The other day, I had a chat with a brand owner:
His brand is doing $10M revenue per year. Much of it profits.
When I asked what his recipe for success was, he said:
“Our repeat customer purchase rate within the first 90 days is 62%.”
I laughed out loud.
For context, the average e-commerce brand can only retain about 30% of customers.
And this brand was doubling that by selling a non-consumable device that doesn’t need to be replenished?
Yeah right, buddy…
But turns out, he was dead serious.
“I know… everyone has the same reaction when I say that,” he explained.
Apparently, the product he’s selling is the only one approved by the industry’s health authorities, meaning there’s little to no competition.
The product also provides a clear solution to a problem.
But besides that, here’s what impressed me the most:
He had created a replenishable product to go alongside the main product, which encouraged customers to come back every couple of months.
It all started to make sense to me.
But the reality is, cases like this are extremely rare these days.
Most e-commerce brands compete in highly saturated markets where a lot of success boils down to the game you choose to play (the product you sell), and the effectiveness of your marketing.
Even if you find a gap in the market, competition will eventually catch up.
To make this clearer, I categorized the 5 main types of e-commerce products and how to market them.
Here they are:
5 types of eCommerce products and how to market them
Supplements
Examples: Heart & Soil, Grüns, AG1, LMNT, Seed
Pros:
The great thing about selling supplements is that you can have an unlimited market. You’re marketing based on psychographics (e.g., values and beliefs), not demographics (age or gender).
Because of that, a 20-year-old college athlete and a 65-year-old retiree can both be your customers if they share a similar value system (like a health-conscious lifestyle).
Supplements are also replenishable. There’s not as much pressure to break even on Meta on your first purchase because if your product delivers, you can get customers to come back to buy, with some of them eventually converting to a subscription.
Cons:
You’re dealing with a highly skeptical audience. Since these are problem-solution products, people will have tons of options to address a single problem. Most of your customers will have tried many solutions, and if nothing has worked, you’ll need strong proof and persuasion to convince them.
Another thing to consider is this:
Is the problem you’re solving painful enough for the audience to care?
For example, a creatine gummy may give your average gym bro 2-3% more muscle mass, but is it something they lose sleep over if they don’t buy it? Probably not.
Results from supplements can also vary from person to person, so promising transformations and living up to those expectations can be tough.
How to market: Unique mechanism, storytelling, social proof (testimonials and reviews), problem-solution marketing. Partnering with authority figures your audience already knows and trusts can also be huge (Like Andrew Huberman endorses AG1).
Health & Beauty
Examples: Jones Road Beauty, UpCircle Beauty, rhode, Tiege Hanley
Pros:
Many beauty products are Meta-friendly because they’re highly visual and you can sell to an audience with disposable income and a clear problem (e.g. women in their 40s looking to prevent wrinkles).
They’re also typically retention-friendly, depending on usage frequency. For example, foundation is used daily, while eyeliner might only be applied once every few weeks (Yes, I confirmed this with my girlfriend, lol).
You can also build a strong product strategy around beauty. If customers love your moisturizer, chances are they’ll try your serum, cleanser, or toner next.
Cons:
Similarly to supplements, you’re dealing with a skeptical audience. What works for one person might not work for another. Many customers are loyal to their current brand, which makes getting them to switch a real challenge.
While beauty brands technically sell problem-solution products, younger audiences (especially those in their 20s) often prefer trendy or celebrity-backed brands, like rhode by Hailey Bieber or fenty by Rihanna, rather than those that promise specific results, because they already have youthful skin.
Having wrinkle-free skin is also a bigger deal for women than for men. For women, beauty acts as a status symbol.
But when you look at the Meta Ads Library for Tiege Hanley, a skincare brand for men, most ads sell confidence rather than addressing specific issues like dry skin or wrinkles.
How to market: Influencers, celebrity partnerships, trendy marketing, UGC ads, problem-solution marketing (if you’re marketing to older women).
Fashion/Visual
Examples: Gymshark, SKIMS, Oakley, On Running (or any product that looks cool)
Pros:
These are your “You see is what you get” products. Your audience is less skeptical because they can see the value proposition. If the price falls under an impulse purchase (ideally under $125), you can easily take consumers from “unaware” to the conversion stage.
Cons:
Once you develop your product, your target market is set. It’s rare that a fashion brand appeals to a wide demographic (On Running is an exception that comes to mind here).
Since these products aren’t replenishable, your ability to retain customers will largely depend on whether you have something else to sell. This takes product research and market knowledge. In most cases, your best bet is to offer the same hero product in a different color/material.
Also, the higher the price point, the more difficult it is to sell on Meta. For example, trying to scale a luxury $500 sweater brand via Instagram ads is playing the game on hard mode because it’s not an impulse purchase and consumers will want reasoning for the price.
How to market: Aspirational marketing (partnering with celebrities, influencers, or just showing people doing cool things using your product), high-quality imagery, great storytelling, sensory writing, craftsmanship. You really need to show the effort that goes into your product.
Infomercial
Examples: Autobrush, OxiClean, BlendJet
Pros:
Out of all the categories on this list, these are the most Meta-friendly products.
The reason is simple: the value proposition is easy to demonstrate.
Have you ever seen one of those Meta ads where they throw an iPhone off a building to prove how durable the phone case is?
In direct response marketing, demonstration is one of the most powerful persuasion methods. You see the “wow” factor in the ad.
You can test different ad creatives here (before vs after, UGC ads, us vs them, etc.), find your winner, and scale to $1M-$5M with one product already.
Cons:
If your value proposition can’t be visually demonstrated – for example, you sell non-slip yoga mats – it’s much harder to convince people to pay extra.
Also, since these products tend to be one-off purchases, retaining customers can be difficult. Your ROAS on Meta ads needs to be positive if you want to be a profitable business.
Most of your cross-sells will likely be complimentary, low AOV products. For example, Autobrush sells a U-shaped toothbrush on the front-end, and a refillable toothpaste on the back-end.
How to market: Use demonstration-style ads with clear before-and-after visuals. You need to visually show your product’s benefits. Social proof, including reviews, testimonials, and UGC, helps build trust and credibility.
Consumer Goods
Examples: Magic Spoon, David Protein, Graza, Death Wish Coffee
Pros: These are your low-priced, consumable items with a naturally larger total addressable market (TAM). You can create bundles or starter kits to improve first-order profitability on Meta.
These products need to be replenished frequently, making them retention-friendly. You can increase CLV here by developing new flavors or limited editions of your hero product.
Cons:
Besides great flavor, your product needs a functional benefit (like health, fitness, energy) or it at least has to be an improved version of the traditional product. For example, Magic Spoon is a healthier twist on the sugary cereals everyone grew up with.
If your product doesn’t have a functional benefit, your marketing has to become your differentiator, which can be difficult (but not impossible — this ad by Liquid Death immediately comes to mind here).
How to market: Use “Us vs. Them” marketing and radical differentiation to show why your product is superior. Lean on humor, storytelling, or brand personality to stand out in a crowded category.
Bottom line: The products that are easiest to market are hybrids.
The products that see the most success these days are able to combine the best of these five categories.
For example, Ridge sells cool-looking wallets, but they also promise a functional benefit (it’s less bulky and more durable), which means they can run before-and-after ads on Meta.
Neutonic is a CPG product, but their main value proposition is focus and productivity. Having celebrity endorsements also helps, of course.
Uniqlo launched its heat-tech wear in 2003 to solve the problem of feeling cold. Their USP went from “this looks cool” to “this solves a problem.”
That’s it for today.
Have a great weekend,
Siim
