Hello, this is Brandtribe. In today’s newsletter, we’re discussing a simple framework for deciding when a brand should sell on Amazon or Flipkart, and when it should protect its own site instead.
Ask a founder why they’re not on Amazon, and you’ll usually hear some version of “we want to protect our brand.” Ask a founder why they are on Amazon, and you’ll hear “that’s where the customers are.”
Both are true. Neither is a strategy.
Marketplaces and DTC Solve Different Problems
A marketplace solves a discovery problem. Someone searches for a product category, not your brand, and you show up in front of intent you didn’t have to create.
Your own site solves a margin and relationship problem. You keep the customer data, the full price, and the ability to sell to them again without paying a platform for the introduction.
Treating these as competing channels misses the point. They’re built to do different jobs.
The Real Question Is Where Each Product Sits
Not every product in your catalog belongs in the same channel. A commodity-style product — something a customer already knows they want, compares on price, and doesn’t need convincing about — behaves well on a marketplace. The platform sells it for you.
A hero product, something that depends on your story, your packaging, your first-time explanation, loses a lot of that on a marketplace listing. It sells better where you control the page.
The framework isn’t “brand vs. marketplace.” It’s “which products need me to make the sale, and which ones just need to be found.”
Marketplace Margin Isn’t Just the Commission
The obvious cost of marketplace selling is the commission, often 15-20% depending on the category. That’s the easy number to see.
The hidden cost is pricing pressure. Once you’re listed next to competitors on price, you’re pulled into a race you didn’t choose to run, and it quietly resets what customers expect to pay everywhere, including your own site.
That second cost is usually bigger than the first.
DTC Margin Comes With Its Own Bill
Protecting your site doesn’t mean protecting your margin automatically. Customer acquisition on your own site costs money too, usually more than a marketplace’s built-in traffic.
The difference is what you get for that spend. A marketplace sale ends at the transaction. A DTC sale gets you a customer you can email, retarget, and sell to again without paying for discovery a second time.
DTC margin is a bet on the second and third purchase, not just the first.
A Simple Way to Split the Catalog
Most brands that get this right end up with a rough split: proven, easy-to-understand products go on marketplaces to capture volume and discovery, while newer, higher-story, higher-margin products stay DTC-only to protect price and build the relationship.
The split isn’t permanent. A product can graduate from DTC-only to marketplace once its story doesn’t need explaining anymore.
Final Thought
The brands that struggle with this decision are the ones trying to pick one channel forever. The brands that get it right treat the decision product by product, and revisit it as each product matures. Marketplace isn’t a betrayal of the brand, and DTC isn’t automatically safer. Each one is just a tool for a specific job.
Don’t ask “Amazon or our site.” Ask “what does this product need to sell — discovery, or a relationship.”
Reply and tell us: how do you decide which products go where?
Until next newsletter.