AMAZON

BENCHMARKING
REPORT
Discover Amazon best practice from our
analysis of 100 consumer brands selling on
the marketplace in Europe

June 2020

CONFIDENTIAL
AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: CONTENTS

About the report Best practice examples

Executive summary P3 Product information P13
Methodology P5 Product imagery P19
Scoring criteria P6 Brand content P25
Ranking: the Top 20 brands P7 Seller proposition & competition P30
Top performers per category P8 Customer service P33
Key benchmarks: at a glance P9 SEO ranking P37
The 100 brands we reviewed P12 Localisation P39
Top 10 recommendations P42

This report was researched and compiled by our About Pattern

European team including Misha Pabari, Hannah Where Pattern operates P43
McMullan, Peter Boldt-Christmas and Joanna Perry.
Our Amazon Seller model P44

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AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Thanks for downloading our research into the experience in the world, and we represent brands on Amazon as their
provided by brands selling on Amazon in the UK and Germany. authorised seller; delivering a customer experience of the
We’ve produced this report to highlight key benchmarks for same quality that the brand would strive for if they were
brands’ Amazon presence; and demonstrate best practice selling their product to Amazon and managing their presence
that ensures Amazon’s customers can find a brand’s products on the marketplace through Vendor Central.
and be convinced to hit the buy button. We picked brands that we don’t sell, and who are in the main
doing a good job of selling on Amazon. If we included your
brand and it did not appear in the overall top 20, or the top
Why we are talking about Amazon three for your category, that doesn’t mean you are doing a bad
Why have we undertaken this research? Simply, as we sell job. But there’s always room to do better.
products on Amazon, we wanted this information to optimise The top scoring brand – Arts & Crafts brand Stabilo –
the presence of the brands that we sell. We felt that sharing it achieved 73% of the total marks available in our scoring
would remind many brands who have a direct relationship system. The lowest scoring brand achieved only 19%.
with Amazon of how complex a task it is to continually ensure
that even the product listings for their top products are
optimised to maximise conversion. Category contrast
And what’s our pedigree to define the scoring criteria? Our The biggest eye-opener for us when we reviewed all of the
parent company Pattern is one of the largest Amazon sellers data was the difference in performance at a category level. ►

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AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Beauty category in particular scored very poorly, with listings, with a test-and-learn approach to optimisation.
eight of the 10 beauty brands that we reviewed in the bottom One of the ways this can be achieved is by analysing all
20 brands overall. The average score for beauty brands was customer reviews and customer questions asked, to look for
34%, this compares to an average score of 60% for the top mentions of missing or incorrect product details.
scoring Personal Electronics category.
However, our research shows that if brands are reading
While beauty brands generally invest time and money in the reviews and questions, they certainly aren’t responding to
presentation of their brand, Amazon appears to be the one them. This is also a missed opportunity to give future
sales channel that they are not yet fully utilising to highlight customers confidence that the brand will support them if
their brand and product messaging. there is a problem with their purchase.
Vitamins & Supplements was the next lowest scoring category, Similarly, we found that while most of the brands were selling
with an average score of 44%. The top scoring brand in this at least some of the same top products from Amazon UK on
category didn’t make even the overall top 30 brands. Amazon in Germany, there was much room for improvement in
their localisation of listings. More brands were paying for
Closing the content creation loop sponsored product listings to boost their discoverability on
Amazon.de than were properly localising their listings.
Few brands were delivering best practice product information
or product imagery for all of their listings. We encourage We hope you find the benchmarks and recommendations in
brands to work towards continual improvement of product the next 40 pages of use to optimise your Amazon presence.

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AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT METHODOLOGY

Our scorecard looked for all the key

We analysed the presence of 100
elements of listings best practice that
consumer brands; taking 10 brands
are visible to customers. We analysed
from 10 categories across the UK and
the top three products for each brand;
German instances of Amazon. All of the
and then averaged the results for each
brands have products listed for sale
criteria based on the three product
directly by Amazon in the UK.
scores.

