Swannies Amazon Case Study: Launching a Lifestyle Golf Apparel Brand to Amazon
This case study is about how Goat Consulting helped Swannies, a lifestyle golf apparel brand built for the millennial golfer, launch and grow on Amazon. Swannies invites golfers to have more fun and be more comfortable on the course, with a product line that includes golf sandals, hats, and polos. Before working with Goat Consulting, Swannies built their brand through their own ecommerce site at swannies.co, placement in golf pro shops around the country, lifestyle YouTube videos, and signature events like the Swannies Scramble. They recognized that Amazon was the next channel to reach a wider audience and partnered with Goat Consulting to help them onboard the right way.
The Challenge: Bringing a Strong DTC and Retail Brand to Amazon
Swannies came to Goat Consulting with a brand that already worked in two channels: direct-to-consumer through their own website and wholesale through golf pro shops. They had real ecommerce experience and an established brand voice, but Amazon is its own marketplace with its own rules, content requirements, and advertising tools. The Swannies team wanted to make sure their Amazon account was set up correctly from day one, their catalog was merchandised to fit how customers actually shop on Amazon, and their product listings were keyword-dense enough to be found in search.
There was an added layer of opportunity: Amazon had invited Swannies to participate in apparel beta programs, including an Amazon Live-style video broadcasting beta and Amazon official account marketing. The Swannies team wanted to make sure they were taking full advantage of those programs while also building a strong foundation in the standard Amazon toolset.
Swannies is golf wear for anywhere, because after all, golf should be fun. https://t.co/goRtFGHtIF pic.twitter.com/C3eBn5bxCf
— Amazon (@amazon) August 11, 2017
Goat Consulting’s Approach
The work covered four areas: catalog structure and product merchandising, A+ Content, Amazon Ads strategy, and the role of liaison between Swannies and Amazon for beta programs and ongoing growth.
Catalog Restructuring and Product Listing Merchandising
Before Swannies partnered with Goat Consulting, their entire Amazon catalog was built as individual child listings with no parent groupings. That meant a customer browsing a Swannies polo could not easily click to see the same polo in a different size or color, and sales, reviews, and impressions were spread across many separate detail pages instead of aggregating to one strong listing.
Goat Consulting restructured the catalog into parent/child variations. Like products were grouped under a single parent listing with size and style variations underneath. This delivered three things at once:
Better customer shopping experience. Customers could browse different sizes and styles from a single detail page instead of bouncing between listings.
Easier cross-merchandising. Variations sit under one parent listing, making it easier to promote the full line of options.
Stronger organic ranking. Sales, impressions, and reviews aggregate to the parent listing, which lifts search result ranking compared to the prior fragmented setup.
Product Detail Page Optimization
With the catalog structure in place, we wrote new product detail page copy designed to do two jobs at once: communicate product value to customers and feed Amazon's search algorithm the right keyword signals for indexing and organic ranking. This included new titles, bullet points, and product descriptions across the catalog. We also worked with Swannies to incorporate new images, video and media assets into the product listings to improve the customer purchase experience and reinforce the lifestyle brand on Amazon.
A+ Content
We created A+ Content for Swannies' product listings to extend the brand story beyond the title, bullets, and description. A+ Content gave us the space to share what makes Swannies the brand it is, walk through product details that wouldn't fit in standard listing copy, and reinforce the lifestyle imagery that Swannies customers know from their DTC channel.
Amazon Ads Strategy
After the customer-facing content was in place, we shifted focus to advertising. Goat Consulting used keyword data from marketplace research to build cost-effective Amazon Ads campaigns that drove consistent traffic and profitable sales to the Swannies catalog. The mix included:
Sponsored Products running at the SKU level, which allowed the Swannies team to make item-level decisions and identify the strongest product lines.
Sponsored Brands ads to drive traffic to the brand storefront and lock down branded search terms.
Sponsored Display to reach customers further up the funnel and remarket to shoppers who had visited Swannies detail pages.
Automatic and manual campaigns (including phrase and broad match) so we could harvest new keyword opportunities while keeping efficient targeting on terms we knew converted.
Goat Consulting continually worked with Swannies to make sure the marketing budget was spent as efficiently as possible for maximum return, with ongoing optimization built into the engagement.
Liaison Role and Amazon Beta Programs
Because Swannies had been invited into Amazon's apparel beta programs, including, part of our role was to act as a liaison between the Swannies team and their Amazon representative. We helped make sure they were taking advantage of the right opportunities, that beta participation was set up correctly, and that any new program fit into the broader brand strategy rather than being a one-off effort.
Ongoing Strategic Management and Reporting
As Amazon developed into a real channel for Swannies, Goat Consulting continued to manage the day-to-day work and report on performance. Ongoing activities included:
Adding new products and variations to the catalog as Swannies expanded their product offering.
Updating product specs and information as products changed or were altered.
Reporting channel performance against the metrics that matter most to the business.
Managing Amazon Ads, including Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns.
Consulting on general channel strategy and how Amazon fits alongside the DTC and wholesale channels.
Results
Goat Consulting helped Swannies establish a real presence on Amazon, layered on top of the brand they had already built through their DTC site and golf pro shop network. Fulfillment by Amazon automated the day-to-day shipping work and gave customers the fast delivery experience they expect, freeing the Swannies team to keep focusing on building the brand. The restructured catalog, new product detail pages, A+ Content, and Amazon Ads strategy worked together to make the Swannies brand easier to find, easier to browse, and easier to buy on Amazon. The brand also got real value out of Amazon's apparel beta programs with Goat Consulting handling the liaison work behind the scenes.
Swannies Amazon Case Study Conclusion
Swannies came to Goat Consulting with a clear next step: bring a lifestyle golf apparel brand that was already working in DTC and golf pro shops onto Amazon. We are proud to be the partner that helped them onboard the right way, restructure the catalog into proper parent/child variations, write product detail pages that work for both customers and Amazon's search algorithm, build out A+ Content, run Amazon Ads, and take advantage of the Amazon beta programs they were invited into.
If this case study resonated with you or if you want to bring your brand to Amazon for the first time, reach out through our Contact Us form.
About the Author
This post was written by Reed Thompson, the CEO at Goat Consulting. Reed helps lead the Goat Consulting team and their clients sell on Amazon by increasing sales, mitigating risk, reducing costs, and solving problems. If you want help launching an apparel brand on Amazon or assistance with other aspects of selling on Amazon, please reach out through our Contact Us form.