Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) was started in a college apartment in 2012 by Nick Bare, built on a philosophy of transparency, service, and the "Go One More" mindset.
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Now, BPN is one of the fast-growing supplements brand in the functional fitness space, with a loyal community and multi-channel distribution. Their products support performance across energy, recovery, hydration, and daily health.

By early 2024, BPN was scaling quickly across DTC and retail, but Amazon lagged behind. Though BPN was already a multi-million-dollar business on Amazon, the brand faced critical roadblocks: Buy Box leakage to unauthorized 3P sellers, high customer acquisition costs, thin margins, and low subscription retention — particularly among newer customers.

BPN partnered with Cartograph in February 2024 to transform Amazon into a more profitable, predictable, and scalable channel, while protecting their strong DTC growth and brand equity.

Eliminate 3P Interference & Win the Buy Box

BPN faced issues with controlling reseller relationships. With Cartograph's guidance, BPN identified unauthorized 3P sellers on Amazon and traced the source of their inventory. Leveraging these insights, BPN refined its reseller contracts to explicitly prohibit selling on Amazon, strengthening channel control.

Margin Analysis & Product Line Prioritization

Cartograph and BPN cut low-margin SKUs and doubled down on hero products with strong Amazon traction. Strong Food (BPN’s high-protein, meal-replacement powder) remained on Amazon as a channel-exclusive offer due to superior performance on Amazon. Other pre-workout, sleep supplements, and single-serve stick packs were removed to improve margins and focus.

Focus Spend on Highest ROI Ads

Cartograph segmented BPN’s Amazon keywords by engagement and return, scaling only the top performers. We launched full-funnel campaigns focused on hero products, but as customer acquisition costs proved higher on Amazon, we shifted to bottom-of-funnel efforts. Now, branded off-platform marketing drives the highest-intent traffic directly to Amazon for conversion.

Subscription Offerings & Coupons

We focused on building Subscribe & Save (SNS) with our highest-margin hero products. We tiered SNS discounts, offering the strongest incentives on top SKUs while pulling back on lower-margin lines. Shifting SNS coupons to Amazon Prime members only helped reduce cancellations after just one delivery, strengthening subscription retention and decreasing cost.

Off Amazon Traffic to Support Tentpole Strategy

Unlike most brands, BPN sends their DTC audience to Amazon on tentpole events like Prime Day with minimal cannibalization. Customers who shifted became highly engaged Amazon buyers. SMS, Email, Meta, and DTC pop-ups announcing Amazon Deals proved to be key drivers, and BPN was able to benefit significantly from Brand Referral Bonuses.

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