I've sat in hunderds of Amazon trade meetings and margin is always lost the same
By Ant Finch · August 3, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I've sat in hunderds of Amazon trade meetings and margin is always lost the same way in all of them.
The account manager presents the sales number, +18% YOY. Then everyone relaxes.
Someone else mentions margin is down. There’s a short pause
Then someone says the sentence that kills the conversation..
“Yes, but we’re growing.”
Then the meeting moves on, the margin issue brushed to one side for another month.
Now..the sentence isn’t wrong, growth obviously matters. Amazon will always be a game of scale and walking away from volume has downsides.
But “we’re growing” isn’t an answer to “we’re less profitable.” They're different issues.
The best vendor teams I’ve worked with share both numbers in the same sentence. “We grew 18% and it cost us 2 points of margin..then they discuss if the trade off was worth it and aligned with the plan.
That’s the whole approach you need.. Growth measured in margin.
Most teams won't get their, because commercialising the activity means someone has to own it.
What happened the last time your margin went the wrong way in your trading meeting?
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🚀 I help Amazon vendors increase their margins by 5-20% in 90 days.