Building a $1M+ Amazon Business After Marketplace Barriers

CLIENT OVERVIEW

  • Industry: Fashion Jewelry (Wholesale)

  • Business Stage: Established offline brand, limited Amazon presence

  • Primary Goal: Unlock Amazon as a scalable revenue channel while maintaining profitability

  • Timeframe: ~24 months

The Challenge

The client was a well-established wholesale fashion jewelry business based in New York City with strong offline distribution. However, their transition to Amazon was blocked by a category restriction, preventing them from selling and scaling on the platform.

This created several major issues:

  • Amazon, the largest potential growth channel, was effectively inaccessible

  • Existing product demand could not be captured online

  • Inventory and catalog expansion plans were stalled

  • Long-term ecommerce growth was capped despite strong brand fundamentals

Without resolving the category restriction, Amazon could not become a meaningful or reliable revenue channel.

Strategic Approach

The solution required more than basic Seller Central setup or listing optimization. It demanded a structured, persistent approach to marketplace access and compliance, combined with a long-term operational plan.

Our strategy focused on:

  • Gaining category approval through proper documentation, escalation, and compliance alignment

  • Designing a scalable Amazon catalog structure that could support thousands of SKUs

  • Building operational systems that balanced growth with profitability

  • Treating Amazon as a long-term business channel, not a short-term sales experiment

The priority was to remove structural barriers first, then scale responsibly.

Execution

Once category access was secured, execution focused on building a durable Amazon operation:

  • Catalog & Listing Infrastructure

    • Structured parent/child relationships for large SKU counts

    • Clean variation logic to support long-term expansion

    • Optimized listings designed for discoverability and conversion

  • Operational Scaling

    • Managed and maintained 3,000+ active listings

    • Implemented inventory and catalog systems capable of handling high SKU volume

    • Avoided common fee leakage and structural inefficiencies that erode margins at scale

  • Growth Without Over-Dependence on Ads

    • Emphasis on organic visibility, catalog hygiene, and operational discipline

    • Advertising used selectively rather than as a crutch

This approach allowed the business to grow steadily without sacrificing control or margin integrity.

Results

Over approximately two years:

  • Surpassed $1,000,000 in Amazon revenue

  • Maintained profitability exceeding 30%

  • Scaled to 3,000+ listings without operational breakdown

  • Transformed Amazon from a blocked channel into a core revenue driver

Most importantly, the business built systems that supported continued growth rather than short-term spikes.

Key Takeaways

  • Marketplace barriers can be solved with the right strategy and persistence

  • Scaling on Amazon is as much an operational challenge as a marketing one

  • High SKU counts demand structure, discipline, and planning from day one

  • Sustainable profitability is achievable even at scale when fundamentals are respected

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