For Amazon sellers, hitting the “launch” button on a new product is both a milestone and a moment of truth. All the research, development, and investment come down to one critical question: what happens next? The post-launch phase—the first 90 days and beyond—is where a product either gains momentum and thrives or gets lost in the world’s largest marketplace.

How do you ensure your product becomes a winner? To get the answer, we went straight to the source.

In our conversation with Jeff Nickerson, Amazon’s Director of Brand Experience and Excellence, he shared an insider’s playbook on the tools and strategies Amazon is building to help sellers navigate the post-listing journey. This isn’t just about general advice; it’s a strategic guide to using Amazon-backed programs to launch affordably, measure performance, manage failures gracefully, and scale your winning products into beloved brands.

Key Insights

• Launch Affordably: Use the Amazon New Selection Program for fee rebates and waived storage fees. Test demand with less risk using the new FBA Regional Launch, which requires less upfront inventory.
• Get Reviews Early: Leverage the Amazon Vine Program, which drives an average 30% sales lift. New features include AI-powered reviewer matching and the ability to enroll products pre-launch for “day one” reviews.
• Measure to Win: Use the Amazon Product Performance Spotlight tool to benchmark your ASINs against competitors and identify specific weaknesses in your sales funnel, from traffic to conversion.
• Fail Gracefully: Not every product succeeds. Use waived liquidation fees and new AI-powered markdown tools to minimize losses on underperforming products and quickly pivot to your next idea.
• Scale with Rich Content: Drive higher basket sizes with Shoppable A+ Content, allowing you to showcase product collections and cross-sell directly on your detail pages.
• Drive External Traffic: Use Brand Referral Bonus for your own audiences and Amazon Creator Connections to partner with influencers and amplify your brand message.

Watch the full conversation with Amazon’s Jeff Nickerson to hear these strategies firsthand, or continue reading for our complete breakdown below.

Making Your Launch Affordable: Reducing Upfront Risk

The costs associated with product development and launch can be a major hurdle. According to Jeff Nickerson, Amazon is focused on making this process more affordable and less risky for sellers, allowing them to test new ideas efficiently.

The Amazon New Selection Program

One of the most powerful tools for cost reduction is the Amazon New Selection Program, available for new-to-FBA ASINs. This program is designed to ease the financial burden of launching new products.

“It includes things like fee rebates on the first number of sales,” Nickerson explains. “We’ll waive liquidation fees, we’ll waive the storage fees. There’s a bunch of benefits that you can get.” By enrolling, sellers can significantly lower the financial barrier to testing new products in the marketplace.

Testing the Waters with FBA Regional Launch

To get an accurate demand signal, products need to offer fast shipping, which historically required sellers to distribute large amounts of inventory across Amazon’s entire fulfillment network. A new innovation, FBA Regional Launch, changes that.

This program allows sellers to launch a product in a single geographic region with a smaller inventory commitment. Because the inventory is concentrated, you can still offer fast, Prime-eligible shipping to customers in that region, providing a powerful signal of your product’s potential.

“You can test the demand really well because you test it with these really fast delivery promises,” says Nickerson. “We believe that’s going to give a much better demand signal to be able to figure out which products are really successful that you can scale up.”

Gaining Early Momentum: The Power of Reviews

Launching a new product into a category filled with competitors who have thousands of reviews can be intimidating. Early social proof is critical for building customer trust and is a key part of any successful Amazon product launch. Amazon’s primary tool for this is the Amazon Vine Program.

Amazon has rolled out significant improvements to make Vine even more effective:

• AI-Powered Reviewer Matching: Amazon now uses AI to match your product with Vine reviewers who have a high affinity for your brand, ensuring you get deep, insightful, and relevant reviews from your target audience.
• Pre-Launch Enrollment: You can now enroll your product in Vine before it officially launches. This allows you to secure high-quality reviews that are live on day one, creating a “big bang” launch where your advertising and social campaigns are supported by immediate social proof.
• Expanded Access: The program is now open to more product types, including heavy and bulky items that were previously ineligible, giving more sellers access to this powerful tool.

Measuring Success: Data-Driven Amazon Product Optimization

Once your product is live and gathering reviews, how do you know if it’s truly on the path to success? The new Amazon Product Performance Spotlight tool gives sellers unprecedented capabilities to analyze their sales trajectory and benchmark against the competition. This is where data-driven Amazon listing optimization truly begins.

With this tool, you can:

• Benchmark Against Competitors: See exactly how your ASIN’s performance stacks up against competitors across key metrics in the sales funnel.
• Identify Funnel Weaknesses: Pinpoint where you need to focus. As Nickerson notes, you might discover your product has “really great conversion…better than your competitors, but the traffic is just limited.” The tool then provides recommendations to help you drive traffic or improve other weak points.

The “Fail Fast” Philosophy: Managing Underperforming Products

Innovation means taking risks, and not every product will be a home run. Part of a smart post-listing strategy is knowing how to manage failures efficiently.

“Failure is part of innovation,” Nickerson states. “We really want to try to minimize those costs for sellers.”

Through the Amazon New Selection Program, sellers get free liquidation for their first 50 units. For larger quantities, Amazon is also rolling out AI-powered markdown capabilities to help sellers determine the optimal discount strategy to clear slow-moving inventory. While liquidation is one path, sellers can also explore programs like the FBA Grade and Resell Program to recoup value from returned or overstocked items.

Scaling a Winner: Tools for Growth

When you have a winning product, the goal is to maximize its reach and profitability. Amazon provides a suite of tools designed to help you scale.

Expanding Your Reach

For successful products, consider expanding to new customer segments with Amazon Business or going global by Selling on Amazon Europe. A strong US playbook can often be replicated in international marketplaces, unlocking massive new customer bases.

Driving Conversions with Shoppable A+ Content

A major new feature for brand-registered sellers is Shoppable A+ Content. This allows you to enhance your detail page with interactive modules that showcase collections of your other products. It’s a powerful way to increase cross-sells, raise average order value, and help customers discover more of your brand catalog—a critical component of advanced Amazon listing optimization.

Tapping into Off-Amazon Traffic

Driving external traffic is a powerful way to accelerate growth.

• Brand Referral Bonus: If you have an existing off-Amazon audience, you can earn a bonus on your referral fees by driving that traffic to your Amazon listings.
• Amazon Creator Connections: For brands looking to tap into the power of influencer marketing, this program connects you with a curated network of creators who can promote your products to their audiences, amplifying your brand message and driving significant traffic.