Once the dust has settled from Q4 madness, brands turn their attention to the year ahead. Once January rolls around, you’re likely setting goals, forecasting demand, and adjusting your promotional strategies.
Here are Kapoq’s recommendations for the questions brands should be asking and the analysis you should be doing in January and Q1!
Review Pricing and Promo Strategies
One of the first things you should do in each new year is review your pricing and promo strategies from the previous year. Not only can this help you assess the success of your business last year, but it also can help you decide what sorts of strategies you should be enacting in the year ahead.
Questions to Ask
- Did tariffs in 2025 erode your margins?
- If so, do you need to plan a price increase in 2026?
- If you already increased pricing, how will these higher prices impact your conversion rate or profitability?
Next Steps to Take
Raising your prices is a big decision, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Especially when selling on Amazon, you have to consider your MAP pricing and how a price increase will affect your advertised price, margins, and sales on all platforms.
As you forecast for the year ahead, you’ll need to predict how a potential price increase will impact your sales. If your product is repurchased regularly, consider offering a discount for those who Subscribe and Save to account for the potential price difference.
Analyze Past Promotions
On a similar note, you’ll want to deeply take a look at your past promotions and analyze the results of them. Obviously, you’ll want to look at Cyber Weekend and Prime Day, but be sure to also include any other promotions your brand ran—perhaps a special seasonal sale that’s unique to your industry, such as back-to-school shopping.
Questions to Ask
- How did your discounts last year influence performance during the promotion and afterwards?
- Did running the promotion increase your sales rank or organic rank and provide a lasting halo effect on total sales?
Next Steps to Take
Amazon looks at your lowest price in the last 90-120 days to determine the reference price that future discounts will apply to. This means you need to be strategic about when you run sales if you want to maximize your earnings on July Prime Day and Q4 in 2026!
If a certain promotion didn’t offer any sort of significant sales lift, improvement in your organic rank, or a lasting halo effect, it might not be worth running that promotion this year. Or, perhaps you’ll simply lower the discount you offer to increase your margins while still participating in the sale.
Run Tentpole Phase Overlap Query
The Tentpole Phase Overlap AMC query can give your brand valuable insight into how you performed in and around specific sales events such as Prime Day. Savvy Amazon sellers know that these tentpole days are about more than just the event day itself—it requires a solid lead-in and lead-out strategy to build awareness and capture sales.
Questions to Ask
- Did your strategy in the lead up to the event effectively boost sales?
- Did you see a significant rise in ROAS on the event day?
- How many sales did you capture after the event?
Next Steps to Take
Run the Tentpole Phase Overlap AMC query to understand how you did during T12 and more specifically the peak holiday season. Be sure to also look into any tentpole days that are specific to your industry.
Many brands might see satisfactory performance on the event day itself, but improvements could be made on the lead-in to further build awareness. Consider allocating some additional budget to advertising in the days leading up to the tentpole event—it’s not wasted budget if the purchases come days later!
Adjust Inventory Strategy
With the new fee changes that came to Amazon in January 2026, your brand might need to revisit their inventory strategy to ensure you’re not accruing any unnecessary fees, especially if you are utilizing Amazon Warehousing and Distribution.
Questions to Ask
- Did you run out of stock at all last year? What was the reason? (Poor planning, or events outside of your control?)
- Did you accrue any over- or under-stocking fees?
Next Steps to Take
You’ll need to set up alerts or safety measures to ensure that you maintain a consistent stock. It’s a delicate balance, especially ahead of tentpole sales events; you need enough inventory to account for your increased sales, but not so much that you’re hit with over-stocking fees. If you’ve accurately forecasted demand, you should be able to easily set your inventory levels.
Kapoq’s Inventory module features inventory fee alerts that notify you if you’ll be impacted by a low-inventory fee, or if you will be impacted by any changes in FBA dimensions. Additionally, you can minimize out-of-stock situations with SKU-specific, supplier-specific lead times, safety stock, and reorder rules.
Book your free demo of Kapoq today to set yourself up for success in 2026.
