Amazon DSP doesn't fail because it's a bad channel. It fails because the wrong p
By George Barnett Reid 👀 · March 4, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon DSP doesn't fail because it's a bad channel. It fails because the wrong person is running it.
Here's what practitioners are seeing in 2026: DSP works well for high-AOV products ($30–40+), consumables with repeat purchase cycles, and lifestyle brands with margin to absorb CPM costs. For low-priced commodities under $15–20, the math simply doesn't close.
That's not a DSP problem. That's a strategy problem.
Most agencies running DSP for your brand aren't making that call. They're running playbooks. Same audience segments, same retargeting windows, same reporting cadence — regardless of your category or your margins.
A senior Amazon ads manager embedded in your business knows your unit economics. They know when DSP is the right tool and when it isn't. They're not billing hours to justify the channel.
We've placed managers through Pare who've shut down DSP spend on day 30 because the category didn't support it. That decision saved one brand $40K in a quarter.
An agency would have optimised the campaign instead.
If you're spending on DSP without someone who can model true incrementality by category, you're guessing with real money.
We're placing senior Amazon advertising managers now — pare.so
#itsalwaysdayone #AmazonAdvertising #AmazonPPC