Launching on Faire and Amazon: What Beverage Brands Need to Know
Why Marketplaces Are More Than Just Sales Channels
Most non-alcoholic and low-alc beverage brands think of marketplaces—like Faire or Amazon—as just another way to move product. But in 2025, they’re more than that. They’re sales channels, yes. But they’re also discovery engines, brand validators, margin stress-tests, and operational forcing functions.
Done right, they can unlock thousands of new customers—B2B and B2C—who never would’ve found you otherwise. Done wrong, they can drain your inventory, damage your brand, and burn your margin.
This guide breaks down everything you need to know to launch successfully on Faire and Amazon—two of the most powerful platforms for beverage brands right now.
How Faire Works for Beverage Brands
Faire is a B2B marketplace that connects brands with independent retailers—think coffee shops, boutique groceries, gift stores, hotels, and wellness spaces. It’s especially popular in the non-alc and functional beverage world.
Why Faire matters:
Lower barrier to entry than traditional distributors
Direct control over your pricing, pack sizes, and branding
Exposure to 500,000+ buyers
Insight into what SKUs work in what types of accounts
But launching on Faire isn’t plug-and-play. Let’s walk through the key considerations.
Step 1: Prepare Your Faire Catalog Properly
You’ll need:
Case-level pricing (not per bottle)
MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities)
Wholesale-friendly pack sizes (6, 12, or 24 counts work best)
High-quality product photos with multiple angles and context
Bulletproof copy: product features, usage, benefits, and taste
We recommend launching with 3–5 SKUs max. Too many options confuse buyers.
You’ll also need:
Shipping policy (flat rate or free over $X)
Lead times for fulfillment
A clear returns or damages process
Faire offers onboarding help, but you still need to own the details. We help brands tailor every element of their Faire presence to avoid low conversion and excess returns.
Step 2: Understand Faire’s Incentives
Faire charges 0% commission on sales you drive (via direct link) and 15–25% on organic Faire orders (from within their platform).
So, the play is:
Drive your own accounts to Faire to lower fees
Treat organic orders as discovery, not margin backbone
Include your Faire link in your email flows, samples, and packaging
Note: buyers often expect Net 60 terms and free shipping. Make sure your margins account for that.
Step 3: Boost Visibility Without Burning Budget
Faire offers advertising and promotion tools—don’t jump in blind. You can:
Offer first-time buyer discounts
Join category-specific promos
Pay for boosted listings
These can help early on, but the best way to win is with:
Great reviews
Consistent fulfillment
Fast customer service
One brand we worked with doubled monthly Faire revenue just by replying to order messages within 12 hours and following up after delivery. This isn’t ecommerce automation—it’s real relationship-building.
Step 4: Track and Optimize Performance
You need to monitor:
Which SKUs are selling
Which store types are buying
Reorder frequency
Shipping performance (on-time, damage rates, etc.)
We help brands export and analyze Faire data to build a smarter wholesale strategy. You’ll often find:
Your top product isn’t what you expected
Smaller stores can drive more LTV than big chains
Some SKUs should be bundled or retired altogether
Amazon: The Beast with Huge Potential
Selling on Amazon is a whole different game. It's massive, messy, and deeply rewarding if you approach it right.
But here’s the honest truth: most beverage brands are doing it wrong. They:
List too many products with low velocity
Don’t optimize for Amazon search
Run out of stock or ship late
Ignore the cost of FBA fees
Let’s break down how to do it right.
Step 1: Decide How You Want to Fulfill
You’ve got two main options:
Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA): You ship product to Amazon warehouses, they handle delivery.
Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM): You keep inventory and ship it yourself.
FBA gets Prime eligibility, better SEO, and faster delivery—but comes with storage and fulfillment fees. FBM gives more control and may be better for fragile products or lower volumes.
We often recommend a hybrid: launch FBM, then test FBA with bestsellers.
Step 2: Set Up Brand Registry
Brand Registry gives you:
Control over your listings
Enhanced content (A+ pages)
Protection against copycats or unauthorized sellers
You’ll need:
A registered trademark (in the U.S.)
Active product listings
Access to your brand’s ecommerce site
This step is essential—without it, anyone can change your listings or undercut you.
Step 3: Optimize Your Product Listings for Search & Conversion
Each listing needs:
A clear, keyword-optimized title (e.g., “Alcohol-Free Sparkling Rosé – 750ml – Non-Alcoholic Wine Alternative”)
Bullets that focus on benefits (not just features)
A+ content with lifestyle imagery
At least 6 high-res images (including one showing the bottle scale)
Don't skip video. Even a 15-second pour shot or founder intro can lift conversion.
Use Amazon’s auto-suggest feature to identify what terms customers are searching. Plug those into your titles and back-end keywords.
Step 4: Understand Amazon Fees and Margins
Amazon takes:
Referral fee (15%)
FBA fees (based on weight/dims)
Storage fees (monthly or long-term)
Ads (optional but often essential)
So if you’re selling a $20 4-pack, you might clear $12–$13 after all fees—before cost of goods.
This makes it critical to:
Bundle SKUs for AOV
Keep weight and size optimized
Use Subscribe & Save to increase LTV
We build full margin models to show clients if Amazon is worth it—and how to make it work without killing profitability.
Step 5: Run Smart Ads (But Don’t Rely on Them)
Amazon ads are necessary to launch—but they can burn cash fast.
We recommend:
Starting with branded search terms
Testing auto campaigns for keyword discovery
Moving to manual campaigns as you scale
Watching your ACOS (advertising cost of sale) like a hawk
Avoid broad category ads until you know your CAC.
And remember: Amazon success isn’t just ads—it’s inventory, listings, and reviews.
Cross-Learning Between Channels
We often find valuable insight when comparing performance across Faire and Amazon:
SKUs that work well on Faire often underperform on Amazon (and vice versa)
Bundle success in DTC can signal high-potential Amazon formats
Retail reviews can be mined for better copy on both platforms
We help clients consolidate these insights to shape product strategy, pricing, and go-to-market plans.
Marketplace Channels Don’t Work Without Support
Your brand won’t win on Faire or Amazon if you treat them like “set-it-and-forget-it” channels. You still need:
Customer support (email, chat, phone)
Inventory forecasting
Review monitoring
Pricing consistency across channels
At A Route West, we build and manage these processes for brands. Or we train your team to do it right from day one.
What We Offer
We’ve launched beverage brands on both Faire and Amazon, from ground zero to six-figure run rates. Our marketplace support includes:
Marketplace strategy and onboarding
Full listing creation and optimization
Wholesale pack development
FBA/FBM modeling and launch
Review collection campaigns
Ongoing reporting and performance management
This isn’t theory—it’s hands-on work from people who’ve done it.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re:
Not on Faire or Amazon but thinking about it
Already on them but unhappy with performance
Drowning in operational issues
Let’s talk.
We’ll audit your current setup (or build your launch plan from scratch) and give you a roadmap to turn these platforms into true sales drivers.
Book a Marketplace Strategy Call
We’ll walk through your goals, margin constraints, and product mix—and help you make the right moves on Faire and Amazon from day one.