For the localisation elements, each Products were chosen by searching for
brand’s score was based on whether the brand terms and picking those which
products were being sold on the German appeared on the first page in search
instance of Amazon, and how well their results; as these are the products that
product information had been translated customers are most likely to click on
to German. and purchase.

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SCORING CRITERIA: WHAT WERE WE LOOKING FOR?

During the reviews we were particularly looking for:

• Product information – We checked for relevant, detailed and uniform information on product pages, but also how
well product information had been optimised to best-practice standards.
• Product imagery – We assessed whether image stacks adhered to Amazon’s guidelines and added value to the
product information on the page.
• Brand content – We judged how well the content on Amazon represents each brand’s story and pedigree.
• Ratings & Reviews – We calculated each brand’s Average Review Rating and evaluated customer service
management on listings.
• Seller proposition & competition – We judged brands on their fulfilment offering and the average number of
resellers on their listings, as more sellers can be confusing for customers.
• SEO & Keyword Analysis – We researched how prominently each brand appeared in organic search results for its
brand term.
• Localisation – We evaluated whether each brand was listing the same products on Amazon.de, and whether
product listings were being properly translated for the local market.

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 AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: RANKINGS

The top ranking brands in our research

The brands shown here were the
Category Brand Score Category Brand Score top 20 best performers of the
100 brands that we reviewed. For
Arts & Crafts Stabilo 73% Baby Snüz 65%
the full list of brands that we
Personal Electronics ghd 72% Arts & Crafts Faber-Castell 64% assessed please see page 12.
Home & Kitchen Joseph Joseph 70% Sports & Outdoors POLAR 64%
If your brand was scored as part
Electronics Logitech 70% Home & Kitchen Thermos 63% of our research please get in
Baby Nuby 70% Arts & Crafts Staedtler 63% touch and we would be delighted
to share your results with you.
Electronics Libratone 69% Arts & Crafts Moleskine 63%

Toys & Games LEGO 68% Personal Electronics Elvie 63% If your brand was not included,
Pet Supplies Tractive 67% Electronics TomTom 63% then we may still be able to
review it against our scoring
Home & Kitchen BRITA 66% Pet Supplies PetSafe 63%
criteria to help benchmark your
Baby Skip Hop 66% Baby Angelcare 63% Amazon presence. For all
requests please get in touch at:
[email protected]

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AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: RANKINGS BY CATEGORY
Arts & Crafts Baby Beauty Electronics
Brand Score Brand Score Brand Score Brand Score

Stabilo 73% Nuby 70% Erborian 54% Logitech 70%

Faber-Castell 64% Skip Hop 66% Dr.Brandt 42% Libratone 69%

Staedtler 63% Snüz 65% Davines 40% TomTom 63%

Moleskine 63%

Home & Kitchen Personal Electronics Pet Supplies Sports & Outdoors
Brand Score Brand Score
Brand Score Brand Score
Tractive 67% POLAR 64%
Joseph Joseph 70% ghd 72%
PetSafe 63% Garmin 60%
BRITA 66% Elvie 63%
Sure Petcare 62% Slendertone 58%
Thermos 63% Waterpik 61%

Toys & Games Vitamins & Supplements

Brand Score Brand Score

LEGO 68% Bio-Kult 59%

TOMY 57% OptiBac 53%
Ravensburger 54% Viviscal 46%
BetterYou 46% 8
100 BRANDS SELLING ON AMAZON: KEY BENCHMARKS

24% Brand
63% 62% Content
had product titles of a provided uniform and
detailed, value adding linked to a branded
length that is beneficial storefront from all
for Amazon SEO on all information in all product
descriptions product listings
products

21% 49% 56%

added clear, concise and included A+ content
kept similar products
uniform bullet points to on all their product
rooted under parent ASINs
all of their listings listings
to enable browsing across
variations

