Pollipop: Amazon’s #1 Best Seller for Gourmet Candies

About Pollipop

Carina Lin founded Pollipop in 2018 in Fredericton, New Brunswick to make hard candies and lollipops using Canadian maple syrup, wild blueberries, cranberries and other locally sourced ingredients  – all free of any artificial colours or additives.

Sector: Gourmet Food

• Achieved 25% Amazon market share for maple candies
• #1 Best Seller for Gourmet Candies on Amazon with their 4-pack maple candy gift boxes
• 4x Revenue Growth
• 4.2 ROAS

Beacon Services

• Product strategy
• PPC advertising
• Keyword research
• Copywriting
• A+ and Storefront Creation
• Pricing optimization
• Inventory planning
• Strategic business advice

Early success

“Pollipop was inspired by local farmers in New Brunswick who produce very high quality agricultural products,” Carina says. “We set up a factory in Fredericton in 2018 and we currently make maple candy lollipops and also use pure berry juice, like wild blueberry and cranberry juice, mixed with maple syrup to produce different flavor hard candy and lollipops.”

Pollipop started selling its products through retail and wholesale channels. They were soon supplying independent gift stores across Atlantic Canada as well as 300 Walmart Canada locations across the country.

Omnichannel strategy

Carina decided to add e-commerce channels into the mix to reach a wider audience, launching the Pollipop website and then turning her sights to Amazon.

She met Beacon Commerce founder Don Thompson during an Amazon workshop hosted by Food & Beverage Atlantic and knew she’d found the support she needed to launch on the world’s biggest ecommerce platform.

Amazon was also attractive to Carina for reasons beyond increasing sales revenue.

She knew that Amazon would allow her to better serve customers who wanted to buy Pollipop products in smaller quantities, explaining that Pollipop can only afford to provide free shipping on its own website for orders over a certain amount.

Amazon’s fast, free shipping enables these customers “who really want our products to buy from us at a lower order cost. The average order amount on Amazon so far is around $30 while on our own website the average order is $90, so they are totally different customers.”

“Amazon also provides a very good endorsement to our brand … So I think if people, when they Google or search our products or brand name, they can say, ‘Oh, they also sell on Amazon. So we can trust this company and this product.’”

The challenge

Carina realized from the outset that she needed expert help to launch on Amazon to navigate the complexities of the platform and select which of Pollipop’s wide array of product configurations would be best to focus on to ensure healthy margins and maximum profitability.

How Beacon helps

Pollipop and the Beacon team worked closely together to decide which products and in what sizes were going to provide the best profit margin possible when selling on Amazon.

In collaboration with Pollipop, the Beacon team went through the exercise of looking at Pollipop’s competitors and what price points they’re selling at on Amazon to make sure the selected price point was competitive while taking into account Amazon fees and Pollipop’s cost structure.

Brand manager Dajana Pavlovic also worked with Carina on visual branding elements for a compelling, cohesive presentation.

What’s it like to work with Don and the Beacon team?

Beacon Commerce “exceeded our expectations” for the launch on Amazon, Carina says.

“Don is very professional and Dajana and the team are always helpful, even when we ask very simple questions they answer quickly and professionally.”

Whether it’s pricing, positioning, or navigating Amazon’s complexities, the Beacon team brought clarity and confidence to every step, she says, delivering hands-on support and a data-driven approach that make it easy to trust the process.

“If you don’t have experience in online business, you should have a professional team to help you,” Carina advises. “Without that help, you will pay a higher cost and wait longer for beneficial results.”

Pollipop results

Pollipop quickly established a strong presence on Amazon after launching on the platform in late 2024.

“Given that Pollipop is an incredibly distinctive product with very few competitors, its Amazon storefront exploded right from the get-go and continues to go strong,” Dajana says.

Pollipop saw rapid and impressive growth with monthly sales jumping 4X from November 2024 to February 2025, and momentum continuing to build through spring 2025, even without a holiday shopping boost.

Repeat purchase rates climbed from 5% in January to 7.6% in February, signaling strong customer retention.

Their top product, their 4-pack gift boxes, also earned the coveted spot as Amazon’s #1 bestseller in the “gourmet candy gifts” category.

“We always prioritized that one, keeping it in stock, putting advertising spend behind it. Everything contributed, the packaging, the pricing, the design,” Carina says.

Based on available data, Pollipop has captured approximately 25% market share within its Amazon subcategory, maple candies.

What’s next for Pollipop?

Now established in the Amazon Canada marketplace, Carina is considering expanding to Amazon U.S.

“Our experience with Beacon is very good and exceeded our expectations. And once we decide to move on with Amazon U.S., we will continue to work with Don and his team.”