Case study · Natural hair & scalp care · Amazon UK, EU & USHow Milva went from almost zero to the top of its niche.

A Bulgarian herbal shampoo brand that sold almost nothing on Amazon when we took it on in 2022. We became its distributor in the UK, Europe and the US, rebuilt every listing around the problem it solves, and put it at the top of its own searches.

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5,000+units a month

5,000+units a month
#1organic for “pine tar shampoo” and “propolis shampoo”
4,517ratings across five listings
+40%more page-one keywords in 4 months

Brand: Milva, Bulgaria
Category: Natural hair & scalp care
Marketplaces: Amazon UK, EU and US
Model: Authorised distribution
Together since: 2022

The brand

Herbal formulas that work. No one on Amazon knew them.

Milva makes herbal shampoos in Bulgaria: pine tar for dandruff and an itchy scalp, nettle for oily hair, propolis for a sensitive scalp, plus chamomile, white clay and more.

When we took the brand on in 2022, it was selling almost nothing on Amazon. We didn't just manage the account: we became Milva's distributor, bought the stock and built the brand on Amazon in the UK, then in Europe and the US.

Wild nettleNettle Shampoo · for oily hair
For the whole family
From Bulgaria
Pine tarFor dandruff and an itchy scalp
Bee propolisFor a sensitive scalp
ChamomileFor a dry, itchy scalp

Imagery from the Milva Brand Story, Brand Store and product videos on Amazon.

The challenge

A small brand on a shelf owned by giants.

Scalp care on Amazon belongs to household names. Our audit found five things holding Milva back.

Page one of “anti dandruff shampoo” on Amazon.co.uk, led by household brands — Page one for “anti dandruff shampoo” on Amazon.co.uk: household names with tens of thousands of ratings.

Giants on page one
The generic searches belong to brands with huge budgets and tens of thousands of reviews.
Listings about ingredients, not problems
Shoppers search for dandruff, oily hair or an itchy scalp. The listings talked about pine tar and propolis.
Products competing with each other
Several shampoos chased the same keywords, so Milva split its own traffic.
Unfamiliar ingredients
Pine tar and propolis mean little to a UK shopper until someone explains what they do.
Three markets, three rulebooks
The UK, the EU and the US each need their own labels, registrations and stock.

What we did

We gave every shampoo one job, and made it win that job.

Instead of fighting the giants for “shampoo”, we took the problem searches: dandruff, oily hair, an itchy scalp. One product, one problem, one set of keywords.

01
Problem-first listings
Every listing rebuilt around the problem it solves: titles, bullets and backend keywords for dandruff, oily hair or an itchy scalp. Each product got its own keywords, so the range stopped competing with itself. More than 10 listings rebuilt, and 40% more keywords on page one within four months.
Our service: Listing optimisation
amazon.co.uk/dp/B072LTMTMQ
Pine Tar Shampoo, 500 ml4.2 2,311 ratings
Five of the Milva listings we rebuilt, live on Amazon.co.uk in September 2026.
02
New images, tested against the old ones
New 3D renders of the bottles, lifestyle images and infographics for every product. Before a new main image stays, it goes head to head with the old one in Amazon's own Manage Your Experiments.
+17%conversion from the new Propolis main image
Before
After · winner
- 0.267% → 0.313%conversion rate
- 160 → 186units sold
- £1,010 → £1,175sales
Amazon.co.uk, Manage Your Experiments, 21 Nov 2024 – 15 Jan 2025. 67% probability the new image is better; Amazon rated the evidence “mild”.
Our service: Professional listings
Pine Tar Shampoo, 500 ml4.2 2,311 ratings
The image galleries on Amazon.co.uk today.
03
Premium A+ and a Brand Store built around problems
Premium A+ on the hero listings, a Brand Story that takes shoppers to the rest of the range, and a Brand Store organised the way people shop: itchy scalp and dandruff, greasy hair, a sensitive scalp.
Our service: A+ content & Brand Story
amazon.co.uk/stores/MilvaNaturalCosmetics
Home: natural Bulgarian care for hair and scalp
Five pages of the Milva Brand Store on Amazon.co.uk, September 2026.
04
Own the search, then defend it
Sponsored Brands put the three bestsellers above the results, and Sponsored Products take the first ad slot on Milva's own problem searches. With the organic rankings underneath, a shopper searching for pine tar shampoo sees Milva first, second and third.
- #1–#3organic for “pine tar shampoo”
- #1organic for “propolis shampoo”
- #2organic for “nettle shampoo”
- 600+Pine Tar 500 ml bought last month
Amazon.co.uk search results, 25 September 2026.
Our service: Amazon PPC
amazon.co.uk/s?k=pine+tar+shampoo
Top of the page: Milva's Sponsored Brands ad.
amazon.co.uk/s?k=pine+tar+shampoo
Below it, the first three organic results: all Milva.
05
Distribution, stock and compliance in three markets
We buy Milva's stock and sell it as the brand's distributor, so the listings, the ads and the stock move together. Our company is named on the pack as importer and responsible person, and for the US launch we handled the new labels and the MoCRA registrations.
Our service: Brand control & distribution
A pallet of Milva on its way to an Amazon warehouse.
Stock
- We buy the stock and carry it
- FBA stock planned market by market
- Listings, ads and stock run by one team
Compliance
- Named importer and responsible person on the pack
- US labels and MoCRA registrations
- Safety data sheets kept up to date

The results

Four years in: the top of its niche.

Milva didn't outspend the giants. It owns the searches for the problems it solves, and it sells every day in three markets.

Bought on Amazon.co.uk last month1,300+ units

Pine Tar 500 ml600+

Pine Tar 200 ml400+

Propolis 500 ml100+

Nettle 500 ml100+

Propolis 200 ml50+

Nettle 200 ml50+

Amazon's own “bought in past month” counts on 25 September 2026, six UK listings only.

5,000+units a month across the UK, EU and US
+40%more keywords on page one, in 4 months
4,517ratings across five listings
+17%conversion from the new Propolis main image
10+listings rebuilt
3markets: UK, EU and US

First three organic results for “pine tar shampoo” on Amazon.co.uk
Brand ads above the results on its own searches

Premium A+ contentThree modules from each listing, on Amazon.co.uk today.

Milva Pine Tar Shampoo: Premium A+ module on Amazon.co.uk — **Pine Tar Shampoo, 500 ml***4.2* 2,311 ratings

The videos

Bulgarian nature, on film.

The newest videos on the Milva product pages: the pine forests of the Rhodope mountains, the texture of the shampoo, the wash. Tap any one to watch.

The pristine power of the Rhodope mountains
- Pine Tar
- Brand film
From Bulgaria's mountains to fresh, oil-free hair
- Nettle
- Brand film
Mountain-born care for an itchy, flaky scalp
- Pine Tar
- Routine
Calm for an itchy scalp
- Propolis
- Routine
Hand-distilled pine tar, up close
- Pine Tar
- Vertical

Running on the Milva listings on Amazon UK and US.

Takeaways

What other brands can take from this.

01Sell the fix, not the formula
Shoppers search for their problem. Answer it in the first line.
02One job per product
Separate keywords stop your own range competing with itself.
03Explain the unfamiliar
Pine tar and propolis sell once shoppers understand what they do.
04Test, don't guess
A new main image earns its place in Amazon's own experiment.
05Own your own searches
Top organic spots plus a brand ad above them leave little room for anyone else.
06Distribution is a growth lever
When one team holds the stock, the listings and the ads, they move together.