How a Specialty Retail Brand Hit Its Highest Amazon Sales Month in Two Years, Up 52.6% Year Over Year
A specialty retail brand on Amazon went from $267,270 to $296,363 in monthly sales, up 10.88% month over month and 52.59% year over year, its highest sales month across all of 2025 and 2026. TACOS held at 10.56%, inside the pre-agreed 10 to 11% range. The lever was layering Amazon DSP on top of a managed PPC account so the two compounded instead of competing.
01The challenge
A specialty retail brand on Amazon was running a healthy account at $267,270 a month. The problem with a healthy account is that the obvious levers are already pulled. Sponsored Products was managed, the catalog was in order, and the next increment of growth was not going to come from bidding harder on the same keywords.
The account also faced an unfair comparison. The prior-year months it was measured against, June and July 2025, both contained a Prime Day. This year's month did not. Any growth had to be real demand rather than an event spike, or it would show up as a loss the moment the comparison was made honestly.
02The approach: The DSP Halo Stack
The DSP Halo Stack adds a demand-side layer above an already-managed PPC account, then measures the two together rather than separately, so the halo the new channel creates does not get credited to nobody.
Onboard the account to Amazon DSP
Got the brand onboarded to Amazon DSP, opening a demand channel that reaches shoppers before they are searching rather than competing for the same search results the existing campaigns already owned.
Run DSP for new-to-brand, not for last-click credit
Managed the DSP program toward audience reach and new customers rather than optimizing it against the same conversions Sponsored Products was already going to win. DSP delivered $25,402 in attributed sales at an 8.46 ROAS, with 62.7% of it new-to-brand.
Keep PPC efficient underneath it
Held Sponsored Products management steady underneath the new layer so the account absorbed the added demand without letting efficiency slip. TACOS finished at 10.56%, inside the 10 to 11% range agreed with the brand before any of this started.
03The results
Monthly sales went from $267,270 to $296,363, an increase of $29,093, up 10.88% month over month and 52.59% year over year. It was the account's highest sales month across all of 2025 and 2026.
The DSP layer compounded rather than cannibalizing. On top of $25,402 in DSP-attributed sales at an 8.46 ROAS, it produced a further $9,822 in brand halo sales, pushing blended ROAS to 11.73. Blended ROAS trended up sharply through the month, from 7.6 to 18.2.
Efficiency held while the account scaled. TACOS landed at 10.56%, inside the pre-agreed 10 to 11% target range, so the growth did not come at the cost of profitability.
Why it worked: the growth is defensible. It was set against prior-year months that both had a Prime Day while this one did not, which rules out the easy explanation that a promotional event did the work. Adding a channel that brings in new-to-brand customers, then measuring the halo it creates on the existing channel, is what turns two ad programs into one compounding system.
04FAQ
Is Amazon DSP worth it for a brand doing under $300K a month?
It was on this account. At roughly $296,363 in monthly sales, DSP produced $25,402 in attributed sales at an 8.46 ROAS plus $9,822 in brand halo sales, for a blended ROAS of 11.73. The deciding factor is not account size, it is whether Sponsored Products is already well managed. DSP added on top of a messy PPC account mostly buys you a more expensive mess.
What is the DSP Halo Stack?
Layering Amazon DSP above an already-managed PPC account, running DSP for new-to-brand reach rather than last-click credit, and measuring the two channels together so the halo DSP creates on Sponsored Products gets counted instead of disappearing.
How do you know Amazon growth is real and not seasonal?
Compare against a prior period that had the advantage, not one that had the disadvantage. This account's 52.59% year-over-year growth was measured against months that both contained a Prime Day, in a month that had none. Growth that survives an unfair comparison is demand, not an event.
What TACOS should a scaling Amazon brand target?
The right answer is a range agreed in advance and held while the account grows, not a universal number. This brand agreed 10 to 11% before the DSP layer was added and finished the month at 10.56% while sales rose 10.88%. Scaling that pushes TACOS outside the agreed band is buying growth, not producing it.
How much of DSP's value shows up outside DSP reporting?
On this account, a lot. DSP reported $25,402 in attributed sales, but it also drove $9,822 in brand halo sales that landed elsewhere in the account. Judging DSP on its own attributed number alone understated its contribution by roughly a third.
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Mike Begg
E-commerce operator and business acquirer. Founder of AMZ Commerce Advisers (100+ active Amazon brands, 500+ managed since 2016) and GoAvance. Owner of Reach Social Commerce (50+ TikTok Shop launches). Amazon Ads Advanced Partner. Based in Guadalajara, Mexico.
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