Amazon Case Study · Updated March 2026

How Cheeky Cocktails Turned Amazon into a Category Discovery Engine

Five months. Two phases. Unbranded purchases grew 7.6x. This is how it happened.

Oct 2025 – Feb 2026 2 Phases Amazon US Parker-Lambert

The Core Insight

Amazon works best as a
discovery engine,
not just a demand capture tool.

Many brands treat Amazon as a place to capture existing brand awareness built off-platform. Sustainable growth requires winning unbranded category searches: reaching shoppers who haven't decided who to buy from yet. That's the key to generating new demand, not just serving existing fans.

October 2025 · The Starting Point

Strong brand demand.
Limited discovery.

In October, only 26% of Cheeky's purchases from search came from unbranded queries. The catalog converted well when shoppers already knew the brand. But unbranded clicks were few. Just 63 that month. The catalog had not yet unlocked consistent category-level discovery.

Traffic Type 1

Branded

A shopper types the brand name: "Cheeky Cocktails mixer"

High intent. These shoppers are essentially ready to buy. Great conversion rate. Limited new reach: you can only capture demand that already exists.

High intent · Limited new reach

Traffic Type 2

Unbranded

A shopper searches a category need: "cocktail syrups" or "best espresso syrup"

These shoppers haven't decided who to buy from yet. Winning these searches is the key to scalable new customer acquisition. This is where sustainable Amazon growth comes from.

Scalable growth · New customer acquisition

The Strategy · Phase 1 · Q4 2025

Build the foundation.

Three changes to get the catalog discovered.

1. Title Optimization

Refreshed product titles using Amazon best practices: keyword placement, search alignment, mobile scannability.

A9 algorithm signal

2. Catalog Twisting

Connected related products under parent listings, consolidating reviews and sales velocity for stronger search rankings.

Catalog structure

3. Hero Image Clarity

Higher-resolution images with tighter cropping. Products appear larger and clearer in search thumbnails.

Click-through rate

The Strategy · Phase 2 · Q1 2026

Convert the traffic.

Two changes to turn clicks into purchases.

4. Prop Photography

New hero images featuring product-specific props: espresso beans and an espresso martini for the espresso syrup, fresh honey and ginger root for the honey ginger syrup. Shoppers instantly identify the product before reading the title.

Instant recognition

5. Carousel and Recipe Cards

More robust product detail page carousels, including recipe cards showing shoppers exactly what to make with each product.

Conversion depth

Phase 1 · Change 1

Updating Product Titles

🎯

Clear Category Relevance

Key category keywords were moved earlier in the title string, directly improving A9 relevance signals for unbranded searches.

🔍

Strong Keyword Alignment

High-volume search terms integrated naturally, ensuring relevance for the searches that matter most.

📱

Mobile Scannability

Key value propositions front-loaded so mobile users see what matters before titles truncate on smaller screens.

Phase 1 · Change 2

Catalog Twisting

🏗️

One Parent, Many Variants

Related products, different flavors and sizes, connected under a single parent listing, pooling reviews and sales velocity for stronger search rankings.

🛒

Automatic Assortment Discovery

Shoppers landing on one page can discover multiple flavors and build brand confidence without returning to search results.

📈

Stronger Category Rankings

Consolidated reviews and velocity lift the entire product family higher on competitive category search pages.

Phase 1 · Change 3

Hero Image Clarity

No redesign required. Two simple changes made the difference.

🔬

Higher Resolution

Existing hero images replaced with high-resolution versions that hold up under zoom and across device types.

✂️

Tighter Cropping

Images cropped more tightly around the bottle. Products appear larger in search thumbnails. For an unbranded shopper scanning quickly, clarity equals trust.

End of Q4 · We Were Just Getting Started

By December, unbranded clicks
had grown 20x from October.
Purchase share hit 37%.

Phase 1 worked. The holiday surge amplified the effect. Unbranded impressions hit 66,000 in December, up from 15,000 in October. But conversion was suppressed by holiday browsing traffic. The infrastructure was in place. Phase 2 was about to make it convert.

