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By Yuki Kinoshita · September 30, 2025 · Curated by George's Blog
"This is the worst knockoff situation I've ever seen"
Is what our Amazon agency told us when they took over our account last year.
And it was true.
There was over a thousand human dog bed listings on Amazon, most selling for half or even a third of our price.
Despite all of this, in 2024 we grew 60%+ YOY and maintained profitability.
So, how did we do survive in the sea of knockoffs?
1. Premium Positioning
Though knockoffs took market share, we maintained sales volume by keeping our premium pricing and offering a significantly better product than the alternatives.
Keeping our pricing meant that we needed to sell less units to maintain higher sales velocity and also meant we acquired more premium customers that would be more likely to be loyal to us.
2. Introduce New Innovations
Our repeat purchase rate doubled in 2024 - driven by launching new products.
Since our customers knew how high quality our bed was, they jumped at the opportunity to buy our new products. Slowly but surely we started taking over their entire bedroom.
Our competitors don't have this moat of customer feedback & community.
3. Wholesale
We leveraged our brand and our story to build relationship with key wholesalers like QVC, GMA Deals&Steals, and Costco. We even did a partnership with Burger King that sold out in days.
This is an area we want to continue pushing in 2026.
The reality is that if you're the first at something, you will be knocked off.
For us, all we can do is focus on what we’re good at and let the copycats race to the bottom.
#dtc #ecommerce #branding #marketing