The Amazon Flywheel
The Flywheel Concept
The flywheel is a growth strategy that has been used in business for many years, first popularised by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. As Collins explains:
“Good-to-great transformations never happen in one fell swoop. In building a great company or social sector enterprise, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.”
By definition, a flywheel is a heavy, revolving wheel used in machinery to increase momentum and provide stability. It’s hard to get moving from a standstill, but once it starts turning, momentum builds naturally, creating a self-reinforcing loop. The premise is simple: it takes effort to start, but once it’s spinning, it accelerates and gains power almost on its own.
How the Flywheel Relates to Amazon
The story goes that Jeff Bezos sketched Amazon’s “flywheel” — what he called the “virtuous cycle” — on a napkin. The concept is that every effort Amazon makes should improve the system as a whole.
Source: Amazon
Bezos’ goal is to make Amazon the most customer-centric company in the world, so the strategy always starts with the customer and works backwards. As explained in The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone:
More sellers drive more product selection.
More selection allows for a more efficient cost structure, since Amazon doesn’t need to invest heavily in inventory or infrastructure.
Increased competition lowers prices, improving the customer experience.
Better experiences attract more customers, generating more organic traffic.
More traffic draws more sellers, creating a self-reinforcing cycle that accelerates over time.
Layering Amazon’s advertising capabilities on top of this cycle makes the flywheel spin even faster, driving sales, attracting sellers, and generating revenue in a continuous loop.
What This Means for Your Brand
To create a successful flywheel for your own brand on Amazon, every component must feed into the next. Key factors include:
High-quality primary and enhanced brand content (A+ Content)
Optimal pricing and pack architecture
Effective inventory management
Cost-efficient, high-impact advertising
Traffic-driving non-Amazon marketing activity (e.g., brand social campaigns)
Strong ratings and reviews (4*+)
Multi-channel integration
A long-term strategic view
While every brand would like to achieve rapid sales overnight, the flywheel takes time to build momentum. Growth on Amazon is often slower and more involved than other retail or digital channels. Understanding this, planning timelines accordingly, and ensuring dedicated, capable resources are in place is essential for building a sustainable and successful Amazon business.
Sources:
Stone, Brad. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. 2014.
Masters, Kiri & Power, Mark. Amazon For CMOs: How Brands Can Achieve Success in the New Amazon Economy. 2019.