Death Wish Coffee Full Service Case Study

$2M Monthly Revenue

Consistently driving seven-figure sales volume month over month.

Since 2012, Death Wish Coffee pioneered strong, smooth coffee using robusta beans. The brand blends high-quality robusta with Fair Trade and organic arabica for a bold profile. Specialized roasting at their facilities boosts flavor and caffeine while cutting acidity. This delivers a rich, full-bodied brew that coffee lovers demand.

The Challenges

Expired Inventory Crisis
Faced constant Amazon FBA inventory challenges where good stock was marked as expired due to fulfillment errors, trapping thousands of units in limbo and causing major revenue leaks.

Incorrect Attribute Data
Mismatched unit counts and invalid GS1 certificates locked listing edits, preventing critical updates to product details.

Fragmented Catalog Architecture
Recurring “ghost” parents and broken variations scattered reviews, making it hard to maintain organic ranking power.

Image and Attribute Errors
Dealt with outdated images, wrong flavor names, and missing certifications like USDA Organic, leading to poor conversions and lost trust from picky buyers.

Pricing and Buy Box Losses
Battled resellers undercutting prices and losing Buy Box to competitors, while removal orders threatened stock without warning or easy fixes.

Inconsistent Listing Compliance
Mismatched attributes triggered compliance suppressions, creating an inconsistent and confusing post-purchase experience.

Death wish coffee Amazon case study
Services provided:
  • Full Service
  • Catalog Management
  • Listing Optimization
  • New Product Creation
  • Parentages
  • Listing Reinstatement
  • Amazon Social Posts
  • Amazon PPC
  • Amazon SEO
Website:
Channels managed:
Amazon
Industry:
Grocery & Gourmet Food
Yearly Sales:
+$10M
ASINs Managed:
25-50
Days with our Amazon agency:
1341+ days since April 2022

Our Approach

2022: Strategic Foundation and Catalog Unification
In 2022, we initiated a comprehensive overhaul to stabilize the brand’s presence and prepare for scale. Our Amazon catalog management strategy focused on establishing a clean, compliant foundation while expanding market reach.

Content Standardization and Compliance

  • Conducted deep-dive competitor research to build a Master Keyword List (MKL), guiding optimized titles and bullet points for core listings
  • Scrubbed listing copy to remove non-compliant health claims like “Max Caffeine,” reducing the risk of suppression
  • Implemented a cohesive “Brand Story” module to enhance cross-selling opportunities on Product Detail Pages

Catalog Architecture and Variation Repair

  • Prioritized fixing Amazon parent child variations by creating new parentage structures for flavored grounds and pods, consolidating reviews and improving visibility
  • Audited image stacks across the catalog to identify gaps and coordinated the upload of missing visual assets
  • Consolidated isolated child ASINs into their correct parent families to strengthen organic ranking power

Market Expansion and Seasonal Prep

  • Launched advertising and localized SEO campaigns to capture new demand in the Canadian marketplace
  • Executed holiday-specific keyword updates, targeting high-traffic terms related to gifting to maximize Q4 visibility

2023: Technical Troubleshooting and Inventory Management
Early 2023 focused on fixing technical hurdles and optimizing inventory. We resolved UPC issues, broken variations, and stock limits for continuity.

Technical Catalog Repair

  • Rebuilt broken parent-child variations that had fragmented due to system errors, ensuring all flavor and size options were visible on a single page
  • Initiated complex troubleshooting for UPC and GS1 certificate discrepancies to resolve persistent attribute errors
  • Merged duplicate third-party listings into the core brand catalog to regain control over the Buy Box and brand presentation

Inventory and Price Management

  • Managed restock storage limit increase requests to ensure sufficient inventory levels for high-velocity SKUs
  • Troubleshot competitive price errors that were suppressing the Buy Box, advocating for the brand’s pricing strategy against Amazon’s automated flags

2024: Catalog Repair and Brand Defense
In 2024, we dismantled fragmented catalog issues causing confusion and stabilized inventory leaks. Later efforts hardened defenses against unauthorized sellers and ensured policy compliance to secure Buy Box control.

