Press release for an ecommerce brand: what to say, where to link it and where not to

Why an online brand needs a public record

Shoppers check an unfamiliar store before they pay. In YouGov’s December 2025 survey of 1,188 US adults, 69% check customer reviews, 65% check for secure payment options and 47% look for contact details such as an address or phone number. Where do they look for reviews? 53% on marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, 51% on Google reviews, and 34% on the seller’s own website. Two thirds (67%) would stop if the reviews were mostly negative.

TrustedSite’s 2026 survey of 1,295 US consumers, run by a company that sells trust badges, found that 96% are concerned about sites they have never heard of, against 48% for large established sites such as Amazon, and that business legitimacy was the top reason for abandoning a purchase (51%). Baymard’s list of checkout abandonment reasons has 19% of abandoners saying they did not trust the site with their card details. YouGov and TrustedSite point the same way, and Baymard adds that 19% of abandoners did not trust the site with their card details: before a new brand has reviews, shoppers look for proof that a real business stands behind the store.

A release gives that proof one more place to be: a dated page on a news site with your company name, a named person, a contact and what you announced. Our view: it does not replace reviews, it covers the first question a new shopper asks. In Cision’s 2026 survey of 1,899 journalists, 66% use PR-provided content, including pitches, releases and media kits, for story ideas (Cision sells PR software).

Where the link can go, and where it cannot: Amazon’s rules

If you sell on Amazon, check this before you use a release. Amazon’s guide to A+ Content (US site) says not to include QR codes, hyperlinks, directions to other web pages or contact information. Amazon Global Selling China’s page on prohibited seller activities, a Chinese translation of a 2017 version that says the original local-site text prevails, bans diverting Amazon users to another website, including putting URLs in a listing’s description fields and in emails to buyers. Seller Central’s English rules require a login; check the current text in your account.

In practice: do not put the release link, a QR code or your store address inside a listing or A+ Content. The pages we read do not mention Brand Story, so treat it the same unless your Seller Central rules say otherwise. Use the release where those rules do not reach: your own website’s Press page, emails to customers who bought from your own store or subscribed to your list (not messages sent through Amazon’s buyer-seller messaging), social posts, and your ads’ landing pages. Amazon’s Brand Registry is free and needs a pending or registered trademark from the trademark office of a country with a matching Amazon store, plus a logo that includes your brand name permanently affixed to products or packaging. It protects your brand on Amazon; a release is independent evidence that sits outside the platform.

What to announce, with two real releases and a fictional example

Announce something a shopper could act on: a new store or site (what it sells, where it ships, from when), a new product line (names, prices, where to buy), a move beyond a marketplace, or a new identity with a date for the rollout. We read two 2026 releases on PR Newswire. VALITIC’s 8 October release said its products were now available at its own site, with a subheadline about expanding the brand beyond Amazon, mentioned its established presence on Amazon and thousands of customer reviews, and carried quotes from two chief executives, one at the brand’s parent company and one at its subsidiary. Curology’s 27 October release listed four named products with one-line descriptions and a starting price of US$12 and said where they were available from that day. VALITIC’s is written for investors, so it carries more financial boilerplate than a typical DTC brand needs.

The fictional examples below use an invented brand, Cedarline Bikes. The details are made up.

When to publish

Publish when the page the release describes is live: the store open, the products available, the returns policy and contact details on the site. A release that sends shoppers to a store with no contact page undoes its own point. For a holiday launch, publish early enough that the page is findable, and agree any embargo with a reporter first.

If you need a fixed date, our release form lets you schedule the release at least 48 hours after you submit; editors review first and then schedule it. Without a set time it goes out after editor review. If you brief journalists, 78% in Muck Rack’s 2026 survey want pitches before noon and 69% prefer under 200 words (Muck Rack sells PR software), and 71% reject pitches that feel overly promotional.

Which package to choose, and why

For a brand with a first store or a small line, Brand Starter at US$69 distributes the release to 300+ outlets, including openPR and 25 city news sites. Global Reach at US$129 adds newspaper and TV-station finance pages. When shoppers and creators in the US will search for the launch, Premium Media at US$379 adds AP News, USA Today, Barchart and StreetInsider; for a launch in several markets, Global Impact at US$659 reaches 20+ high-traffic outlets.

Every price is on the pricing page, the media list names the outlets in each package, and our comparison reads other services’ own published prices and dates.

How to use the release afterwards

Use it on the channels you own.

• A Press page on your store, with the release link and date, linked from the footer next to About and Contact, so shoppers can see who is behind the store.
• Emails to customers who bought from your own store or subscribed to your list, and to retailers and creators: one line with what you announced and where it is published. Not through Amazon’s buyer-seller messaging.
• Social posts and ad landing pages, from the company account and the person quoted.
• Organization structured data on your home page helps Google disambiguate your company in results; it does not guarantee a knowledge panel.
• Not in Amazon listings or A+ Content, and treat Brand Story the same unless your Seller Central rules say otherwise (see above).
• Link text: your brand name or web address, not a keyword phrase; Google’s spam policies list keyword-optimized anchor text in press releases distributed on other sites as link spam.

The checklist

Before you submit, check these seven points. How to write a press release covers the structure.

• Is the store live, with contact details, returns and shipping pages?
• Do the first two sentences say what you sell, where you ship and from when?
• Is there one figure you can document, such as a price, a test or a date?
• Does a named person give a quote that says something?
• Is there one link, to your own store, with your brand name or web address as the link text?
• Have you checked each marketplace’s rules before placing the release link anywhere on it?
• Is the publishing time, and any embargo, agreed?

What our own releases show

Here is what our own October 2026 releases did. Our release was live on USA Today 39 minutes after submission on 23 October (unscheduled), and 98% of the pages we could check from nine paid English releases were still online 9 to 27 days after publication. These are our October 2026 results. See how long distribution takes.

Publish with Vokolla

Vokolla shows one public price per release, from US$69, with no quote, sales call or subscription. You write the release or draft it with the Vokolla AI assistant, choose the package, pay online and get a report with every live link, and an editor reviews each release before it goes out. You can try it first with one free release every 30 days; every package is on the pricing page.