Chosen on the shelf.
Senior-led paid media, technical SEO and AI search for consumer goods brands selling through retailers, marketplaces and their own sites, measured on sales rather than reach.
Built for consumer goods.
A consumer goods brand usually sells in several places at once: through retailers it does not control, on Amazon and other marketplaces, and on its own site. Much of the sale happens where the brand cannot see it, so campaigns end up judged on reach and clicks, and retailer and marketplace fees can take much of the margin on a sale that looks healthy.
The work here follows the sale wherever it can be measured. Your own site and marketplace campaigns are judged on the margin left after fees and ad costs, search and retail media are planned together so the brand is not paying twice for the same shopper, and product pages are built so search engines and AI assistants can read sizes, ingredients or materials, and where to buy.
What a consumer goods engagement covers.
- Paid search and social for your own site
- Amazon and marketplace advertising
- Product feeds and Shopping campaigns
- Margin-based measurement across channels
- Launch and seasonal campaign planning
- Technical SEO for product and brand pages
- AI search visibility for product research
One senior mind, audit to invoice.
One senior operator runs search, social and marketplace advertising together, so budget follows the channel that leaves the most margin rather than the one that reports the most sales.
Where a sale can be tied to a click, it is. Where it cannot, such as a sale in a shop, the effect is judged with tests that compare periods or areas with and without the advertising, and reported as an estimate.
How the sector reads to AI.
In the Crane Index scan of 1 October 2026, the Consumer Goods benchmark scored the websites of 119 organisations for AI readability, how well AI systems can read them. The median score was 46 out of 100, and 3 scored 70 or more. Tapestry led, at 75. Read the Consumer Goods benchmark.
Your own site can be scored the same way, free, so you can see where it sits against the sector before any work starts. Get your Crane Index score.
Consumer Goods questions.
We mostly sell through retailers. Can we still measure our advertising?
Partly. Sales on your own site and on marketplaces can be measured directly. Sales in shops and on retailers' sites usually cannot be tied to a single click, so they are judged with tests that compare areas or periods with and without the advertising, and labelled as estimates.
Is advertising on Amazon worth it if we already sell there?
It depends on the margin left after Amazon's fees and the ad cost, not on the sales the ads report. That sum is worked out before budget is set, and the ACoS calculator on this site shows how.
Do shoppers use AI assistants to choose products?
Some do. When they do, the answer draws on websites it can read, including product details and where to buy. The work makes those pages readable, and the Crane Index benchmark below shows how the sector's sites score today.
The full stack, on one desk.
Every sector engagement draws on the same four disciplines, held by one senior practitioner. Take one, or the whole stack.
Creator of the AI Readability Suite
Senior work, sector by sector.
Start with a conversation.
A proper conversation with the person who would do the work. Tell me about your consumer goods business and where you want to be, and you will get an honest read on what I would change, what I would leave alone, and where the real upside is.
Speak with NicThe senior read,
once a week.
Most marketing newsletters are noise on a schedule. This is not that. Once a week I send a short, considered read on the shifts that actually change what you should do, across the AI shift, PPC, technical SEO and analytics. Filtered, weighted and signed off by me before it goes out. The judgement is mine, and now you can hear every edition in my own voice.
Nic CraneFounder, The Crane Consultancy
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