Product
20%
of brands had all their
Information product listings marked
as Amazon’s Choice

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 100 BRANDS SELLING ON AMAZON: KEY BENCHMARKS

Seller Proposition & Competition Product Imagery

54% 73% 50% 32%

used close-up images included lifestyle
had Amazon winning offered Fulfillment by
to show product photographs as part
the Buy Box on all 3 Amazon for all the
details and features of their image stacks
of their top products products we assessed
for all products for all products

4% 72% 24%
12% 19%
added simple text to included videos
of brands had on of brands had on of brands had on
average 6 or more
secondary images for all within all image
average 0-1 sellers average 2-5 sellers
on their top 3 on their top 3 sellers on their top products outlining special stacks
listings listings 3 listings features or dimensions

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100 BRANDS SELLING ON AMAZON: KEY BENCHMARKS

Search results ranking on the brand term

5%
SEO
0-5 listings
Ranking
28% 9%
21% 74% replied to customer
questions
responded to poor
reviews on their listings
6-9 listings appeared in all
10 of the top
10 organic
search results
for the brand

Reviews &
75% Ratings 87%
2% 25% had an average
of brands had all of the brands had a third-party review rating of 4*
three products ranked first on their seller listing for their and above on all their
appear in the Top 50 brand term in brand as the top listings
Amazon Bestsellers organic search search result
in their category results

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100 BRANDS SELLING ON AMAZON: KEY BENCHMARKS

Localisation
The brands we Dr. Brandt Magnitone Slendertone
reviewed were: Elvie Microplane Smiggle
36% Adaptil
Erborian
Faber-Castell
Moleskine
Montblanc
Snüz
SodaStream
of brands were selling aden + anais Flexi Moov Solgar
Angelcare FOREO Nathan Sonos
all the same products Aveda Frontline NextBase Stabilo
on Amazon in the UK Baby Enstein FURminator Nourkrin Staedtler
and Germany BaByliss Garmin Nuby Steamery
Bambino Mio ghd Nutri Advanced Sure Petcare
Bare Minerals Gibsons Games Olaplex Sweet Dreamers
Belkin GoPro OptiBac The Gro Company
54% BetterYou
BioKult
Hasbro Gaming
Hornby Hobbies
PetSafe
Plantronics
Thermos
TomTom
of brands had Blendtec Hydro Flask Playmobil TOMY
BRITA Infantino POLAR Tractive
28% sponsored products
on Amazon.de
Camelbak
Canon
Jo Malone
Joseph Joseph
Prismacolor
Pureclinica
Ty UK
Virbac
Cat Mate Kerastase Ravensburger Viviscal
of brands localised all Cloud Nine KeySmart Rehband WAHL
their product content Cole & Mason Kiehl's Remington Waterpik
to a best-practice Compex LEGO Robert Welch XLS Medical
Contigo Libratone Royal & Langnickel
standard Crayola Life Extension Sambro
Davines Lintbells Schleich
Dermalogica Logitech Sennheiser
Derwent Lumie Skip Hop

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PRODUCT
INFORMATION

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WHY PRODUCT INFORMATION MATTERS

Your product content determines placement in search results.

Did brands provide useful product descriptions
By providing relevant and complete information on product
for their products?
pages, you can increase product visibility in search results and
sales conversion. Best practice product information helps 4%
customers to find the right product and decide to buy it.
On no products
The majority of brands were delivering best practice product
information – including product title, bullet points and product
description on only some of their products. Most brands (63%) 24%
had product titles of a length suitable for Amazon on all Yes, on all products
products, but only 3% had an optimal number of bullet points
on all of their products we checked. 72%
Similarly, only 24% provided clear, concise and useful product Yes, on some
products
descriptions for all products, and no brands had product
descriptions for all products that were of an optimal length.
We also encourage the use of product variations on listings, to
cross-sell and up-sell related products. 21% of brands utilised
best-practice product variations on all listings, and only 25%
made no use of product variations.

