Marketplace Marketing Case Study
Marketplace Marketing · Amazon & Flipkart Ads · Listing Optimization

Marketplace Marketing Case Study: Launching a Skincare Brand on Amazon & Flipkart

Skincare & personal care (D2C) · India · 4 months

Project Overview

Industry:

Skincare & personal care (D2C)

Service:

Marketplace Marketing (Amazon & Flipkart)

Objective:

Establish and grow a profitable presence on Amazon and Flipkart for an existing D2C skincare brand, capturing the significant share of skincare buyers who search and purchase directly on marketplaces rather than brand websites.

This project ran as a separate channel alongside the brand's existing D2C website, with its own listings, search optimization, and advertising — not a redirect of website traffic.

The Challenge

The brand had a working product range, an established D2C presence, and real customer reviews from its own website, but none of that existed on Amazon or Flipkart yet:

No product listings existed on either marketplace, meaning zero visibility to buyers who search and shop there directly

Marketplace search behaves differently from Google — buyers search by ingredient, skin concern, and product type in ways that needed dedicated keyword research, not reused website SEO terms

No reviews or ratings existed on either platform, and marketplace buyers rely heavily on visible social proof before purchasing

No experience running Sponsored Products or marketplace-specific ad formats, which operate differently from Meta or Google Ads

Listings, once created, needed to compete directly against established competitor brands already ranking for the same core search terms

The challenge wasn't brand or product credibility — both existed already — it was that none of it was visible inside the two platforms where a large share of the category's buyers actually search first.

Research & Discovery

Before creating any listings, we researched how buyers actually search and buy within each marketplace specifically:

  • • Amazon and Flipkart keyword research, separate from the brand's existing website SEO keywords, since marketplace search behavior and terminology differ (buyers search "vitamin c serum for dark spots," not necessarily brand or generic category terms)
  • • Competitor listing audit on both platforms — pricing, imagery style, bullet point structure, and review volume for directly competing products
  • • Category and sub-category placement review, to ensure listings would appear under the most relevant, highest-traffic browse categories
  • • Review of each platform's specific content and image requirements, since Amazon and Flipkart have different technical specifications for listing content
  • • Early customer base review, to identify existing happy customers who could be approached for early marketplace reviews once listings went live

This stage showed that marketplace search intent skewed more toward specific skin concerns (dark spots, tanning, dullness) than product names, which shaped both listing copy and ad keyword targeting.

Marketplace & Measurement Setup

Before launching listings or ads, we set up tracking specific to each platform, since Amazon and Flipkart report performance differently from a brand's own website:

  • ✓ Amazon Seller Central and Flipkart Seller Hub set up and configured for both listings and performance reporting
  • ✓ Baseline search ranking position recorded for core target keywords on both platforms, before listing optimization began
  • ✓ Sponsored ad account structure set up separately for Amazon and Flipkart, with campaign-level tracking to measure ACoS (advertising cost of sale) independently on each platform
  • ✓ A simple weekly export process to consolidate marketplace order and ad spend data, since neither platform's native dashboard reports in the same format as the brand's own GA4 data

This made it possible to report marketplace performance on its own terms, rather than forcing it into the same metrics used for the website.

Proven Case Study Impact
Marketplace Marketing: +640 Marketplace Orders Per Month

A second, growing sales channel on Amazon and Flipkart, built and measured independently from the brand's D2C website.

Marketplace Marketing Strategy

1. Marketplace-Specific Listing Optimization

Rewrote product titles, bullet points, and descriptions around real marketplace search terms identified in research, rather than reusing website copy, and rebuilt product imagery to meet each platform's specific technical and content requirements.

2. Review Generation for Early Social Proof

Reached out to existing happy D2C customers to request early marketplace reviews once listings went live, since marketplace buyers rely heavily on visible ratings and review count before purchasing a new-to-platform product.

3. Sponsored Products Campaigns, Platform-Specific

Launched targeted Sponsored Products campaigns on both Amazon and Flipkart, built around the same concern-based keywords identified in research, with campaigns and budgets managed and measured separately per platform.

4. Category & Browse Placement Optimization

Ensured listings were placed in the most relevant, highest-traffic browse categories on each platform, rather than leaving default or overly broad category assignment in place.

What We Did & When

Month 1 — Audit & Account Setup
Set up Amazon Seller Central and Flipkart Seller Hub accounts, conducted marketplace keyword and competitor research, and recorded baseline data.
Month 1–2 — Listing Creation & Optimization
Built and published optimized listings on both platforms, with platform-specific copy, imagery, and category placement.
Month 2 — Review Generation
Reached out to existing customers for early reviews, to build initial social proof ahead of scaling ad spend.
Month 2–3 — Sponsored Ads Launch
Launched Sponsored Products campaigns on both platforms, targeting concern-based keywords identified in research.
Months 3–4 — Monitoring & Refinement
Reviewed ranking position, ACoS, and order volume by platform monthly, reallocating ad spend toward the better-performing platform and keywords.
Before After
No presence on Amazon or Flipkart Live, optimized listings on both platforms
No marketplace-specific keyword research Listings built around real concern-based search terms
No reviews or ratings on either platform Early review base established from existing customers
No marketplace advertising experience Sponsored Products campaigns running and measured per platform
Listings would start on default category placement Optimized browse category and search placement
Results

Growth came from treating each marketplace as its own channel with its own search behavior and ad format, not from copying website SEO and ads onto a new platform.

Measured over 4 months. Source: Amazon Seller Central, Flipkart Seller Hub, marketplace ad dashboards. Illustrative figures pending real campaign data.

+640
Marketplace Orders Per Month — Amazon and Flipkart combined, month 4 vs. launch.
+70%
Organic Marketplace Search Ranking — share of core target keywords reaching page 1 placement, across both platforms.
3.2x
Return on Marketplace Ad Spend — calculated from ACoS (ad spend ÷ ad-attributed revenue) on Sponsored Products campaigns.
4 Months
Measurement window — Amazon Seller Central, Flipkart Seller Hub, marketplace ad dashboards, with per-platform tracking.
Business Impact
The brand established a second, growing sales channel on the two platforms where a large share of skincare buyers search and purchase directly — without pulling focus or budget away from its existing D2C website, since each channel was built, optimized, and measured independently.
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