Helium 10 Market Tracker Tutorial: Track Amazon Competitors

Is Helium 10 Market Tracker free?

Yes. Helium 10’s Market Tracker help guide currently lists one market with limited access to 20 tracked products on the Free plan. Confirm the allowance displayed in your account before building your list.

This makes the free account a useful starting point for learning the workflow. Choose one niche you understand, add a small group of relevant products, and see whether the information answers your questions. You do not need to begin with every competitor you can find.

Paid access is worth considering when you need additional markets or other tools for deeper research. Compare the current Helium 10 plan limits against your actual workload. A coupon reduces subscription cost; it does not change the features included in the plan.

How to create your first market

Open Market Tracker from your Helium 10 tools menu and choose the option to create a new market. Before completing the form, decide which buying decision you want to study. My kitchen scissors example works because it gives us a recognizable product and several plausible competitors.

1. Name the market clearly. Use a label such as “Kitchen scissors — US” so you can recognize it later. A useful name describes the products and marketplace, especially when you eventually manage several markets.
2. Select the marketplace. Choose the Amazon store you want to analyze from the available options. Keep the products and keywords relevant to that store. A competitor’s performance in another country does not automatically describe your local market.
3. Add focused keywords. In the workflow shown in my video, you can enter up to five keywords, and those keywords cannot be changed after creation. Review them carefully before saving. “Kitchen scissors” and “kitchen shears” can describe the same buying need.
4. Add initial ASINs. An ASIN is Amazon’s product identifier. Include your listing if you have one, plus competitors you already know. Start with products a customer could realistically compare with yours, rather than every listing containing the word scissors.
5. Create the market and let it populate. The tool needs time to collect its initial information. Helium 10 says the first results may take up to 24 hours, with data updated daily. An initially empty dashboard does not necessarily indicate a problem.

Once the market is ready, open it and inspect the tracked products before interpreting the charts. Check the names, images, pack sizes, and uses. Those details determine whether the comparison you are about to make is meaningful.

I would also write down why I chose the initial keywords before looking at any charts. That short note becomes useful later if the suggestions start drifting into another product type. You can compare the results with your original intention instead of gradually building a market that answers a different question.

Choose competitors that belong in the same market

A broad keyword creates a broad starting point. “Kitchen scissors” may bring together everyday cooking shears, heavy duty products, and multipacks. A narrower phrase, such as “kitchen scissors dishwasher safe,” expresses a more specific need, but it does not guarantee every suggested product meets that requirement.

Read the actual listings before accepting suggestions. Keyword matching is a discovery method, not product verification. A phrase in a title does not establish that two products offer the same material, durability, included accessories, or intended use.

In the video, I discuss excluding two packs when they do not fit the comparison. That is a judgment call. If shoppers regularly choose between your single unit and a competing two pack, that bundle may belong in your competitive picture. If you are studying single unit pricing specifically, separate it.

Do not build a flattering market by excluding strong competitors. The purpose is to understand where your product stands. An uncomfortable but relevant comparison is more useful than a large share of a carefully selected group that ignores the products customers actually buy.

Read the dashboard without confusing the metrics

Market Tracker brings several signals together. In the tutorial, I move between the market charts and the individual product rows. That combination matters: the chart shows the overall pattern, while the rows help you identify which products deserve attention.

One correction to my original explanation: Helium 10 defines Power Score as relevance to your market criteria. A higher score indicates a closer match; it is not a general rating of listing quality, profitability, or competitive strength.

Keep the time period in view too. A monthly estimate and a point on a historical chart may represent different windows. Read the label before comparing them, and avoid treating estimated revenue as profit: product costs, advertising, fees, and other expenses still matter.

When you open a historical sales chart, look for a pattern across several observations. A single high day might reflect a temporary promotion, while a longer rise gives you a different question to investigate. Also, the first date visible on a chart is not necessarily the product’s launch date. It may simply be the earliest data available in that view. Avoid building a competitor story from a date alone.

Market share versus sales share: a simple example

A product can capture a larger share of revenue than of unit sales because it sells at a higher price. In my recorded example, one listing shows roughly 23.5% sales share and 34.7% market share. Those figures describe that demonstration, not the current kitchen scissors market.

