profitable level.” – Megan Bitton, Paid Search Strategist, iFit
“Cobalt informs every strategic decision I make, allowing me to embark on new campaigns with data in my back pocket to ensure success. I wouldn’t make new campaigns without it!” – David Farias, Brand Growth Strategist, Pirawna
Increased market share & visibility
With Cobalt’s unparalleled insight into market trends, paid and organic share of voice, and historical data, customers have grown their market share and increased visibility to stay competitive on Amazon.
Brands like MasterPieces, alongside agency partners like Code3, have improved their ownership of important keywords, increased market share by as much as 10%, and gained valuable context to help them track and understand the trends that impact product sales and brand visibility.
Code3 increased a client’s share of voice (SOV) by 5x for high-volume keywords by using Cobalt to track SOV trends and optimize ad campaigns.
MasterPieces, Inc. increased owned search results placements by 500% and grew average monthly sales by 213% by using Cobalt to identify new data-driven paid and organic strategies.
“Having a tool like Cobalt helps us to put context around a brand’s growth, whereas we wouldn’t have that understanding otherwise.” – Sam Jennings, VP of Operations, Code3
“When it comes to the Toys and Games industry, there are so many different categories that fit within it. Jungle Scout Cobalt helped our company strategize so customers can easily navigate to our products.” – Michelle Lewis, Ecommerce Specialist, Goliath Group
Stopping unauthorized sellers & overtaking competitors
Unauthorized resellers, emerging competitors, and established market leaders can quickly funnel sales away from brands and retailers. By providing the necessary data to accurately identify and track competition on Amazon, Cobalt has helped brands like Rawlings and Wahl put themselves ahead of competitors, and reclaim sales by defending against unauthorized third-party sellers.
Rawlings improved lost Buy Box by 70% on Amazon by using Cobalt to identify and stop unauthorized resellers.
Wahl grew sales of a newly launched product by 80% by using Cobalt to analyze and overtake competitors.
“Using Jungle Scout Cobalt has been eye-opening for our approach to Amazon, allowing us to stop ‘flying blind.’ The market insights data helps us track how our competitors are performing and identify opportunities for our own products and strategy.” – Felipe Soares, Digital Marketing Manager, Goal Zero
“Cobalt provides full visibility into how our business performs on Amazon against our competition, providing the knowledge needed to execute our strategy and meet company KPIs.” – Laura Taylor, National Account Coordinator, Wahl
Increased sales & revenue
Detailed market data is the key to uncovering valuable opportunities to improve performance and increase profitability. Brands like Escalade Sports, Libman, and ExpressMed have used Cobalt insights to adjust their strategic approach to the Amazon channel and fuel impressive sales and revenue boosts.
Escalade Sports increased revenue by 10% by using Cobalt to conduct market research and adjust their Amazon strategies.
Libman increased total sales on Amazon by 60% by using Cobalt to analyze performance and uncover opportunities for improvement.
“Cobalt has been a helpful program for understanding sales trends over time. It allows for a good representation of the trends over time, and we use it regularly to help guide inventory planning and procurement.” – Travis Huber, Sr. Business Development Analyst, Weisser Distributing
“Upgrading to Cobalt was one of the best decisions we’ve made as a business to grow within categories on Amazon and expand into high opportunity segments.” – Jillian Brandon, Business Development & Creative Design Manager, ExpressMed
Agency growth & stronger client relationships
In addition to leveraging Cobalt to fuel growth for existing clients, ecommerce agencies use Cobalt data to find and win new clients. By using Cobalt to identify emerging brands and build persuasive presentations outlining opportunities for growth, agencies like Commerce Canal, Cartograph, and Assembly Global have welcomed new clients to their portfolios.
Commerce Canal won 10 new ecommerce clients with a gross merchandise value of $40M using Cobalt data.
Cartograph grew its business portfolio by 20% by using Cobalt data to show prospects how they could grow their brands on Amazon.
“Cobalt is essential to our marketplace team’s success. From monitoring share of voice for existing clients to curating valuable data for pitch opportunities, we are in Cobalt on a weekly basis extracting insights that drive conversation in our reporting and presentations.” – Joanna Galysh, Associate Account Director, Marketplaces, Assembly Global
“Cobalt has been tremendous in not only gathering data for ourselves, but in being able to report it when looking to bring in clients. With Cobalt data we can provide insight that no one else can.” – Kaylah Mullen, Operations Manager, Suburban Street Trading
How to learn more about Jungle Scout Cobalt
Jungle Scout Cobalt is helping brands, retailers, and agencies across the globe stay competitive on Amazon and dedicate more time to strategic planning and execution.
If you want to see how Cobalt can help you save time, maximize sales, optimize ad performance, and more on Amazon, there are two ways to get a look inside our platform:
Contact our team to ask questions and request a personalized demo.
