I recently read an email from an Amazon consultant. Same pitch I’ve seen a hundred times: a seller with a great product and solid reviews struggling to compete. PPC costs are crushing margins. Competitors with worse products are winning. The consultant’s advice? Optimize your images, stuff in more keywords, and tweak your A+ content.
The problem? That advice misses the point entirely.
Amazon’s Monopoly Power—and Your Lack of Control
Let’s be honest. Amazon is a monopoly in all the ways that matter. It owns the customer relationship. It controls the search results. It decides what you pay for visibility. And it uses your performance data to launch competing private-label products.
If you're a seller, you’re not a partner—you’re a number. A resource to be mined.
Yet most Amazon advice just teaches sellers how to survive in that system:
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Optimize your listings
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Spend more on ads
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Chase trends and algorithm hacks
That strategy doesn’t give you leverage—it deepens your dependence.
Why That Model Fails Sellers
Every dollar spent on PPC? Amazon profits.
Every keyword optimized? Amazon decides if you show up.
Every customer you convert? Amazon keeps the relationship.
You’re not building a business—you’re feeding theirs.
And that’s the real trap. You don’t own your traffic, your customers, or your margins. Amazon does. Sellers end up renting growth on a platform that gets more expensive every year.
That’s not a business model. That’s a hamster wheel.
What I Did Differently at NewAir
When I was running NewAir, we sold on Amazon. But we never built the business around Amazon.
Instead, we invested in what we could own:
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Our D2C website
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Our customer list
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Our brand story
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Our community
That decision gave us control. We built trust directly with our customers. We created experiences Amazon couldn’t replicate. And it gave us a foundation strong enough to scale, build a leadership team, and exit to private equity on our terms.
What D2C Brands Should Be Doing Instead
If you're a founder trying to grow beyond Amazon, here’s where to focus:
1. Own the Customer Relationship
Build a site on Shopify. Collect emails. Text numbers. Own the data. Build loyalty through content, not coupons.
2. Build a Real Community
Tell your story. Share your mission. Use email, SMS, and social to connect with customers on a human level. People buy from brands they believe in—not just because of price or Prime shipping.
3. Diversify Your Channels
Amazon can be part of your mix—but not the whole thing. Explore niche marketplaces, retail partnerships, and your own channels. The more ways customers can buy, the less Amazon owns your future.
Final Thought: Amazon Isn’t the Strategy—You Are
Amazon is the ultimate middleman. It’s convenient, massive, and in many ways, monopolistic. But for D2C founders, it’s not the path to sustainable growth. It’s a shortcut with a ceiling.
You don’t build a durable business by optimizing for someone else’s platform. You do it by building something they can’t replicate—your customer relationships, your brand, and your strategy.
If you’re tired of Amazon owning the rules, I can help you build a business that breaks free from the trap. Let’s put you—not Amazon—back in control.