Here is a simpler hypothetical comparison. Assume the tracked group contains only two products and the prices stay constant during the period:

Both products sell the same number of units. Product A contributes twice as much revenue because its price is twice as high. That does not establish which product earns more profit or offers better value. We would need additional information to answer either question.

This happens visibly in my tutorial when I add products. The measured market grows because the comparison includes more ASINs. Before reacting to a sudden change, check whether you changed the product list. Record those additions so your next review has the right context.

Review suggestions and identify your own product

After the initial setup, Market Tracker suggests additional products. In the video, I use Track to include a relevant listing and Ignore for an unsuitable one. A suggestion is a candidate for your review; it should not automatically become part of your competitive set.

Look at the product image, title, pack size, and purpose. Kitchen shears may belong in the group. Baby scissors probably do not. An unfamiliar brand can still be a direct competitor, so do not reject it simply because you have not noticed it before.

When your own ASIN appears, select “This is my product.” That tells the dashboard which listing to use for your personal share. In my demonstration, My Market Share initially shows zero because I have not selected a product. Check this setting before interpreting zero as a performance result.

Helium 10’s help guide explains that ignored products can be restored from the ignored list. Review that list if you excluded something accidentally. Also distinguish removing a product from deleting an entire market: deleting a market removes its accumulated market history.

For useful comparisons, keep the core group reasonably stable. You should still add genuine new competitors, but note when you do. Otherwise, a change in coverage can look like a sudden change in demand or competitive performance.

Turn competitor changes into useful research

A rising competitor is a reason to investigate. It is not proof that one particular image, keyword, or promotion caused the growth. In the video, I suggest looking at listing images, bullet points, product quality, and traffic from outside Amazon. Treat those ideas as hypotheses to test.

Cerebro is one of the research options shown in the tutorial. It helps investigate keywords associated with a competitor’s ASIN. Use that information to form better questions about visibility, rather than assuming one keyword explains all of the sales you see.

If a brand sells strongly despite weaker positions on the particular searches you checked, explore its public presence. Search for its website, social profiles, demonstrations, and mentions in relevant articles. External traffic is one possible explanation; brand recognition, other keywords, pricing, and promotions may also contribute.

The Helium 10 Chrome extension is another resource mentioned in the video for examining listings while browsing Amazon. Keep that closer product inspection connected to the broader question you identified in Market Tracker.

Finally, treat seller count carefully. One seller on a listing does not prove that the listing is protected from unauthorized offers. Several sellers do not prove wrongdoing either. Use the number as listing context, not as evidence about another business.

A weekly Market Tracker review you can repeat

I would rather finish a short review with one useful action than spend an hour scrolling through charts. Set a regular review time and keep a simple record of the products, periods, and changes you examine.

1. Check the comparison. Confirm the marketplace, tracked ASINs, and selected dates. Note additions or removals before comparing market share.
2. Read the overall direction. Consider market volume alongside your own estimated share. A smaller share of a growing group can tell a different story from shrinking sales everywhere.
3. Inspect one meaningful change. Choose a competitor or product with a sustained movement. Check its listing and available history instead of chasing every daily fluctuation.
4. Write one next step. Record what you observed, your possible explanation, and what evidence would support it. Choose a review date for any change you make.

For example, you might notice a competitor growing while its images explain an important product use more clearly. Your next step could be researching whether customers misunderstand that use on your listing. The chart starts the investigation; customer evidence helps decide the improvement.

Avoid changing your price, images, and advertising all at once simply because a competitor moves ahead. If several things change together, it becomes much harder to understand what helped. Keep the action proportionate to the evidence.

Keep a small review log with the date, tracked product count, observation, and next action. Include your own promotions or stock interruptions, because those can affect the story you tell about performance. When you return the following week, compare your earlier expectation with what actually happened. Over time, those notes help you distinguish repeatable patterns from explanations that sounded convincing but did not hold up under closer inspection of the evidence.

Helium 10 Market Tracker: common questions

Build one market and ask one better question

Choose the kitchen scissors example to practice, or use a product category you already understand. Create the market, review its suggestions, and mark your own product when relevant. Then let the data develop before making strong conclusions.

The useful habit is connecting a change in the numbers with a question you can investigate. Keep your comparisons consistent, remember that the figures are estimates, and use what you learn to improve the customer’s experience. That is how I would turn Market Tracker into a practical part of an Amazon business.

Vova :)