I’ve seen brands doing millions in revenue stall out for one simple reason: they haven’t mastered Amazon Positioning. They don’t actually know what they do best.
So they compensate.
More keywords, more audiences and more use cases… and everything starts to blur.
Here’s the part most people don’t realize.
Amazon doesn’t reward creativity. It rewards clarity.
The Story of WD-40: How It Started as a Job and NOT a Brand
In 1953, a small team led by Norm Larsen was trying to solve one problem: Prevent corrosion on missile components for Convair.
That’s it. There was no consumer angle. No category strategy. Not even a brand story.
Just a very specific job that had to work… and it took 40 attempts to get there.
WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. It is a literal description of what it took to get the product to work.
That kind of constraint does something most eCommerce brands never experience. Constraint forces precision. The product either works or it doesn’t. The team of WD simply couldn’t afford to have a mediocre product. Convair depended on it.
There’s no room for vague positioning when the stakes are that high.
Most eCommerce Brands Skip Contraint
Many sellers define the market before defining what they do. It looks like this:
- “We’re in supplements.”
- “We’re in beauty.”
- “We’re in home goods.”
But that’s avoidance. Why? Because when you don’t define the job:
- Your messaging gets generic
- Your PDP tries to say everything
- Your ads target everyone
- Your conversion suffers
- You lose amazon positioning
You don’t lose because of competition.
You lose because you’re unclear with what jyour exact job is. WD-40 was made to avoid corrosion from Corvair missiles. Then evolved to something else. Simple. What about you?
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A Simple Example
Take epoxy resin.
One brand positions it as:
“High-quality epoxy resin for multiple applications.”
Another positions it as:
“Bar top epoxy resin for high-gloss, heat-resistant finishes.”
Same product category, but a completely different outcome. One converts while the other gets scrolled past.
The difference is not the product.
It’s the clarity of the job.
WD-40 Was Expanded by The Market
WD-40 didn’t decide to become a household product.
People started using it that way. Thousands of use cases came from customers, it was not a thoughtout strategy. They fixed their queaky hinges, their rusty tools and bike chains.
This is the part most brands get backwards.
Amazon sellerstry to map out every possible use case upfront. But that is not Amazon positioning.
But WD-40 proved you don’t need to, 40 years ago.
WD-40 proved you just have to win one use case. All of us know that relative that has always used the same product for years, decades. Because they trust it. Because the product works.
This Is Exactly How Growth Actually Happens
First, you get known for something specific.
Then, you earn the right to expand. And your product reaches the warehouses.
Where Amazon Comes In
Amazon is one of the purest reflections of this principle.
Because everything is intent-driven.
Some customers are just browsing categories. But the majority are searching for solutions.
Which means:
- Your keyword strategy is your positioning
- Your title defines your job
- Your images prove your outcome
If those don’t align, nothing else matters.
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The Second Mistake: Scaling Too Efficiently
Let’s say you get this right.
You find your core use case.
You start converting.
Sales pick up.
Then comes the next trap.
You optimize for efficiency:
- You tighten campaigns.
- You cut anything that doesn’t convert immediately.
- You double down on what’s already working.
It feels smart.
It’s also how Amazon positioning quietly dies.
Because You Stop Learning
When you remove exploration:
- You stop discovering new use cases
- You stop seeing new customer segments
- You stop expanding your market
And eventually:
- Competitors move in
- Growth plateaus
- You start chasing performance instead of building it
We’ve seen this happen more than once.
Strong brands become efficient.
Then they become smaller.
The Balance That Actually Works
You need two things at the same time:
Precision
- Clear positioning
- Strong conversion
- Defined use case
Exploration
- New keywords
- New audiences
- New use cases
Too much precision too early… and you limit growth.
Too much exploration without clarity… and you burn budget.
The brands that scale manage both.
What This Looks Like in Practice
At a high level, the playbook is simple.
Start with:
- One core use case
- One clear message
- One defined customer
Then:
- Build a product page that converts around that use case
- Drive traffic aligned to that intent
- Watch how customers actually use and describe the product
From there:
- Expand into adjacent use cases
- Build new content around those use cases
- Scale what proves itself
You don’t guess your way into a bigger market.
You earn your way into it.
The Takeaway
WD-40 didn’t become a household name because it tried to be everything.
It became a household name because it worked in one place first.
And then people found more places to use it.
Most brands try to skip that step.
That’s usually where things break.