The brief
SkinInspired had a strong product-market fit on its DTC site but no presence on Amazon. The founders knew the brand needed to be visible on the channel where Indian beauty consumers actually search. They were not interested in a slow burn. They wanted to be in the conversation by month two.
The problem with this brief is well-known. Beauty on Amazon India is one of the most contested shelves in any category. Mamaearth, Plum, The Body Shop, L'Oreal, and a dozen mid-tier brands all spend heavily on the same keyword set. A new brand without budget to lose looks indistinguishable from the long tail.
What we found in the audit
The Datum cut on face-care on Amazon India showed three things the founder team had not seen. First, the keyword volume around niche concerns (acne, redness, hyperpigmentation, dullness) was twice as concentrated as around generic queries (face wash, cleanser). Second, the brands winning those niche queries were spending less than 30% of what generic-query winners were spending. Third, A+ content quality on those niche listings was strikingly weak, even from incumbent brands.
The opportunity sat in the gap between high-intent search demand and low-quality category supply.
What we built
Listings rebuilt for concern, not category
Every product page was rewritten around a single skin concern. Title, bullets, A+ content, image grid, and video all anchored to that one query. We rebuilt 12 listings in 21 days against a 35-listing brand-store grid.
Sponsored Products and DSP run on niche queries
Paid budget went only to the 14 niche queries identified in the audit. We ignored the generic head terms entirely for the first 60 days. ROAS on paid was 4.6x because we never had to compete with Mamaearth-level bids.
Reviews seeded through Vine and Early Reviewer
Five reviews per SKU within the first 30 days through Amazon's Vine program, plus a controlled Early Reviewer rollout. We did not ask DTC customers to review on Amazon, which Amazon's algorithm penalises.
BSR push through pulse promos in week 5
Three coordinated lightning-deal pushes in week 5 lifted the top 6 SKUs into the face-care top 100 BSR. From there, organic search rank carried the brand into top 10 by week 8.
The 60-day timeline
What changed in the numbers
Cold-start brands typically take 6 to 9 months to appear in a category top 100. SkinInspired hit top 10 in 60 days, with ROAS staying above 4x throughout. The 85% new-customer ratio is the number we are most proud of: we did not cannibalise the founder's DTC base. Amazon was net-new revenue.
By month three, the brand was running at Rs. 1.4 crore in monthly marketplace GMV with the same ad-spend envelope it started with. By month six, the brand had expanded to Quick Commerce on Blinkit and was on its way to a national retail conversation.
We had a great product, but the beauty market was highly cluttered, and Amazon was largely driven by mass-priced products. Within 6 months of partnering with C360, we identified our hero product, scaled revenue 10X, and built a strong Amazon growth playbook for our brand.
Piyush Jain, Skininspired
The takeaway for other brands
Beauty on Amazon India is not won by outspending Mamaearth. It is won by finding the niche queries where category leaders are under-investing, then occupying those queries with listings that actually answer the search intent. Most brands skip the audit step and treat Amazon as a paid-traffic problem. The category data tells you it is a search-intent problem first.
Brand: SkinInspired. Category: Beauty & Personal Care. Source: Amazon India platform data, Datum Analysis. Read the full version on Amazon Advertising →