According to the Marketplace Index 2026 US report, the strongest brands in their categories on Amazon stand out not for their budgets but for how well they run their operations. The report examines more than 480 brands across 32 categories on Amazon US. It evaluates Amazon brand performance beyond sales, looking at inventory, content, customer reviews, advertising and AI readiness. The key finding is clear: brands that score above 85% almost always rank in the top five for market share in their categories.
What Is the Marketplace Index?
The Marketplace Index (MDEX) is a benchmark that measures how well brands execute on Amazon, using a shared 150-point framework. The score is made up of five areas:
- Retail (40 points): Inventory availability, Prime eligibility and badges such as Best Seller
- Content (50 points): Title, bullet points, images, video, A+ Content and Brand Store
- Customer perception (25 points): Average star rating, number of reviews and reviews with photos or video
- Media (20 points): Visibility of Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands
- AI Readiness (15 points): How clearly product information can be understood by Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping
Where Are Brands Strong on Amazon US?
The average score rose from 67% in 2023 to 76.7% in 2026. Most of the increase comes from core operational areas. Prime eligibility has grown from 49% in 2023 to 89% today, and products are out of stock only 6–7% of the time on average.
98% of brands run an active Brand Store, and the median product rating is 4.6 stars. Practices that were a competitive advantage a few years ago have become baseline expectations.
Where Do Amazon Ads Fall Short?
Media remains the weakest area, with an average score of 41%. Brands appear with Sponsored Products ads 75% of the time on their own brand searches, but only 36% of the time on category searches.
This gap shows that most brands focus on protecting existing demand and are falling behind in reaching shoppers who haven’t yet chosen a brand. Category keywords and competitor targeting (conquesting) can support visibility at the consideration stage of the funnel. However, a product page that is out of stock or has incomplete information will struggle to turn a high CTR into conversions.
What Is AI Readiness and Why Does It Matter?
AI Readiness measures whether product information is clear enough for AI-powered shopping assistants to understand and recommend a product. When users ask Alexa for Shopping something like “a quiet vacuum for a small apartment,” they get a short list of recommendations instead of a long list of results.
The average score in this area is 64%. The main gaps are:
- Only 18% of brands comply with Amazon’s new 75-character title standard.
- Product descriptions mostly list features and don’t explain enough about who the product is for and what need it meets.
- Only 10% of listings use the premium Q&A module. When a brand doesn’t answer a question, the assistant turns to customer reviews.
How Should You Evaluate Your Amazon Performance?
No single KPI explains performance on Amazon. Reading conversion rate, ROAS, stock rate and review score together gives a more reliable picture. These steps can guide you:
- Identify the area where you trail the brand directly above you in your category by the widest margin.
- Rework your titles so the first 75 characters give the brand, product type and key feature.
- Build A+ Content specifically for each product, using comparison tables and cross-sell modules.
- Track your ranking year over year. If your score is rising but your rank is falling, competitors may be improving faster.
At Marker Groupe, we manage brands’ Amazon inventory, content, advertising and measurement within a single performance framework. With our Amazon Consulting service, we can help you build a roadmap prioritized according to your category’s competitive landscape.
For more information about our services, you can visit MarkerGroupe.com or contact us at hello@markergroupe.com.