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PRODUCT TITLES

This product title is of a suitable length while being

simple and easy to understand. It also provides
specific model information which is recommended for
certain categories such as Electronics.

15
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS

This is a great example of a product description that is clear,

concise and includes useful information such as special features,
and warranty details.

16
PRODUCT VARIATIONS

While not relevant for all product listings

or categories, keeping similar products
rooted under parent ASINs to enable
browsing of product variations is
considered best practice. It makes
product discovery easier for customers.

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 BULLET POINTS

Bullet points should highlight

product features,
advantages and benefits.

In addition, brands should

consider what terms
customers search for and
ensure these are included in
bullet points to assist with
ranking in relevant non-
branded search results.

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PRODUCT
IMAGERY

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WHY PRODUCT IMAGERY MATTERS

Optimising your images on product listings is crucial to How consistent are brands with their use of
drive conversion on Amazon. Images display on the product images and video?
product search page as well as the product listings
page. High-quality, attractive imagery will help new High quality images 64 27 9
customers discover your products and allow you to
stand out from the millions of other listings already on Text on images 12 49 39
the marketplace.
Only 7% of brands were using the maximum number of Image badges 4 15 81
images on all product listings reviewed. However the
majority of brands (64%) were using high quality images Close-up images 50 30 20
for every shot they had uploaded.
For the other image types, such as pictures with text Lifestyle images 32 39 29
and close-up shots, brands were making use of them
for at least some of their top three product pages. Video 19 32 49
We find product videos aid conversion, and 51% of
brands are using them to help sell some products. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
All products Some products No products

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CLOSE-UP IMAGERY

Close-up images can help significantly with purchase decision where customers cannot physically
touch or try the products. The examples below show some of the brands that did this well.

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LIFESTYLE IMAGERY

Incorporating lifestyle images as part of

your image stack can help to visually
highlight your product’s selling points
and reinforce key brand messaging.
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SIMPLE TEXT & BADGING ON SECONDARY IMAGES

Best practice image stacks should include secondary images with simple text or graphics that
detail dimensions and special features. Similarly, adding badging to secondary images allows
brands to highlight awards and accolades won to increase customer confidence in their products.

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VIDEO CONTENT

A vivid, concise video

can educate
consumers as it
entertains, proactively
demonstrates the
product in use and
answers their potential
questions. It should
increase the likelihood
that visitors to the
page are converted to
customers.

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BRAND CONTENT

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WHY BRAND CONTENT MATTERS

Branded storefronts allow you to create a dedicated Amazon Did the brands have Amazon’s Choice badging for any of
URL for prospective customers to shop from. The multi-page the products we reviewed?
storefront lets you curate brand-specific content to help
shoppers discover your full product selection. 63% of brands in
our research had a branded storefront.
A+ Content enables brands to describe product features using
20%
enhanced images and text placements, to reinforce their key Amazon’s Choice
messaging. When used effectively, A+ Content helps a brand to 29% badge on all three
products
make a stronger first impression; or reinforce its credentials Amazon’s Choice
with consumers who already have awareness of the brand. badge on no
products
56% of brands had A+ Content showing on all of their products
we reviewed. A further 24% had A+ on some of their products, 27%
and only 20% did not employ A+ Content at all. Amazon’s Choice
The Amazon’s Choice badging also provides further legitimacy 24% badge on two
products
to a brand’s product listings, and is given based on a mixture
Amazon’s Choice
of popularity, high review rating and a low returns rate. 71% of badge on one
brands had this badge on at least one of their top three product
products that we reviewed.

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BRANDED STOREFRONT

Branded storefronts help shoppers

discover your product portfolio and
related products on Amazon, while also
showcasing your brand story.

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A+ CONTENT

High quality premium

A+ content uses
integrated videos and
enhanced visuals to
increase consumer
confidence.

