Bigeye's LISTED study, which recorded 1,200 Amazon pet listings in October 2026, found that 159 of the 160 top-20 pet best sellers had more than 1,000 ratings. Launching a product on Amazon as a pet brand means picking an aisle a new product can win, building a page that converts before you buy traffic, earning the first 100 reviews inside Amazon's rules, and setting up for the repeat order. Bigeye, the Orlando agency for consumer brands, runs these launches through its pet marketing agency team.

This guide turns the study into eight steps. The full report, LISTED: What Amazon Can Do for a Pet Brand's First Product, is free with no form.

Key takeaways

• Bigeye found that Amazon itself was the seller on 92% to 98% of the top 50 in dry dog food, wet cat food and cat litter, while dog beds had 35 brands in the top 50 and Amazon sold only 10%.

• Bigeye found that 97% of top-50 pet best sellers had A+ content and 89% had video, so those features get a product to the starting line and no further.

• Bigeye found that 159 of 160 top-20 pet best sellers had more than 1,000 ratings. A new product starts at zero.

• NIQ data shows Amazon's own retail business took 10.1% of US pet-care dollars in 2025 and third-party sellers took 11.3%, a combined 21.4%.

• Chewy reported that Autoship customers drove 84.6% of its net sales in the quarter ended August 2, 2026. In pet, the repeat order is the business.

What does launching a product on Amazon involve?

Launching a product on Amazon means choosing the product and pack size, setting up the listing and fulfillment, building the product page, earning early reviews, deciding when to advertise, and planning for repeat purchases. For a pet brand, it also means knowing whether Amazon itself already dominates the aisle you're entering.

Getting listed takes a day. Getting the second order takes a plan.

The numbers to plan around

Step 1: Read the aisle before you pick the product

Before choosing a launch product, record the top 50 Best Sellers in its subcategory: who sells each one, how many brands share the list, and whether an Amazon brand appears. Some pet aisles are effectively closed to newcomers. Others are wide open. That single check changes which product should go first.

Bigeye found Amazon itself was the seller on 92% to 98% of the top 50 in dry dog food, wet cat food and cat litter. Fancy Feast and Friskies alone held 30 of the top 50 spots in wet cat food. Dog beds were the opposite: 35 brands in the top 50, led by Bedsure with 6, and Amazon as the seller on only 10%.

Dog toys (25 brands) and dog supplements (28 brands) sat in between. Amazon Basics held 7 of the top 100 spots in dog flea and tick control and none in dry dog food, wet cat food, cat litter or dog toys.

Step 2: Run the fee math on every product and pack size

Calculate the margin on every product and pack size after Amazon's referral and fulfillment fees, before anything is listed. Products that lose money per unit don't get better at scale. Resize them, bundle them, or leave them off the launch list.

Carolyn Lowe, founder and CEO of ROI Swift, runs this check for every client. For one natural cleaning brand, her team found products losing money on every unit shipped, and the call was to stop selling them. She also warns about where Amazon's own brands can follow.

"Amazon can just slap Amazon Basics on it. And that's where you really sort of have to differentiate yourself."

Carolyn Lowe, Founder and CEO, ROI Swift, on IN CLEAR FOCUS

Pack size is the lever most brands miss. A heavier bag can change the fulfillment fee tier, and a two-pack can turn a losing unit into a profitable one.

Step 3: Decide how you'll sell on Amazon

Choose between selling to Amazon as a vendor, where Amazon buys and resells your product, and selling directly as a third-party seller. Third-party selling keeps control of price and content. Vendor selling hands Amazon the price in exchange for its retail operation. Most new pet brands start as third-party sellers.

NIQ data cited in Bigeye's LISTED study shows third-party sellers already took slightly more of US pet-care dollars on Amazon (11.3%) than Amazon's own retail business (10.1%) in 2025. Across all categories, Amazon reported third-party sellers moved 61% of paid units in the second quarter of 2026.

Enroll in Brand Registry either way. It opens up A+ content, Brand Stores and Amazon Vine, and it protects the listing from other sellers editing it.

Step 4: Build the page for a shopper on a phone

Build the product page for someone scrolling on a phone with the sound off: six strong images, one short video with on-screen text, and a comparison chart against the alternatives. Having A+ content and video is the minimum. What those images and that copy actually say is what separates a launch.

Bigeye found 97% of top-50 pet best sellers had A+ content and 89% had video, and products ranked 1 to 10 looked almost identical on both measures to products ranked 41 to 50.

Brand Stores varied by aisle: 18% of the top 50 in wet cat food linked to one, against 82% in dog beds. In open aisles, a Brand Store is how a shopper tells you apart from the 34 other brands.

Step 5: Earn the first 100 reviews inside the rules

Plan the first 90 days around reaching 100 reviews through Amazon Vine and Amazon's own review requests, and fix whatever your competitors' one-star reviews keep naming. Reviews are the hardest wall for a new pet product, and shortcuts end accounts.

Bigeye found the median ratings count for top-20 pet products ran from about 6,000 in dog beds to about 34,000 in dog flea and tick control. Only 3 of 378 rated first-page search results sat below 4.0 stars. Shoppers rarely see a low-rated pet product on page one.

Amazon Vine is open to products with fewer than 30 reviews that are fulfilled by Amazon, from brands in Brand Registry. Amazon lists the fee per parent product at $0 for up to 2 units, $75 for 3 to 10 units and $200 for 11 to 30. Paying for or rewarding reviews breaks Amazon's terms, and Michael Begg of AMZ Advisers calls it a fast way to get an account shut down.

