Why Top D2C Brands Make Most of Their Revenue in Their Own Store, Not Amazon

The best direct-to-consumer brands treat their own store as the profit center and the marketplace as a billboard. The reason is margin. Amazon's top sellers saw average profit margins fall below 10% in 2023, while Shopify merchants held 22% to 35% over the same period (Marketplace Pulse data via TMO Group). A euro of own-store revenue is worth two to three on Amazon. This article covers why that gap exists and how the strongest brands grow their owned-channel share.

The margin gap that decides it

Channel choice is a margin decision before it is a marketing one.

Channel	Average profit margin	Who owns the customer
Amazon (top sellers, 2023)	Below 10%	Amazon
Own Shopify store	22% to 35%	The brand

Marketplace fees, referral commissions, and forced discounting compress the Amazon number. The own-store number stays higher because the brand keeps the margin that a marketplace would take. Same product, very different economics.

What you actually buy on Amazon: a transaction, not a customer

When a shopper buys your product on Amazon, they buy from Amazon, whether you or Amazon fulfills it (Shopify). You gain the sale and lose almost everything around it:

• No customer email, so no remarketing and no repeat-purchase flow you control.
• No brand experience, because the product sits in Amazon's template next to competitors.
• No loyalty equity, because the relationship belongs to the marketplace.

Your own store flips all three. You own the data, the experience, and the relationship that turns one sale into a second.

The shift: from "marketplace vs D2C" to "what share is owned"

The strategic conversation has moved on. It is no longer marketplace versus own store, but what share of revenue should flow through owned channels, and how to grow that share as you scale (eMarketer). For many brands marketplaces still generate 50% to 80% of online revenue, which is exactly the imbalance the best operators work to correct. US D2C sales are projected at 239.75 billion US dollars in 2025, close to 20% of retail ecommerce, so the owned channel is large and growing.

What the best brands do differently

High-owned-share brands run the same playbook:

1. Use the marketplace as discovery, not as the destination. Amazon introduces the brand; the own store keeps it.
2. Capture the email or account on the first owned-store visit, so the second sale costs nothing to win.
3. Give shoppers a reason to come direct: exclusive drops, early access, and sales that only run on the brand's own store.
4. Measure margin per channel, not just revenue, so the channel that keeps the most profit gets the most investment.

The mechanism: how flash sales and drops grow owned-channel revenue

Point 3 is where most brands stall, because they have no recurring reason for shoppers to visit the own store directly. Flash sales and drops are that reason. A time-boxed sale or a limited drop that runs only on your own store pulls demand off the marketplace and onto the channel you control. Each event captures customer data, builds the habit of buying direct, and keeps the full margin. For the setup, see how to run a flash sale on Shopify, and for the limited-release model, drop marketing for D2C brands.

Do not leak the margin you just won

Driving the sale to your own store only pays off if the margin stays there. Two leaks undo the work: discount codes that spread to deal aggregator sites, and resellers who buy the drop to flip it. Both hand away the margin you moved off Amazon. A sale page with no shareable code and per-customer limits closes them. See how to prevent resellers and bots and why a dedicated page beats a discount code.

Checklist to grow your owned-channel share

1. Track profit margin per channel, not just revenue.
2. Capture email or account on every own-store visit.
3. Run exclusive drops and flash sales that exist only on your own store.
4. Use the marketplace for discovery, then route repeat demand direct.
5. Protect the margin: no leaky codes, per-customer purchase limits.
6. Clear dead stock on your own store, not by dumping it at marketplace prices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it better to sell on Amazon or my own store?

For margin and customer ownership, your own store wins. Amazon's top sellers averaged under 10% profit margin in 2023 versus 22% to 35% for Shopify merchants. Amazon is useful for discovery, but the own store keeps the margin, the customer data, and the brand relationship.

Why do D2C brands still use Amazon at all?

Amazon offers reach and discovery that a young brand cannot match alone. The best brands use it as a top-of-funnel billboard, then work to move repeat demand to their own store, where the margin and the customer relationship stay with the brand.

How do I get customers to buy on my own store instead of Amazon?

Give them a reason that only exists on your store: exclusive drops, early access, and flash sales that do not run on the marketplace. Capture the email on the first visit so the second sale costs nothing to win, and measure margin per channel to justify the investment.

How much of online revenue do marketplaces take?

For many brands marketplaces still generate 50% to 80% of online revenue even when they run their own site. The strategic goal is to grow the owned-channel share over time, because owned revenue carries higher margin and builds brand equity.

How do flash sales help reduce Amazon dependence?

A flash sale or drop that runs only on your own store pulls demand off the marketplace, captures customer data, and keeps the full margin. Run it without a leaky discount code and with per-customer limits so resellers do not claw back the margin you just moved.

Amazon sells your product. Your own store builds your brand. The best D2C operators use the first to feed the second, and they measure success in owned-channel margin, not marketplace volume.