Amazon expert: How to stop ‘native’ lure brands from stealing your customers

Max Lester (above right), co-founder of Partners in Prime, writes: Try this quiz: can you name the biggest selling lure brand across Europe’s five largest Amazon sites – the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain?

It’s not Rapala and it’s not Savage Gear. Those familiar names sit second and third on the list, and their combined sales on Amazon only just beat the revenue generated by the top seller. Its name? Truscend.

If you didn’t know it, you are not alone. Because Truscend is a brand that is invisible to tackle shops and distributors and never seen at trade shows. Instead, Truscend is a prime example of an Amazon-native brand, which means it has been built specifically to dominate category rankings on Amazon and convert that domination into sales.

In a world where anglers are increasingly more comfortable doing their research for new tackle on e-commerce sites, Amazon-native brands are a real threat to the revenues to established lure brands, and they are here to stay. But the good news is that their techniques can be replicated and, when combined with wider brand awareness, open up new sales opportunities.

How do I know this? Because my business, Partners in Prime, is a management agency specialising in helping brands succeed on Amazon across Europe and globally. My co-founder, Kyle Waterhouse (main picture, left), previously led the transformation of Pure Fishing’s brands on Amazon, delivering major gains in visibility, ranking and revenue. We set up Partners in Prime to help tackle brands leverage Amazon strategically rather than leaving it to chance.

What we know about Amazon-native brands is that they began their path to power about ten years ago when fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) capabilities matured. The first big waves were in electronics and home & kitchen. When Covid created a spike in fishing demand, it created the perfect conditions for Amazon-native tackle brands to flourish. The lures sector became particularly attractive. Lures are small and lightweight and generate repeat purchases – perfect for Amazon’s fulfilment model.

Amazon-native tackle brands have since been helped by the reluctance of established lure brands to fully embrace selling on Amazon. With no well-known brands dominating the five big sites in Europe, brands like Truscend have filled the space. They succeed because every element of their strategy is optimised for Amazon specifically: supply chain, pricing, imagery, product content, reviews and promotions.

In fact, most of these brands would struggle on a standalone D2C site. But on Amazon, where brand awareness is secondary to ranking, reviews and pricing, they thrive.

Although Amazon does not publish exact figures, our data shows some fishing categories are skewing 65:35 in favour of Amazon-native brands. Contact us to view our free in-depth report of the market. In the lures category, Truscend is joined by other Amazon natives that you will barely know such as Momolures and Sougayilang. The three of them combined generate annual sales close to EUR €3 million.

Their strategies also mean that single lure products can generate six-figure revenue per year. In the US, these numbers can be 5-10x higher. 

There are two main types of Amazon-native businesses that dominate the lure category: 1) Chinese manufacturers selling direct to Amazon FBA, who are aggressive on price and fast to market; and 2) Western private-label start-ups, who are importing from China and optimising solely for Amazon growth. Both share a specific trait. An agility that allows them to dominate rankings, while slower, distributor-led competitors lag behind.

They operate at a rhythm unmatched by traditional companies:

• Continuous product launches and testing
• Weekly updates to content, pricing, and SEO
• Flexible marketing budgets tied to performance
• Close tracking of BSR, TACOS, keyword rank and indexing
• Rapid removal of underperforming SKUs
• Default expansion into new Amazon marketplaces

The trick as an established brand is to match these behaviours while taking advantage of what sets you apart: your credibility with anglers, your proven product quality and your established marketing and retail networks. But to succeed on Amazon, however, there is another checklist, one that we help you with at Partners in Prime. Brands must:

• Own their Amazon catalogue, not leave it to resellers
• Register their brand and clean up duplicate or rogue listings
• Develop Amazon-specific content, optimised for search behaviour
• Implement pricing governance and seller controls
• Invest in structured PPC and launch strategies

This isn’t about copying low-price tactics. It’s about applying real brand strength to the mechanics of the platform – and reaping wider rewards. Amazon shapes purchase research, even if the transaction occurs elsewhere. Mismanaged or absent listings damage brand perception. Meanwhile, Amazon-native brands are increasingly establishing their own D2C websites. Today’s ‘Amazon-only’ disruptor can quickly evolve into a broader competitor.

The rise of Truscend is a case in point. Yes, it now dominates Amazon’s lure rankings. And yes, its hero products carry thousands of reviews. But the brand has also developed a full website and content ecosystem. Its next step could be to sell away from Amazon. If you are an established brand, the risk of doing nothing and watching that happen is acute.

• Right now the lure category on Amazon is being shaped by brands that most of the industry has never met, never seen at a show and never stocked on a shelf. That gap will only widen unless established players take back control of their Amazon presence and treat the channel as strategically as their disruptors do.

The opportunity is significant. With the right structures, governance and consistency, legacy brands can outcompete Amazon natives by combining real brand equity with platform excellence. That’s where Partners in Prime comes in. We help tackle brands rebuild visibility, reclaim category share and turn Amazon from a threat into a meaningful, scalable revenue stream.

If you’d like help evaluating your Amazon presence or understanding where growth is being left on the table, we’d be happy to talk.

+44 7854952275
max@amzpip.com
https://amzpip.com