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Online retail giant Amazon.com recently marked the first year of offering its Amazon Exclusives program. It promotes this section of its marketplace as offering unique items exclusively through Amazon and some selected sellers, with items ranging from Bluetooth earbuds to wool hats on display.

Kyle Walker of Amazon Exclusives told EcommerceBytes the program is open to both new and established sellers who "could benefit from a new sales channel and additional merchandising." Sellers who join the program agree to sell only on Amazon and on their own websites or retail stores.

These brands do not have to contract with Amazon for a set period of time. "We believe great partnerships are because both parties want to be there. We work hard to make it easy for brands to do what they do best and let us help get their products in front of Amazon customers," Walker said.

A couple of the company's Amazon Exclusives sellers shared thoughts on their experience with the program with EcommerceBytes. On the topic of key points of difference between Amazon's program and others, Stephan Aarstol of Tower Paddle Boards cited building a brand identity as benefiting from Amazon Exclusives placement.

"When you start selling on marketplaces, any marketplace, you tend to see other's start selling your products even when they are unauthorized. It's kind of the Wild West and there is no great way to stop them and protect your brand," Aarstol said. He cited how Amazon knows only his company sells their brand and protects them from non-authorized sellers.

Christine Boerner of Cielo Pill Holders credited the support of the Amazon Exclusives team in finding new ways to reach customers. Boerner noted merchandising and international expansion as accelerating her company's growth "beyond what I could have imagined."

Both entrepreneurs gave high marks to Amazon for connecting their target customer base to their Exclusives presence. "I've actually been more focused on working with the Exclusives team to reach Amazon's existing customers," said Boerner. "The Sponsored Ads on Amazon have had a hugely positive impact for Cielo."

Aarstol said of Exclusives that "we see bringing in the traffic to our products as Amazon's job now. Before, we were trying to learn how to best leverage what was available to us and competing with everybody else in the category." He noted the partnership with Exclusives "is about reaching the one third of all ecommerce transactions that are just going to go thru Amazon no matter what."

This is in line with his firm's strategy on "creating a better value proposition and then making it findable. We see this as the real marketing that is working today, and really the only marketing that works in the long term."

As noted earlier, companies can sell on their own sites while being part of Amazon Exclusives. "We sell Epoxy paddles boards that are 12 feet long and need to go via freight. We only sell these direct thru our website and in our San Diego store. They wouldn't work selling them thru Amazon Exclusives," Aarstol said.

"I believe they're relaxing those requirements a little bit now," Boerner said of selling only on Exclusives and one's own website. "But I've seen such good success I wouldn't want to exclude any of my line-up from the Exclusives support."

"I was actually about to launch with a big-box retailer the week I signed with Amazon, and I pulled out of the deal," said Boerner, who also noted the initial trial period would only be six months with Amazon. "Merchandising support from the Amazon completely blew away any other distribution I was looking at."

The two companies have enjoyed growth since signing on with Exclusives. Boerner's firm joined the program in August 2015. "Excluding some pretty amazing merchandising opportunities (for example, Cielo was featured as one of the 12 Days of Gifting during the Holidays), my base business has more than doubled since I started the program last August," she said.

Aarstol said his company was the first brand worldwide to sign up for Amazon Exclusives in January 2015. After enjoying $2 million in sales in 2014 through Amazon, his business did $3.2 million in 2015. "We expect things to really take off in the coming years," he said.

Knowing more now than they did at the start, both ecommerce pros expressed similar desires to be even more aggressive with some strategies. Aarstol said his company will focus on new product development. "It took us a year to get out 2 new categories and we feel this was too slow."

Boerner would move quickly too, saying, "I'd jump in even faster and not hesitate to try out some of the promotional opportunities. There are so many levers to pull to drive a business on Amazon, and the Exclusives team gives you access to all of them."

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About the author:

David A. Utter is a freelance writer based in Lexington, KY. He has covered technology topics from search to security to online business and has been quoted in places like ZDNet and BusinessWeek. He considers his appearance on NPR's "All Things Considered" with long-time host Robert Siegel a delightful highlight. Send your tips to media@davidautter.com and find him on Twitter @davidautter and on LinkedIn.

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