Phase 2 · Change 4

Prop Photography

Help shoppers understand the product before they read a single word.

☕

Product-Specific Visual Context

Each SKU now has a hero image featuring relevant props. The espresso syrup shows espresso beans and a finished espresso martini. The honey ginger syrup features fresh honey and ginger root. A shopper scanning quickly understands the product instantly, before reading the title.

👁️

Instant Recognition in Search Results

On a crowded search results page, a compelling image stops the scroll. Clarity in the thumbnail drives the click. The click drives the purchase.

🍹

Appetite Appeal

Showing the finished cocktail alongside the product creates appetite appeal. The shopper doesn't just see an ingredient, they see the outcome. That emotional connection converts.

Phase 2 · Change 5

Carousel and Recipe Cards

Turn a product page into a reason to buy.

📋

Recipe Cards in the Carousel

Each product detail page now includes carousel slides with recipe cards. A shopper who clicks through and sees a simple, beautiful recipe is far more likely to add to cart.

🎠

More Robust Carousel Depth

Additional carousel slides covering product benefits, usage occasions, and quality signals. The unbranded shopper who arrived from a category search now has everything they need to convert.

🔄

The Click-to-Purchase Bridge

Phase 1 earned the click. Phase 2 closed the sale. The carousel converts the curious shopper into a buyer by answering every remaining question at the moment of decision.

Results · January 2026

73%

of all Cheeky purchases from search
came from unbranded queries

Up from 26% in October. The majority of purchases now come from shoppers who had never heard of Cheeky before they searched.

Unbranded Clicks

5.3x

growth in unbranded clicks
October to February

63 clicks in October. 331 in February. The catalog is reaching a fundamentally different scale of new shoppers.

Unbranded Purchases

7.6x

growth in unbranded purchases
October to February

5 unbranded purchases in October. 38 in February. Purchases grew faster than clicks, meaning conversion improved too.

October · Phase 1 Start

Low

unbranded conversion rate

A healthy baseline, but with very limited reach. Only 63 unbranded clicks that month. The audience was small.

February · Phase 2 Complete

46%

improvement in conversion rate

More reach and better conversion, both at the same time. The highest rate of the five-month period.

Month by Month

Unbranded Purchase Share

Share of total search purchases from unbranded queries · Oct 2025 – Feb 2026

Oct

26%

Nov

26%

Dec

37%

Jan

73%

Feb

69%

December shown muted. Holiday traffic suppressed conversion catalog-wide; the share gain was real but driven partly by volume.

And Branded Demand Held

Discovery gains didn't cannibalize
brand sales. They stacked on top.

Branded purchases were 14 in October and 17 in February, essentially flat despite a massive shift in the overall traffic mix. Meanwhile unbranded purchases grew from 5 to 38. New category discovery compounded existing brand demand rather than replacing it. That's the flywheel effect.

Key Takeaways · 1 of 2

What this case study teaches

🔍

Amazon is a Discovery Engine

Winning unbranded category searches is the key to generating new demand at scale, not just capturing existing brand awareness.

⚙️

Listings Work Holistically

Titles work on the algorithm. Catalog structure works for browsing. Hero images work for the click. Carousels close the sale. Each compounds the others.

Key Takeaways · 2 of 2

What this case study teaches

📸

Visuals Convert

Prop photography and recipe cards aren't decoration. They're the bridge between a click and a purchase, especially for an unbranded shopper who is still deciding.

📉

Growth Takes Infrastructure First

Phase 1 built the foundation. Phase 2 converted it. The two-phase approach meant that when the visual merchandising landed, the catalog was ready to turn clicks into purchases at scale.

On Amazon, clarity beats complexity.

Five changes. Five months. 7.6x unbranded purchase growth.

By the end of Q4, the infrastructure was in place. Q1 visual merchandising upgrades brought prop photography and deeper carousels that turned it into a conversion machine. Unbranded purchase share went from 26% to 73%. Branded sales held steady throughout.

Case Study · Updated March 2026