Step 6: Buy traffic only after the page converts

Hold off on scaled Amazon ads until the page converts. Carolyn Lowe's rule of thumb: below about 15% conversion, fix the page. Above 15% to 20% with few visitors, buy traffic. Start with shoppers already searching for the product type and your brand name, and set budgets product by product against each one's margin.

Concentration is normal. Nik Hall, founder and CEO of REViVE Marketing Partners, has a client earning about $85,000 of roughly $95,000 in monthly sales from 1 of its 10 products. His advice on IN CLEAR FOCUS was blunt: "Figure out what works really well. Invest there."

For campaign structure and bids once you're ready, see Bigeye's guide to Amazon PPC for pet brands.

Step 7: Set up for the repeat order on day one

Turn on Subscribe & Save for anything a household uses up, and plan inventory around repeat purchases from launch. Pet is a replenishment business, and most of the money arrives on the second, third and tenth order. A first order that never repeats rarely pays back the cost of winning it.

Bigeye found at least 74% of the top 50 in cat litter were on Subscribe & Save, along with 62% in flea and tick and 46% in wet cat food. In dog beds, 2%. The pattern follows how often a pet goes through the product.

Chewy shows the size of the prize: Autoship customers drove 84.6% of its net sales in the quarter ended August 2, 2026. Bigeye's piece on pet brand subscription retention covers the month-three drop that hits most subscription programs.

Step 8: Hold one price across Amazon, Chewy and your site

Set one price you can keep on every site, and use a different pack size for each marketplace when you need different prices. Pet shoppers compare Amazon, Chewy and Walmart in seconds. Deep launch discounts bring buyers who don't come back.

Stock matters as much as price. A stockout sends a subscriber straight to a competitor's listing, and Amazon charges sellers for holding too much inventory and for holding too little. Plan the first reorder before the launch goes live.

If the same product is going to Chewy, Bigeye's guide to Chewy product page optimization covers what changes between the two.

How the pet aisles compare

What it looks like in practice

Carolyn Lowe's fence-post client, from her IN CLEAR FOCUS interview, shows the order of operations in a look-alike category. Her team rebuilt the images, copy and A+ content before scaling spend. Sales roughly tripled in about 18 months, with ad spend in the single percentage points of sales.

The same order applies to a pet launch. Pick the aisle, fix the page, earn the reviews, and only then put real money behind traffic. Bigeye's pet brand marketing strategy playbook covers how the Amazon launch fits the rest of the plan.

Bigeye's read

Bigeye's view is that a new pet brand's first Amazon product should be chosen by the aisle, and very often that means it isn't the brand's hero product.

The hero product is usually the one the founder loves, and often it sits in the most crowded aisle on Amazon. Launch there and the brand fights for reviews against products with 30,000 ratings while Amazon's own retail team holds the top of the list.

Pick the product with the best margin after fees in the most open aisle. Build reviews, conversion data and a repeat customer base there. Then bring the hero product in with a review count, a brand shoppers have seen, and a page that already converts.

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth launching a pet product on Amazon?

For most pet brands, yes, if the aisle and the margins work. NIQ data shows 59.1% of US pet-care buyers bought pet care on Amazon in 2025. The case gets weaker in aisles where Amazon itself sells nearly all of the top 50, such as dry dog food, wet cat food and cat litter.

Which Amazon pet categories are easiest for a new brand?

Bigeye's LISTED study found dog beds the most open of eight pet subcategories in October 2026, with 35 brands in the top 50 and Amazon selling only 10%. Dog supplements, with 28 brands, and dog toys, with 25, were also open. Dry dog food, wet cat food and cat litter were the hardest.

How many reviews does a new pet product need on Amazon?

Bigeye found 159 of the 160 top-20 pet best sellers had more than 1,000 ratings, with medians from about 6,000 to 34,000 depending on the aisle. A realistic launch goal is the first 100 reviews in 90 days, earned through Amazon Vine and Amazon's own review requests.

How much does Amazon Vine cost?

Amazon lists Vine fees per parent product at $0 for up to 2 units, $75 for 3 to 10 units and $200 for 11 to 30 units. The product needs fewer than 30 reviews and must be fulfilled by Amazon, and a branded product's brand must be enrolled in Brand Registry.

When should a pet brand start Amazon ads?

After the page converts. Carolyn Lowe of ROI Swift uses about 15% conversion as the line: below it, fix the page, and above 15% to 20% with low traffic, buy traffic. Start with searches for the product type and your brand name, and budget each product against its own margin.

Should a pet brand launch on Amazon or Chewy first?

It depends on the product. Chewy's Autoship customers drove 84.6% of its net sales last quarter, so it suits replenishable products with loyal buyers. Amazon reaches more pet-care buyers. Many brands launch on both with one price and a different pack size per marketplace.

Plan your Amazon launch

If you're getting a pet product ready for Amazon, start with the free LISTED report. For help running the plan, from aisle research and fee math to product page creative and Amazon ads, talk to Bigeye's pet marketing team. Start the conversation.

Sources: Bigeye, LISTED (Oct 2026); Bigeye, IN CLEAR FOCUS podcast (Dec 2024, Sep 2024, Apr 2026); NIQ, Pet Industry Outlook: Guide to 2026 (Mar 2026); APPA (Mar 2026); Amazon Q2 2026 results (Jul 2026); Chewy Q2 fiscal 2026 results (Sep 2026); Amazon Vine seller page (Oct 2026).