Catalog Architecture Repair

  • Diagnosed and dismantled “ghost” parent listings that were causing child variations to fragment across multiple marketplaces
  • Rebuilt parent-child relationships using flat file uploads to unify reviews and improve organic ranking visibility, specifically targeting the Ground, K-Cup, and Nespresso product lines
  • Corrected size and flavor name attributes across the catalog to standardize unit measurements and prevent compliance suppressions

Inventory Preservation

  • Launched aggressive appeal cases to reclaim sellable stock marked as “expired” by Amazon fulfillment centers, utilizing bin checks to prove inventory viability
  • Conducted regular audits of unfulfillable and stranded inventory reports to identify false positives and prevent unnecessary disposal fees

Brand Protection and Counterfeit Remediation

  • Identified unauthorized third-party resellers and counterfeit listings that were diluting the brand’s Buy Box share
  • Executed a strategy of merging duplicate third-party ASINs into the main brand catalog to consolidate sales rank and remove unauthorized offers

Listing Compliance and Optimization

  • Removed non-compliant claims and prohibited keywords from titles and imagery to prevent suppression and adhere to category guidelines
  • Updated critical certification attributes, including “USDA Organic” and “Fair Trade,” to boost conversion among value-driven shoppers and ensure accurate filtering

2025: Strategic Optimization and Market Defense
With a stable catalog and protected brand equity, the focus evolved into proactive maintenance, visual optimization, and defensive pricing strategies to secure market position.

Visual Asset Audits

  • Initiated comprehensive audits of product imagery across the catalog to identify low-quality assets or compliance risks, such as non-compliant main images
  • Directed the creation and upload of optimized visual content to enhance brand storytelling and eliminate shadows or prohibited elements in main images

Competitive Pricing Defense

  • Monitored cross-channel pricing dynamics, specifically investigating connections between competitor rollbacks and Buy Box loss, to identify opportunities for competitive adjustments
  • Implemented strategic pricing monitoring to defend the Buy Box against aggressive competitor discounting

Continuous Variation Management

  • Maintained catalog integrity by proactively fixing Amazon parent child variations splits and immediately reintegrating isolated ASINs into their correct parentage families to preserve review density

Impact

$2 Million+ Monthly Sales

Secured top-line growth through Amazon brand management and protection services, resolving critical compliance suppressions and unifying the brand’s complex catalog architecture.

Death wish coffee Amazon case study

20,000+ Units Recovered

MAG’s expert Amazon catalog management strategy restored sellable stock by challenging incorrect data, directly fueling sales performance.

Death wish coffee Amazon case study

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Brand success

Death Wish Coffee

Major Amazon Gains

$2M+

Monthly revenue
Achieved over $2 million in monthly sales

559

Days with My Amazon Guy
Onboarded on December 21, 2023

Since 2012, Death Wish Coffee has established itself as a pioneer in the coffee industry by embracing the powerful qualities of the robusta bean. The company was founded on the principle of creating a coffee that is both intensely strong and exceptionally smooth.

Death Wish Coffee’s approach centers on a meticulous process that begins at the origin. By selecting high-quality robusta beans and blending them with Fair Trade and organic arabica, they create a unique profile. This careful sourcing is matched by a specialized roasting technique at their own facilities, designed to maximize flavor and caffeine content.

The result is the brand’s signature cup: a bold, low-acidity coffee with a rich aroma, full-bodied mouthfeel, and an extra kick of caffeine. Death Wish Coffee guarantees a premium, consistently strong, and smooth experience, appealing to those who refuse to settle for a weak brew.

Challenges

For any seller, even a major brand, the Amazon marketplace can feel like a maze filled with operational traps. Without a team that deeply understands the platform’s inner workings, sellers are left fighting fires that threaten their inventory and revenue.These challenges highlight the immense difficulty of managing complex issues without expert guidance.

The Nightmare of ‘Expired’ Inventory
A primary struggle for sellers is having perfectly good inventory incorrectly marked as expired. This often stems from handling errors at fulfillment centers, rendering thousands of dollars of product unsellable in an instant. Trying to correct this data on your own is a frustrating, uphill battle against a system you don’t control. This fight frequently leads to significant and unnecessary financial losses.

Fighting Against Automated Removals
Sellers are also at the mercy of Amazon’s automated systems, which can trigger removal orders without warning. An algorithm might flag products based on flawed data, starting a process that is incredibly difficult to stop. Without knowing the exact procedures to challenge these decisions, sellers can only watch as their valuable stock is removed. This directly results to lost sales from unavailable inventory and costly removal and disposal fees

The Documentation Deadlock
The biggest roadblock for sellers is Amazon’s strict demand for supporting documentation. The platform requires very specific evidence to dispute a claim, reverse an order, or correct an expiration date.

