#452 - The Death of ‘Differentiation’ (and What Replaces It in 2025)

Selling on Amazon with Andy Isom

Andy Isom | Amazon FBA Seller & Agency Founder

Amazon, Business, Amazonfba, Selling, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Personalbusiness, Productbusiness, Ecommerce, Onlinebusiness

4.9 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2025, being “different” on Amazon isn’t enough. Product tweaks and minor upgrades don’t move the needle when the market is flooded with lookalikes. In this episode of Built by Business with Andy Isom, we unpack why traditional product differentiation has lost its edge—and what actually works today: strategic brand positioning.

I'm sharing behind the scenes of a consulting call, we'll review the Product/Marketing Matrix, how market significance outperforms feature changes, and Amazon-native brand examples that win without being the cheapest or most advanced.

Whether you're building a new private label product or trying to revive a flat listing, this episode will give you a fresh lens for standing out where it matters most.

Grab an audit or consulting call here: www.andyisom.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 2018, it was enough to slap a bamboo lid on a glass jar and call it differentiated.
0:06.0	In 2025, that just makes you one of a thousand others.
0:10.0	Just maybe with better ads.
0:12.0	Here's why your product, only being different doesn't matter anymore and what actually does.
0:31.2	Differentiation has become the most misused word in e-commerce.
0:33.3	Everyone thinks they're differentiated.
0:38.0	They have different colors, different material, maybe a slightly new shape.
0:42.0	But on Amazon, consumers don't reward different.
0:46.7	They reward clear value that feels built for them. If you're solving the same problem in the same way with maybe 2% more flair, you're not really differentiated. You're just late to the party.
0:58.4	Competitive saturation on Amazon is higher than it's ever been. Even niche categories are flooded
1:03.2	with near identical options. The value of first to market is gone unless you back it with
1:09.8	brand positioning and storytelling.
1:12.6	I think there's a subtle nuance between making a different product and truly being differentiated.
1:21.6	Because making a different product could be one or two minor tweaks.
1:26.8	It could be a different design on the exact same product
1:30.1	that's already in the marketplace. It could be a different color that no one else is selling.
1:35.0	It could be a different size. It could be made of a different material, but the same product
1:40.3	that everyone else is selling. I think that is essentially making a different product,
1:45.0	but I don't know that that qualifies anymore for being differentiated. I almost want to think of
1:51.8	it as someone who does an athletic activity and then someone who is actually athletic. Because anyone
1:59.7	could go out and, you know, throw a baseball. But just
2:03.5	because they're doing something athletic, I don't think that necessarily qualifies that person
	...

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