E-Commerce
The marketplace-native incumbent in your category looks unbeatable — more reviews, more ad budget, a head start you can’t buy back — and trying to match it dollar for dollar is how mid-market brands burn margin on revenue that doesn’t survive their P&L. But that advantage is generic, spread across the whole category and defended by brute-force spend. We win the slice you’re uniquely the right answer for: Amazon strategy and Shopify builds that out-position the incumbent instead of outspending it, and grow a number that’s yours to keep.
Out-position the incumbent, don’t outspend it.
From the outside, the incumbent looks impossible to catch — and the instinct is to match its spend, which is exactly how you buy revenue that evaporates at the bottom line. But that lead is generic: it’s smeared across the entire category and held up by budget, not by being the right answer to any particular buyer. Out-position it and the math changes — you grow without matching the ad budget, on relevance instead of brute force, and you keep the margin. So we lead with positioning before bidding: decide where you’re uniquely the right answer, then put budget only there. On Amazon that’s catalog architecture, listings written to convert, and advertising aimed at the terms where your margin and relevance both hold — the ones an incumbent overpays for and the ones it ignores. On Shopify it’s the channel you actually own: a store engineered to convert and a customer file you keep, because marketplace traffic is rented and an owned channel compounds.
On Amazon, that means treating the marketplace as a strategy problem, not a listing problem. Catalog architecture, search-term and competitive analysis, listings written to convert rather than just rank, and advertising structured around the keywords where your margin and your relevance both hold up. We don’t chase impressions you’ll lose money on. We find the terms an incumbent overpays to own and the ones it’s ignoring, and we compound a ranking position there until visibility starts working for you instead of against you.
On Shopify and DTC, we build the channel you actually own. A store engineered to convert — merchandising, page architecture, checkout, and a CRO program that tests the moments that move revenue — backed by the customer relationships marketplaces never let you keep. Marketplace traffic is rented; an owned channel compounds. The goal is a DTC engine that turns first orders into repeat ones and a customer file you control, not a list Amazon controls for you.
And we protect margin the whole way. It’s easy to buy revenue that doesn’t survive contact with your P&L. We’d rather grow a number that’s yours to keep: pricing held with intent, ad spend aimed where it earns its place, and channel mix weighted toward the orders that build a durable business — not the ones that look good in a topline and disappear at the bottom.
Position before bidding.
Audit
We read where you actually stand before recommending a single move. That means analyzing your marketplace performance, the competitive landscape, and the conversion path — where you’re losing to better-reviewed incumbents, where listings or store pages leak buyers who were ready to purchase, and where ad spend is chasing impressions that don’t survive your P&L. You give us access to your Amazon and Shopify data, your margins, and your current ad accounts. The deliverable is a clear picture of the incumbent’s real advantage versus the parts of it that are just generic spend you don’t have to match. It matters because the rest of the engagement depends on knowing exactly which fights are winnable — and which ones are the incumbent’s to keep.
Strategy
We decide where you’re uniquely the right answer before any budget moves. Rather than try to match an incumbent across the whole category, we identify the sub-categories, search terms, and keyword territory where your margin and your relevance both hold — the slice you can win and defend — and set the pricing and positioning to take it. You bring your margin floors, your differentiation, and your growth targets; we translate them into a concentrated plan for where to compete and where to deliberately not. The output is a positioning and pricing strategy with a specific target territory, on Amazon and on your owned DTC channel. This is the step that lets you grow on relevance instead of brute force, and keep the margin while you do it.
Build / optimize
We fix the foundation so every ad dollar lands on a page that wins. On Amazon, that’s catalog architecture, listings rewritten to convert rather than merely rank, and the search-term work that earns ranking in your target territory. On Shopify, it’s merchandising, page architecture, and checkout, plus a CRO program that tests the specific moments that move revenue. Only once the pages convert do we layer in advertising — structured around the keywords where margin and relevance both hold, including the terms an incumbent overpays for and the ones it ignores. You review listings, store changes, and the ad approach before they go live. Spending into a page that doesn’t convert is how budgets evaporate; this step makes sure it doesn’t.
Scale
We compound the position instead of renting growth. That means pushing the ranking you’ve earned in your target territory until visibility starts working for you, building the owned DTC relationships marketplaces never let you keep, and weighting the channel mix toward orders that survive your P&L rather than topline that looks good and disappears at the bottom. You see margin-aware reporting — not just revenue, but which channels and orders actually build a durable business — and we shift spend accordingly. The point is a number that’s yours to keep: a category ranking you hold, a customer file you control, and repeat orders that turn first purchases into a compounding engine. Marketplace traffic is rented; this is the part where we build the asset you own.
What this earns you.
Marketplace share taken from an incumbent without matching its budget — on Amazon, Doudlah Farms beat marketplace-native incumbents on their own turf and grew daily sales from roughly $700 to $3,000 over 24 months, $679K in revenue and a #1 category ranking, at a 3.42× average ROAS. Won on position, not spend.
Demand you own instead of rent — for Citrus America that meant claiming its category with organic traffic up 340%, visibility that keeps working after the ad spend stops.
A DTC channel that compounds — repeat orders and a customer file you control, not a list the marketplace controls for you.
Margin that survives the growth, because spend is weighted toward orders that hold up in your P&L, not topline that evaporates at the bottom line.
Brands that out-positioned the incumbent.
Selected work
Out-positioning marketplace incumbents on Amazon
Doudlah Farms
Beat marketplace-native incumbents on their own turf without matching their ad spend — daily sales grew from roughly $700 to $3,000 over 24 months, $679K in revenue, a #1 category ranking, and a 3.42× average ROAS.
Read the case study →
A demand engine to claim a category
Citrus America
A commercial-equipment brand that stopped renting visibility and built demand it owns — claiming its category with organic traffic up 340%.
Read the case study →
E-commerce builds run $10,000–$40,000. Marketplace retainers run $3,500–$9,000 per month. Project scope and retainer structure vary by channel mix and operational complexity.
Frequently asked questions
What does e-commerce work cost?
E-commerce builds run $10,000–$40,000 and marketplace retainers run $3,500–$9,000 per month. Project scope and retainer structure vary by channel mix and operational complexity.
How do we compete with a marketplace incumbent without matching its budget?
An incumbent's advantage is generic — spread across the whole category and held up by spend. We win the slice you're uniquely the right answer for: catalog architecture, listings written to convert, and advertising aimed only at the terms where your margin and relevance both hold. Out-position it instead of outspending it.
Do you build on Amazon, Shopify, or both?
Both. On Amazon we treat the marketplace as a strategy problem — catalog, listings, and targeted advertising. On Shopify we build the channel you actually own: a store engineered to convert and a customer file you keep, because marketplace traffic is rented and an owned channel compounds.
Tell us what you need.
Two minutes. Five fields. Describe what you’re looking for and we’ll get back to you within one business day with a sense of scope, timing, and next steps.
/services/capabilities/ecommerce/ · Capability 06