What is involved in an Amazon Vendor Central to Seller Central transition, and why do CPG brands make one?
When Amazon sets the retail price, runs the promotions, and decides the purchase orders, a declining 1P channel leaves a brand with no lever to pull. Here’s the targeted transition model that fixes it, and what it did for illy’s coffee business on Amazon: 42 ASINs moved off Vendor Central, Neato-managed revenue from $3.24M to $9.36M (+187%), 79% of at-risk revenue recovered.
01
The challenge
Heading into 2026, illy’s Amazon Vendor Central (1P) revenue declined nearly 18% year-over-year across the catalog, and more than 60% on a core set of 42 ASINs. Because Vendor Central is a wholesale relationship, Amazon set the retail pricing, controlled promotional cadence, and decided purchase order volume. This left illy with no direct lever to respond as a meaningful share of its U.S. Amazon business slipped away.
02
The solution
illy partnered with Neato, a CPG eCommerce accelerator, to move its 42 most at-risk ASINs from Vendor Central onto a Neato-managed Seller Central storefront, allowing direct control over pricing, promotions, and inventory while leaving the rest of the catalog untouched.
03
The result
Neato-managed revenue on the transitioned ASINs grew 187% in the first half of 2026, from $3.24M to $9.36M, recovering 79% of the revenue illy stood to lose from Vendor Central’s decline.
By the numbers
ASINs Transitioned
Moved from Vendor Central to Neato’s managed channel
Revenue Growth, H1
$3.24M to $9.36M in Neato-managed revenue (+$6.1M)
Unit Sales Growth, H1
Year-over-year through the Neato-managed channel
Revenue Recovered
Of the Vendor Central revenue loss recovered via Neato’s channel
H1 2026
YoY Revenue Growth
Sustained Premium Pricing
No heavy discounting.
An Amazon Vendor Central to Seller Central transition is the practice of moving selected ASINs off Amazon’s wholesale (1P) model, where Amazon sets pricing, promotions, and purchase orders, and onto a Seller Central storefront, run either by the brand itself (3P) or by a partner that becomes the seller of record (2P, the model Neato used for illy). Applied to illy’s coffee catalog, 42 ASINs were moved to Neato management, growing revenue 187% (from $3.24M to $9.36M), and recovered 79% of the revenue at risk from Vendor Central’s decline.
With Neato, illy now has a proven, targeted playbook for defending Amazon revenue against Vendor Central pressure: not a same-day fix, but a validated model ready to extend across the catalog.
Why Vendor Central revenue can decline faster than a brand can respond
In a wholesale relationship with Amazon, they hold the levers. So when 1P revenue softens, the brand has no direct way to intervene.
The global CPG brand, illy, was founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy in Trieste, Italy, and is known globally for its distinctive silver-and-red pressurized coffee cans and single-origin Arabica sourcing. The brand pioneered several category-firsts, including the first pre-measured espresso pods (ESE). Today, illy sells in over 140 countries under the leadership of third-generation family CEO Andrea Illy.
On Amazon, illy’s U.S. business spans both Vendor Central (1P) and a Neato-managed Seller Central (2P) storefront: a hybrid model reflecting the brand’s broader retail footprint across grocery, foodservice, and its own café network. Heading into 2026, that 1P channel represented the large majority of illy’s Amazon business, and it was declining: falling nearly 18% year-over-year across the catalog, just as competition in the coffee category intensified. illy needed a channel it could control directly on pricing and promotion to protect its overall Amazon presence, setting up the shift Neato would manage.
“A Vendor Central transition is a heavy lift, and should be met with respect,” said Javier Mendoza, Director of E-Commerce at illy. “You risk losing sales velocity, your Subscribe & Save base, and losing rank. Choosing the right eCommerce accelerator partner is essential.”
What happens when Amazon controls your channel: the Vendor Central problem
A declining Amazon Vendor Central channel gives a CPG brand no way to act. illy, for example, saw 1P revenue fall nearly 18% across the catalog, and more than 60% on a core set of 42 ASINs, with no way to respond through its own pricing or marketing.
No Lever to Pull on Pricing or Promotion
By early 2026, illy’s Vendor Central (1P) revenue was in clear decline: down 17.9% year-over-year across the catalog, and far steeper (down over 60%) on a core set of 42 ASINs. Because Vendor Central is a wholesale relationship, illy had no direct lever to pull. Amazon sets retail pricing, controls promotional cadence, and decides purchase order volume, leaving illy unable to respond to the slide with its own pricing or marketing actions.
