Is Amazon’s premium beauty program worth the added cost of 15% of your gross margin?

The biggest benefit of the program is that you get brand gating

You pay a significantly higher referral fee (30% instead of 15%) in order to get that benefit

You also get some added content features like the premium brand store and access to betas

In my opinion, it’s worth the cost if you need brand gating

And how do you determine if you need it?

Every brand wants brand gating

But not every brand needs it, especially at a cost of an additional 15% of your gross margin

Whether you need it depends on two factors that go hand in hand:

1. Distribution off Amazon
2. Pricing on other channels

If you are selling to redistributors, retailers who discount or you have lots of wholesale customers

It can be really hard to control resellers

They can buy at a discount at a retailer and relist the product on Amazon

Or if you use large redistributors, it can be impossible to track and control who buys your products and what price your products are resold at

That’s even if you have a MAP policy

If you end up with a ton of resellers on your listings, it’s much harder to scale

Because they don’t typically advertise

Among other reasons like product quality, customer service, etc.

If you’re struggling with this decision, don’t hesitate to reach out to me