By creating A+ Content,
brands can offer
customers a better
digital online shopping
experience.

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 AMAZON’S CHOICE

The Amazon’s Choice badge

supports strong brand
messaging and gives customers
more confidence in their
purchase choices.

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SELLER
PROPOSITION &
COMPETITION

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WINNING THE BUY BOX ON AMAZON

Competition is fierce on Amazon, and as all the brands we How many brands had Amazon winning the Buy
reviewed have products that are sold directly by Amazon with Box on their listings?
the brand managing the listings, we were keen to see how well
brands were competing against third-party sellers who may
also be listing and selling their products.
The Buy Box on Amazon allows customers to make a quick 20%
had Amazon
purchase without considering who they are buying from. winning the Buy
Although largely down to an algorithm, many factors can Box on no listings
contribute to who wins the Buy Box. 46% of brands had third 54%
parties winning the Buy Box on some of their products. had Amazon
winning the Buy Box
Fulfilment is one of the most important aspects of Amazon’s 26% on all 3 listings
proposition to customers, particularly for Prime members. had Amazon winning
Offering Fulfilment by Amazon increases your chances of the Buy Box on some,
but not all listings
winning the Buy Box on listings. For 73% of brands, all of their
top three products were available for Fulfilment by Amazon
(whether Amazon was the seller or not). Not having this
fulfilment option for any of their top three products was only a
problem for 6% of the brands we reviewed.

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COMPETITION FROM THIRD-PARTY SELLERS

Many brands on Amazon are

competing against resellers
on their bestselling products.

Resellers vary in terms of

pricing, packaging, delivery
costs and times, and warranty
offered; which can be
damaging to your brand
reputation and generate
negative feedback for your
products.

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CUSTOMER
SERVICE
PROPOSITION

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WHY CUSTOMER SERVICE MATTERS

Good reviews are key to being a reputable seller on Amazon.

Customer reviews and ratings determine where your products 501 2571
rank on Amazon, and help to increase conversion rates. The lowest average number of The highest average number of
Responding to negative reviews on your product listings helps reviews was for the Vitamins & reviews was for the Toys & Games
you to maintain your brand image and keep customer Supplements category category
satisfaction up.
Customer questions help you to understand what your
audience thinks about your product. They allow brands to How many brands responded?
review their product listings and see where there may be
important information missing. We recommend that brands
address them rather than leaving other customers or third party Poor Reviews 9 58 33
sellers to answer them, who may not give the correct answer.
The majority of brands had poor reviews or a customer question
on at least one of the product pages we analysed. However, the
majority were not addressing poor reviews or replying to Customer Questions 28 64 8
customer questions, reducing the likelihood of visitors to those
pages clicking the buy button.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Responded Didn't Respond Had no questions or poor reviews 34
CUSTOMER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

When answering customer questions on product

listings, it’s important that brands keep their
responses professional to help build confidence
and trust from existing and future customers of
the brand.

35
RESPONDING TO POOR REVIEWS

Customers often
complain about a specific
issue and will expect
brands to provide a
specific answer.

Providing solutions for the

customer is best practice
when responding to poor
reviews.

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SEO RANKING

37
FINDABILITY AND ACHIEVING PROMINENCE IN SEARCH RESULTS

While high placement in search results on non-branded terms How many brands had products in the
can be harder to achieve, every brand should be able to Bestseller rankings for their category?
occupy the top spot for an Amazon search on its own brand
term. The optimal result is for a brand to occupy at least the
top 10 organic results on its brand term; as long as its product 2%
range is large enough for this to be possible. of brands had all products
23% in the Top 50 Bestsellers
Some 74% all brands were occupying all top 10 organic
of brands had some products
positions with their products when we searched on their brand in the Top 100 Bestsellers
term. 21% were occupying between six and nine of the top 10
positions; only 5% were occupying five of the top 10 positions
or less. We also checked how prominent third-party sellers
were in top brand search results; they were winning the Buy
Box for the top product in search results for 25% of brands.
In terms of product findability, past sales breeds future
75%
success. Appearing in the Top 100 category Bestseller lists on of brands had no products
in the Top 100 Bestsellers
Amazon shows both that the product will have sold well in the
past and is likely to continue to rank highly in branded and
non-branded search term results in the future.

