How to Spot Declining Categories & Seize Growth Opportunities
When large brands operate at scale, the biggest threats often aren’t the obvious ones. They’re subtle, emerging shifts that slowly gain ground, and often without immediate visibility. That’s especially true in dynamic environments like Amazon, where the platform evolves faster than internal dashboards can keep up.
At Front Row, we observed this pattern with one of our clients, a leader in the FMCG category. While they had performance data, there was one missing piece: market context.
So, we offered them a tailored Market Insights Report: a recurring, category-level view into the brand’s competitive standing across key segments on Amazon.de.
Building the Framework
Before we could dive into the data, we began with a clear and detailed briefing with the client. This way, we made sure that we understood their specific needs and expectations.
Brands often define their product categories in ways that differ from Amazon’s predefined ones, and not every product fits neatly into those categories. That’s why we worked closely with the client to define each category we would report on, taking extra care to tailor these categories to align with their internal structure.
By collaboratively defining what should, and what shouldn’t, be included in the report, we were able to create a customized and actionable market insights report that reflected the client’s business context accurately. Once this groundwork was in place, we began working on the report.
What the Data Revealed
The first edition of the Market Insights Report, covering quarter-over-quarter data, quickly showed its value. While the client maintained strong leadership in several categories, there were critical shifts happening elsewhere:
- In one key category, the client lost notable market share over the previous quarter.
- Meanwhile, in another, they had quietly grown faster than the overall segment, signaling a major opportunity to scale.
- In yet another, the emergence of fast-growing niche players revealed a looming challenge: challenger brands, once invisible, were now scaling aggressively – and winning share.
Turn Findings to Strategy
Our report didn’t just show market share figures. It broke down brand performance, and highlighted shifts in average selling prices. It also flagged new behavioral patterns, such as the growing demand for certain products or the growing importance of alternative pack sizes.
Every data point in our report was actionable. The client used the insights to re-prioritize investments, focusing on product setup and the process of launching new products for identified niches.
Following the success of the first report, the client made our Market Insights Report a quarterly part of their Amazon strategy. Each edition now informs go-to-market planning, internal reviews, and cross-functional decision-making. This in turn helps commercial, marketing, and e-commerce teams stay aligned and forward-looking.
Let Market Insights Drive Your Next Move
What started as a proactive idea is now an integral part of how we support the client’s Amazon strategy.
By combining high-quality market data with contextual guidance, we’re helping brands defend their position and play offense instead of being only reactive. In a marketplace as fast-moving as Amazon, seeing the full picture is a necessity, not a luxury.
If you’re looking to uncover hidden threats, spot emerging opportunities, or simply get a clearer view of where you stand, let’s have a conversation.