A Meaningful Share of Amazon Revenue at Risk
Left unaddressed, that decline threatened a meaningful share of illy’s total U.S. Amazon revenue, since Vendor Central represented the large majority of illy’s Amazon business at the time. A continued slide, with no mechanism to intervene, meant illy’s Amazon growth was effectively being decided by Amazon, not by illy.
No Proven Alternative Already Running
Without a 3P presence of meaningful scale, illy also had no proven alternative already running. Any shift away from Vendor Central would mean standing up a new operating model from scratch, with no track record to point to internally before committing further ASINs to the transition.
Underlying these issues was a structural blocker: as long as illy’s Amazon business ran almost entirely through a wholesale channel, the brand’s growth on the platform would be set by Amazon’s purchase orders and pricing decisions rather than by illy’s own strategy. Fixing that would take more than negotiating harder inside Vendor Central: it would take a channel illy could control, proven first on the ASINs that needed it most.
An example of illy’s listings being pushed down by competing coffee brands, which illy had no control to market against while tied to Amazon Vendor Central (1P). Illustrative purposes only.
How a Vendor Central to Seller Central transition works: the targeted approach
CPG brands like illy choose to partner with eCommerce accelerators like Neato to move their most at-risk ASINs onto a managed Seller Central storefront, regaining control of pricing, promotions, and inventory without disrupting the rest of the catalog.
illy’s challenge was a channel-control problem, not a product or demand problem. They chose to partner with Neato as their eCommerce acceleration partner, who built the solution around a targeted approach rather than a wholesale one. Instead of attempting to move illy’s entire Amazon business at once, Neato identified the 42 ASINs where the Vendor Central decline was most acute and stood up a Neato-managed Seller Central presence for exactly those listings. This allowed control over pricing and promotions, as well as inventory control that Vendor Central structurally doesn’t allow, while leaving the rest of the catalog untouched.
Full-Catalog Migration becomes Targeted, Data-Led ASIN Selection
Rather than migrating illy’s full catalog, Neato identified the 42 ASINs facing the steepest Vendor Central declines and prioritized those for transition, concentrating effort where it would protect the most revenue instead of spreading it thin across the full catalog. The primary KPI tracked here was Transition Scope: the number of ASINs moved off Vendor Central and onto the Neato-managed channel.
A Declining Wholesale Channel becomes a Neato-Managed Storefront Built for Speed
Once selected, those 42 ASINs scaled fast: units sold through the Neato-managed channel grew 180% year-over-year, and channel revenue grew 187%, from $3.24M to $9.36M. That growth is evidence that the new listings weren’t just live: they were actively winning sales that Amazon Vendor Central had been losing. Neato tracked this through Revenue Growth and Units Sold in the managed channel.
Channel Growth becomes Revenue Protection
Finally, the transition was framed around protecting illy’s overall Amazon business, not just standing up a new sales channel. Neato’s growth on these ASINs recovered 79% of the revenue illy was losing on Vendor Central, substantially softening what would otherwise have been a much steeper net decline. Revenue Recovered served as the KPI: the share of the Vendor Central loss offset by the Neato-managed channel.
Targeted selection protects the most revenue, a managed storefront turns that selection into sales, and those sales feed back into a stronger overall Amazon business.
An example of illy’s Neato-managed Seller Central listings for the transitioned ASINs. Illustrative purposes only.
A validated model ready to extend across the catalog
By partnering with an eCommerce accelerator like Neato, illy came out of the first half of 2026 with a channel it fully controls, proven on the 42 ASINs that needed it most.
A Vendor Central decline like this could have simply meant lost revenue with no way to respond. Instead, illy now has something it didn’t have before: a Neato-managed channel with direct control over pricing, promotions, and inventory. They now have a track record on 42 ASINs to point to internally before committing more of the catalog. The open question isn’t whether the model works: the numbers above answer that. It’s how much of the remaining catalog makes sense to move next, and how quickly.
What started as a challenge, a declining wholesale channel outside illy’s control, became a new standard for Amazon channel resilience. By connecting targeted ASIN selection, a managed storefront built for speed, and a clear revenue-protection goal into a single framework, Neato helped illy turn a Vendor Central slowdown into a proven, repeatable playbook for defending Amazon revenue. With the model validated, illy is positioned to extend it further, on its own terms.
“We moved 42 ASINs, not the entire catalog, and that was the right call,” said Javier Mendoza, Director of E-Commerce at illy. “Revenue on those ASINs grew 187% in six months and recovered 79% of what Vendor Central was costing us. Neato proved the model before asking us to bet more on it.”
Javier Mendoza
Director of E-Commerce, illy
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