Ask the Collective
The questions independent drinks founders ask most — answered. Distilled from years of community knowledge so the good stuff never disappears in the feed again.
How can drinks brands access Amazon sales and category data for competitor analysis?
Amazon does not directly sell category-level sales data, but members identified several practical routes: - **Amazon's own bestseller lists** — The top 100 bestsellers across all categories are published on Amazon's site and updated every 15 minutes, available free to anyone. - **Amazon Vendor Central** — Sellers gain access to their own sales data (and can track performance metrics) as part of their vendor agreement; Amazon takes a percentage of sales in exchange. - **Helium 10** — Third-party tool that provides sales history and competitor product insights, allowing you to estimate competitor performance. - **Jungle Scout** — Alternative third-party platform offering similar competitor tracking and sales data analysis. Members noted that while these tools can't reveal exact competitor sales figures (Amazon keeps that proprietary), they allow you to reverse-engineer estimates from rankings and review velocity. The paid tools (Helium 10, Jungle Scout) are the primary way to get detailed competitive intelligence beyond the public bestseller lists.
How do you obtain sales data from UK wholesalers, and which ones will share it?
Access to sales data from UK wholesalers varies significantly and often comes with a cost or restrictions. **Wholesalers that will share data:** - **Speciality** — will provide sales information - **E&C** — will provide sales information **Wholesalers that require payment or restrict access:** - **Matthew Clark** and **Bibendum** — have agreements with **IRi** (data provider) but access requires payment - **Nectar**, **Amathus**, and **Hills** — will not provide sales data at all **Access restrictions:** Some wholesalers cite GDPR as the reason for withholding sales data. Payment is typically required to access data from major wholesalers via third-party data providers like IRi. Members recommend checking directly with each wholesaler about their data-sharing policies and whether they require a commercial arrangement or data subscription.