Should a new Amazon product be run for profit or for rank?
Not both at once. A launch deliberately accepts a high ACoS and a high TACoS to buy rank and reviews; a mature product should be run to its break-even. The mistake is not choosing — running a launch with a profit target starves it of volume, and running a mature product with launch targets quietly spends the margin. The useful discipline is to write the strategy down per product, with an end date for the launch phase.
Two different jobs
| Phase | Goal | Target | Measure of success |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | Rank and reviews | Above break-even, time-boxed | TACoS falling |
| Mature | Profit | Under break-even | Margin holding |
| Liquidation | Clear stock | Whatever sells it | Units out |
| Defence | Hold a query | Break-even, capped | Share held |
A product should be in exactly one of these at a time, and the phase should have an owner and an end date.
The failure mode in both directions
Launch with a profit target. Bids stay low, the product never gets impressions, rank never moves, and after three months the conclusion is “the product does not work” — when it was never actually tested.
Mature product on launch targets. Nobody notices, because the spend is spread across hundreds of keywords and the revenue chart still goes up.
Making it a record, not a memory
Write the strategy on the product: which phase, which target, when it ends. Without that, every optimisation decision is argued from scratch, and a launch that should have ended in March is still running in September.
Checklist
- Does every advertised product have a named strategy?
- Does the launch phase have an end date?
- Is TACoS falling for products past their launch window?
- Are liquidation products excluded from profit-based ACoS rules?
Frequently asked questions
What ACoS should a new product run at?
Higher than break-even, deliberately, for a defined period. The number matters less than having an end date and a measure of whether rank is actually improving.
When should a launch switch to profit?
When organic sales are rising and TACoS is falling. If TACoS is flat after the launch window, the spend is not buying rank and should stop.
Can I run different strategies per product?
Yes, and you should. One account-wide target is wrong for most of the catalogue.