OUTPERFORMING THE CATEGORY: WHAT OUR 2025 AMAZON PORTFOLIO REVEALS
Every brand wants to know if they’re “winning” on Amazon. But in a mature, hyper-competitive marketplace, that’s often the wrong question. Instead, the benchmark brands should be striving to hit is how they’re growing compared to the category average.
Looking at full-year 2025 performance across Front Row’s Amazon portfolio, one thing is clear: brands that treat Amazon as a system (not a standalone channel) are outperforming the market.
A 2025 Performance Snapshot
Using full-year 2025 vs. full-year 2024 YoY Amazon sales growth, we analyzed portfolio-level performance across three core verticals. The results show consistent, cross-category outperformance:
- Health & Wellness: Front Row brands grew 41% YoY, compared to 24% category growth
- CPG: Front Row brands grew 38% YoY, compared to 20% category growth
- Beauty: Front Row brands grew 24% YoY, compared to 19% category growth
These aren’t isolated wins or one-off hero SKUs. This is sustained growth across dozens of brands, thousands of ASINs, and highly competitive categories, all within an environment where incremental gains are getting harder to come by.
Why “Category Average” Is the Wrong Goal
Too many brands treat category benchmarks as a north star. But averages are deceptive and often dangerous.
Category growth reflects legacy incumbents coasting on distribution, brands over-reliant on promotions, and short-term gains that mask long-term erosion. Growing with the category might look healthy on paper, but it often signals missed opportunity. The brands that outperform are the ones creating demand earlier, converting it more efficiently, and compounding gains over time.
What High-Growth Amazon Brands Do Differently
Across our portfolio, the brands that outperform the market share a common operating mindset: they do not treat Amazon as a standalone channel to be optimized in isolation, rather, they design it as a core engine of growth, built to scale over time. And this mindset shows up clearly in how these brands operate.
Amazon as brand governance, not just conversion
High-growth brands decide how they show up before the marketplace decides for them. Brand expression, content, reviews, retail media, and search are designed to work together as a single system rather than competing in silos.
Demand creation before demand capture
Winning brands do not rely solely on harvesting existing demand. They invest in storytelling, differentiation, and off-platform signals that shape consideration earlier and make Amazon conversion stronger and more durable.
Portfolio-level discipline
Instead of reacting SKU by SKU, top performers operate with a category-first strategy. Clear prioritization and consistent execution across the catalog replace reactive decision-making.
Connected systems, not disconnected tactics
Retail media, organic search, content, pricing, and operations are aligned around one objective. Sustainable sales growth takes priority over short-term efficiency spikes.
This is how growth compounds over time. It is also why Front Row brands continue to outpace the market year after year.
What This Means for 2026
As Amazon continues to mature, “average” performance will become increasingly expensive to maintain. Rising competition, media saturation, and margin pressure will punish brands that treat growth as a collection of tactics instead of a system.
Our 2025 portfolio performance makes one thing clear. When brand, demand, and execution are built around Amazon, brands do more than beat competitors. If you’re planning for 2026 and your benchmark is still the category average, it may be time to raise the bar.
Beating the market is a good goal, but outgrowing your category will set the stage for holistic growth.