Most sellers don’t know what information is needed or how to present it effectively. This leads to denied cases and unresolved problems. This documentation deadlock is often where sellers give up. They are forced to accept the loss simply because they cannot navigate the bureaucratic maze.

Our approach

A proactive strategy for total account management
To overcome the client’s challenges, we used a comprehensive approach to replace reactive problem-solving with proactive control. Our strategy focused on key areas to protect assets and drive growth including the following:

  • Creating total transparency
  • Actively managing inventory
  • Relentlessly monitoring key performance metrics

Shared case tracker
We established a detailed case tracker and shared it with the client to serve as a single source of truth. This tool provided real-time updates on all open cases to ensure complete transparency. In just two months, we managed over 670 cases through this system. This shows our capacity to handle high-volume demands while keeping our client fully informed.

Bin check coordination
To combat incorrect expiration date issues, we systematically coordinated bin checks within Amazon’s fulfillment centers. By regularly requesting inspections, we could prove the viability of thousands of units marked as expired. This hands-on approach was crucial for recovering at-risk inventory. It allowed us to reinstate the products as sellable stock.

Removal order monitoring
Our team provided a defensive line against inventory loss by monitoring all automated removal orders. This constant vigilance allowed us to identify and halt improper removals before they were processed. By scrutinizing these orders, we could distinguish between legitimate disposals and system errors. This preserved valuable products and prevented costly fees.

Account health monitoring
We conducted daily account health checks to proactively identify and address risks before they could impact sales. This process involved monitoring for issues that could affect visibility. These issues included suppressed listings, policy warnings, and other performance metrics. This ensured the account remained in good standing and prevented sales disruptions.

Buy box and price monitoring
To maximize sales and profitability, we implemented rigorous Buy Box and price monitoring. We tracked competitor pricing and market trends to make strategic adjustments. This constant oversight ensured the client’s products were always positioned to win the sale. It helped protect margins and build customer trust.

Returns report analysis
We transformed raw data into actionable insights by analyzing returns reports. We tracked return rates as well as reasons to identify patterns and potential issues. Doing so provided a number of improvements:

  • Make targeted improvements to product listings
  • Reduce the rate of future returns
  • Enhance overall customer satisfaction

The impact

The tangible impact of expert management
Our strategic approach delivered significant, measurable results. We transformed the client’s operational challenges into clear opportunities for growth. By implementing proactive controls and transparent communication, we created a stable foundation for success. This directly impacted key areas of the business:

  • Sales
  • Profitability
  • Overall account integrity

Recovered thousands of sellable units
By using systematic bin checks, we challenged incorrect data and reclaimed over 20,000 units of at-risk inventory. This direct intervention prevented catastrophic loss and protected the client’s investment. It also allowed us to immediately reintroduce valuable products back into sellable stock. This directly fueled the client’s sales performance.

Maintained flawless sales momentum
Our daily account health checks acted as a proactive defense. We prevented sales delays by catching and resolving listing suppressions before they could affect the business. This constant vigilance ensured the client’s products remained visible and buyable. This maintained crucial sales velocity and a high-performance standing on Amazon.

Maximized sales and profitability
Through diligent Buy Box and price monitoring, we ensured the client’s products were consistently positioned to win the sale. This strategy protected profit margins by making intelligent, data-driven pricing adjustments. The result was a win across the board reflected in the following ways:

  • Maximized revenue
  • Enhanced customer trust
  • Full compliance with Amazon’s pricing policies

Prevented critical inventory loss
Continuous monitoring of removal orders provided a vital safety net against costly system errors. By identifying and stopping improper automated removals, we prevented the loss of perfectly good inventory.

This supported accurate stock management. It also contributed significantly to the health and stability of the client’s FBA operations.

Enhanced listings and customer satisfaction
Analyzing returns reports allowed us to turn customer feedback into actionable improvements. We identified the root causes of returns to enhance product listings and refine customer expectations. This led to a measurable reduction in return rates. That, in turn, boosted customer satisfaction and further protected the health of the account.

Achieved total transparency and faster resolutions
The shared case tracker was fundamental to our success by fostering seamless collaboration and accountability. It gave the client a real-time view of all activities, which eliminated confusion and built trust. This transparency dramatically accelerated issue resolution. It allowed us to solve problems with much greater speed and efficiency.

Services provided
  • Troubleshooting
  • Catalog Management

Industry:

Food and beverage

Location:

USA

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