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LOCALISATION

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WHY LOCALISATION MATTERS

Amazon’s dominant position for ecommerce sales in several How well did brands localise their product content?
markets means that many brands consider the marketplace as
a shortcut to internationalisation. This is particularly true for
Europe where it is possible to list products in one market and
have them sold on all six European instances of Amazon.
Accurately translating all product descriptions for each market,
8%
of brands had not
and ensuring product pages are optimised with localised localised the product
keywords, is crucial to ensure those products will rank in 28% content on their top 3
of brands localised their ASINs
search results and convert. product content to best
We also looked at whether brands were boosting their products practice standards

in search results with sponsored listings. We were surprised to

see that in many cases brands were paying to sponsor
products so they appeared at the top of search results, but 64%
were not properly localising the product content in their listings; of brands’ had
localised product
to maximise the chance of the consumers converting once they
content that could
had clicked through to the product page. be improved
Only 28% of brands had localised all product content in the
listings we viewed, but 54% had invested in sponsored listings.

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WHAT GOOD LOCALISATION LOOKS LIKE

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AMAZON BENCHMARKING REPORT: TOP 10 RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of our audit we would recommend that all brands selling on Amazon:

• Review their product listings, to ensure they are providing clear, relevant, and detailed product titles, product
descriptions and bullet points to maximise visibility in search results and strong conversion rates.
• Implement an ongoing product content optimisation strategy to allow for continual data-driven improvements to
be made, and ensure that product content drives sales conversion.
• Add to their image stacks using simple text, lifestyle imagery and badging to further highlight product benefits
and attributes, and ensure each image adds value for the customer.
• Consider adding video to at least those products that benefit from being demonstrated in action.
• Align their Amazon brand collateral and messaging with that of other sales channels using A+ content.
• Ensure systems are in place to monitor ratings and reviews, and use the insight generated to improve listings.
• Ensure their Customer Service strategy includes Amazon; so customer questions and negative reviews are
promptly dealt with to build trust and protect brand reputation.
• Inspect listings by third-party sellers, to ensure they are not damaging to the brand’s Amazon presence.
• For products being sold on multiple instances of Amazon, ensure that all content is fully localised for the
market, including descriptions, bullet points, and A+ Content, particularly where listings are sponsored.
• Consider external support to manage their Amazon presence and maximise marketplace sales growth.

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WE ACHIEVE FASTER GROWTH ON AMAZON THROUGH

OUR GLOBAL
REACH
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION
OFFICES CENTRES
Americas Kentucky, USA
Lehi, Utah Utah, USA
Europe Toronto, Canada
London Brackley, UK
Munich (2020 opening) Venlo, Netherlands
Middle East Melbourne, Australia
Dubai
Asia Pacific Third Party Distribution
Hong Kong Dubai, UAE
Guangzhou Hong Kong (Bonded Warehouse)
Shanghai Guandong Province, China
Australasia
Sydney
Melbourne

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Thanks for downloading this report. More ecommerce research
and insight can be found at www.practicology.com

Our parent company Pattern is the leading global marketplace

expert, acting as the authorised Amazon seller for more than
70 brands across North America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle
East and Australia. Pattern buys stock from each brand and
then takes care of everything else required to give them a
market-leading presence and successfully sell on Amazon.

Brands we represent on Amazon around the world include:

Coravin, Feetures, ICONIC London, KONG, PMD, Pure
Encapsulations, Skullcandy and Whittard of Chelsea.

For more information on how we could support you in

developing your marketplace strategy, please contact us at
[email protected]

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