How to launch a DTC store from your Amazon listings

1. Pick the products

Start small. Your best seller goes at the top of the home page, with four or five related products under it. Add the rest of the catalog after the first products are selling.

2. Collect what you own

Gather the photos you shot, the copy you wrote, your A+ images and any videos. These are your materials, and they go on your site.

Leave your Amazon reviews on Amazon and start collecting reviews on your own store from the first order. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews, in force since October 2024, bans fake reviews, buying reviews that must be positive, and hiding negative ones (FTC announcement, 16 CFR Part 465). Collect them honestly from real buyers.

3. Rewrite the copy for your own page

Amazon titles are packed with keywords for Amazon search. On your own page, lead with what the product does for the buyer, then answer the questions your Amazon reviews and messages keep raising: size, fit, setup, what's in the box, how returns work. Tell the story of why the brand exists. That's the part Amazon gives you the least room for.

4. Get your product data right for Google

Google shows products from many stores in free listings when you send a product feed through Merchant Center (Google free listings). The feed needs an ID, title, description, link, image, price and availability for every product, plus the GTIN the manufacturer assigned and your brand name (product data specification). Use the same GTINs and UPCs you use on Amazon, and never make one up.

5. Write your policies

Write down shipping times, return rules, warranty terms and how to reach you. On Amazon those come from Amazon. On your own store, buyers look for them before they pay, so put a short version on every product page and the full text on its own page.

6. Set up checkout and payments

A card processor such as Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic card payment (Stripe pricing). If many of your buyers have Prime, Buy with Prime can add Amazon checkout and Prime delivery to your site. It requires a US business, a Professional Seller Central account and Amazon Pay (requirements).

7. Decide who ships

There are three common options: ship from inventory already at Amazon through Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF app), ship from your own warehouse, or use a 3PL. Heavy and bulky products need a carrier and packaging plan before launch. Fulfillment for parcels from 50 to 149 lb is provided by partner warehouses, if that is what you sell.

8. Measure from day one

Install Google Analytics 4 and connect Google Search Console before launch. Track the events GA4 recommends for stores, such as view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout and purchase (GA4 recommended events), so you can see where buyers drop off.

How ShippingCow does it for you

• You paste a link to your Amazon store or a product.

• We build a draft store from your real listings.

• A 30 to 60 minute conversation covers your brand story and how you want it to sound.

• We turn your answers into three design directions, and you pick one.

• We launch the store and review the numbers with you every month.

Pricing is $500 a month. The first 3 months are $1,500, paid upfront. There is no setup fee and no fee on your store sales. Send your Amazon link.