Case Study
A Premium DTC Fragrance Brand: $70K to $329K/Month in 10 Months
A premium fragrance brand with strong Shopify traction, translating existing DTC brand equity into Amazon growth without sacrificing positioning or margin.
$329K+
Monthly Revenue
In 10 months
73K+
Total Orders
Fulfilled
15.2%
TACOS
Up from 2.8%
42-45%
Organic Share
Held stable
The Situation
This brand didn't have a demand problem. It had a distribution problem. Customers already knew the brand and sought it out. The DTC channel was performing well. But a growing share of those customers were searching on Amazon, and the brand wasn't there to meet them.
Launching on Amazon in beauty and personal care is expensive for premium brands. CPCs are high. Mass-market competitors dominate top positions with lower prices and deeper review counts. And premium pricing requires education, not impulse, because shoppers need to understand why a fragrance costs more before they'll convert.
The brand entered Amazon with something most cold launches don't have: existing brand search demand. People were already searching for it by name. The challenge was capturing that existing demand while building the paid infrastructure to expand beyond it.
What We Found
The initial TACOS was 2.8%, almost entirely organic revenue from brand-name searches. That number told us two things: the brand had real DTC equity translating to Amazon, and the brand was leaving non-brand demand entirely on the table.
The risk of staying at 2.8% TACOS was that the brand would remain a DTC spillover channel, capturing only customers who already knew the name and searched for it directly. To build Amazon into a genuine growth engine, the brand needed to invest in non-brand discovery, category keyword ranking, and competitive positioning. That investment would push TACOS up. Deliberately.
What We Did
The foundation came first: conversion-optimized PDPs built from scratch for Amazon's search algorithm and for conversion. SEO-optimized titles, bullets, and backend terms. A+ content and a storefront designed for both branded and generic search journeys. Premium visuals that communicated the brand's positioning without requiring the shopper to already know it.
Then a phased PPC build designed around this brand's specific situation: a brand with existing equity that needed to expand, not a cold launch that needed to prove product-market fit.
Phase 1
Launch Phase
A wide net: auto campaigns split by match type, manual campaigns across Broad, Phrase, and Exact, and competitor ASIN targeting from day one. Daily budgets set at 2x expected CPC to accelerate relevance building. The KPIs were CTR and CVR, not ACOS, because the goal was to find which non-brand terms this brand could win, not to optimize prematurely.
Phase 2
Growth Phase
Optimization and scale: Single Keyword Ad Groups for top performers, bid sculpting based on conversion thresholds, Sponsored Brands and Display for reach and branded visibility. Negative targeting deployed early to protect spend efficiency as budgets increased.
Phase 3
Profitability Phase
Consolidation: budget into exact match and branded campaigns, Sponsored Display refined for repeat buyers and competitor audiences, and TACOS-based decisioning (not ACOS alone) to ensure blended margin stayed in range.
The deliberate decision was to let TACOS climb from 2.8% to 15.2% over 10 months. Each incremental point of TACOS represented a specific investment in non-brand discovery and category ranking. The question at each step was whether the paid spend was building organic position. The answer, measured by total revenue growing from $70K to $329K, was yes.
The Results
$70K → $329K+
Monthly Revenue
In 10 months
73,000+
Total Orders
Fulfilled in 10 months
2.8% → 15.2%
Blended TACOS
Deliberate investment
42–45%
Organic Share
Held stable
$56K → $141K
Organic Revenue
Grew in absolute $
10 mo
Timeline
DTC to scaled channel
Monthly Total Revenue
Sep 2024 – Jun 2025
Monthly TACOS
% of Ad Spend to Total Revenue
Monthly Organic vs Paid Revenue
The Takeaway
Most case studies show TACOS going down. This one shows TACOS going up, and that's the more honest story for DTC brands entering Amazon.
If you have existing DTC brand equity, your initial Amazon TACOS will be artificially low because it's almost entirely brand-search revenue with minimal ad spend. Keeping it low means staying small. Growing means investing, and investing means TACOS rises before the organic flywheel absorbs the volume.
The discipline isn't in keeping TACOS low. It's in making sure every point of increase is buying something durable (organic rank, keyword indexing, review velocity) and cutting the spend that isn't.
The organic dollar amount grew from $56K to $141K over 10 months. The organic share decreased because paid grew faster. That isn't a failure. It's the correct pattern for a brand layering paid acquisition on top of existing demand.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Should my DTC brand sell on Amazon if we already have strong Shopify sales?
- If customers are already searching for your brand on Amazon, they're finding competitors instead of you. This fragrance brand entered Amazon with existing brand search demand, since people were already looking for it by name. The initial TACOS was 2.8% because almost all revenue was organic brand search. The question wasn't whether to be on Amazon, but how aggressively to invest in growing beyond brand-search spillover.
- Why would TACOS go up if the strategy is working?
- Because the brand was investing in non-brand discovery. At 2.8% TACOS, the brand was only capturing people who already knew the name. Growing to $329K/month required spending on category keywords, competitor targeting, and awareness, all of which push TACOS up. The discipline is ensuring each incremental point of TACOS buys something durable: organic rank, keyword indexing, review velocity. TACOS going up is the correct pattern for a DTC brand scaling Amazon intentionally.
- How do I translate DTC brand equity to Amazon?
- Start by capturing the demand that already exists. This brand's first-month revenue was 80% organic, consisting of brand-search customers coming from DTC awareness. The conversion foundation (optimized listings, A+ content, storefront) ensured those customers converted. Then phased PPC expanded into non-brand terms, layering paid acquisition on top of existing demand rather than replacing it.
- What happens to organic revenue when you increase ad spend?
- In this case, organic dollar revenue grew from $56K to $141K over 10 months. The organic percentage decreased (from 80% to 43%) because paid grew faster. That's the correct pattern: you're adding a new revenue source on top of existing organic demand, not cannibalizing it. The test is whether organic dollars are growing in absolute terms, which they were.
For Brands Already on Amazon
Amazon Clarity Audit
Seven data sources. One dollar figure: how much is leaking, what it's worth to recover, and the week-by-week plan to fix it. Perfect for DTC brands currently investing in Amazon ads.
For Brands Starting on Amazon
Amazon Launch Plan
Category demand, unit economics, competitive landscape, and a 90-day plan. Modeled before you spend a dime. Designed for DTC brands considering Amazon or looking for a fresh start.