For the past decade, the playbook for a growing consumer brand looked something like this: build a strong product, launch DTC, get to scale on Amazon, then maybe expand elsewhere “later.” It was clean. It was measurable. And for a window of time, it worked.
That window is closing.
The brands we work with that are building durable, profitable growth in 2026 have stopped treating Amazon as the destination and started treating it as one channel among many - each with a role, each with a cost of capital, each with a ceiling if it’s carrying too much of the revenue mix.
This isn’t an argument against Amazon. It’s an argument for strategy.
The economics of marketplace dependency
Amazon is no longer a low-cost distribution channel. The average all-in take rate for FBA sellers - referral fees, fulfillment, advertising - now runs 28–32% of revenue, and for many brands it’s creeping toward 35–40% as new fee layers (inbound placement, low-inventory surcharges, 2026 FBA fulfillment increases) stack up. In 2014, Amazon’s cut of seller revenue was roughly 19%. By 2023, reporting pegged it closer to 45% for large segments.
When a single channel takes a third or more of every dollar, and that channel unilaterally controls fee structure, ad inventory, and search placement, brand margin is a passenger, not a driver.
Meanwhile, the consumer has moved on from single-channel shopping. 73% of consumers use multiple channels during their shopping journey. 80% of consumers visit a retailer’s website as part of their in-person shopping journey. Omnichannel customers spend 16% more per order and have a 30% higher lifetime value than single-channel buyers.
The data is consistent: customers are already omnichannel. Brands that aren’t are leaving money on someone else’s table.
What the omnichannel advantage actually looks like
Omnichannel isn’t a buzzword. It’s a measurable operating advantage:
- Companies with highly effective omnichannel engagement show 9.5% annual revenue growth, versus 3.4% for weaker strategies.
- Strong cross-channel brands retain 89% of customers. Weak ones retain 33%.
- Multichannel e-commerce sales are projected to hit $892.4 billion in 2026, up 15% year-over-year.
The financial case is durable growth, better retention, and resilience when any single channel shifts underneath you.
Two brands. Two different starting points. Same lesson.
AULA came to us as a globally recognized brand in its U.S. infancy. Their entire U.S. presence was DTC, Amazon 3P, and TikTok. The ceiling of that model was already becoming visible - marketplace economics were compressing, and social-first selling can scale velocity but rarely scales distribution. We moved them beyond 3P by securing line reviews with the two largest mass retailers in the U.S. The result: 9 new retail partnerships, placement in 2,400+ brick-and-mortar locations for 2026, and a 10x increase in retail sales in the first four months.
FOAM Coolers came from a different angle - a DTC-and-Amazon startup trying to break into physical retail. Same structural problem, different direction. We facilitated expansion into 8 new major partnerships, secured placement in nearly all REI locations nationwide, and orchestrated a 100-store test in Target. A digital startup became a national omnichannel brand in under 24 months.
The common thread is not a retailer or a category. It’s the discipline of not letting any one channel become the brand’s full identity.
How to think about channel mix as a portfolio
A useful way to frame the question: stop asking “what’s working?” and start asking “what’s my channel portfolio?” Every channel has a role:
- DTC gives you first-party data, brand expression, and margin - but caps out without paid acquisition that erodes that margin over time.
- Amazon and marketplaces give you reach, velocity, and search demand capture - at a rising cost of capital.
- Major online retailers (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target.com, Wayfair) give you category credibility and access to buyers already in purchase intent - but require real compliance discipline to win.
- Brick-and-mortar gives you distribution, trial, and the physical presence that still drives roughly 80% of retail dollars in most categories - and makes every other channel work harder.
No single channel is the answer. Every strong portfolio has three or four working together, with the brand aware of what each one is costing, contributing, and at risk of doing if the operating environment shifts.
The strategic question for 2026
If the last ten years were about getting onto marketplaces, the next five will be about earning the right to live everywhere a customer expects to find you. That’s a harder operational challenge. It requires buyer relationships, EDI and compliance competency, item setup across dozens of systems, retail-native advertising, and an inventory model that can flex across channels without collapsing margin.
Most brands are not structurally built for this. The ones that win in 2026 and beyond will be the ones that either build that capability internally (expensive and slow) or partner with people who already have it.
The takeaway
Amazon will continue to be an important channel for most consumer brands. But if it’s carrying 60–70% of your revenue and your margin is quietly eroding as fees climb, you don’t have a growth story - you have a concentration risk.
The brands building real long-term value are diversifying deliberately, with the operational discipline to make every channel earn its place in the portfolio. That’s the work. And it’s the work we do every day.
And then some.
About And Then Some Marketing: ATS is an omnichannel retail performance partner for consumer goods brands, with 20+ years of experience and $2B+ in retail sales supported across e-commerce, marketplaces, and brick-and-mortar. Start a conversation →
