More consumers are using Amazon as their one-stop shop for product searches rather than going through search engines. Statistics show that in December 2014, 34 percent of U.S consumers were using search engines to conduct first-time product searches. By December 2016, only 28 percent began their searches there.
In the same time frame, the number of consumers who went directly to Amazon to search for a product for the first time increased from 30 to 55 percent, indicating that a lot of product search traffic is going to the online retail giant.
This is worrisome to other vendors in the online retail industry who see Amazon as a major competitor. However, with the introduction of AMS (Amazon Marketing Services), e-commerce retailers no longer have to compete. Now is the time to join the trend and leverage AMS and/or become an Amazon seller and advertise with AMS.
You can use components from Google Shopping, PPC, and borrow a bit of Facebook Ads’ functionality. With this, AMS allows you to advertise your brand and products on Amazon even if you’re not an Amazon seller.
Drive More Traffic to Branded Pages
AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) is an effective tool that enables vendors to beat competing brands by driving more traffic to branded pages and product detail pages. It gives vendors direct opportunities to put their brand and products in front of more in-market shoppers on Amazon. Plus, they can target individual product detail pages of competitors.
Let’s take a look at five reasons why you need to be on Amazon and advertise with AMS.
Increase Brand Visibility
If you are a retail vendor, AMS allows your products to be displayed alongside those of competing brands at the point where consumers are about to convert. Using AMS to advertise your online retail business enables you to gain more exposure and online real estate. This can significantly boost your brand’s visibility.
This means increased brand awareness, more eyes on your product, improved sales, and ultimately – more revenue. This is great news if you’re selling directly from your own e-commerce site, and even better if you’re on Amazon.
Amazon Prime Day
SourceOffering over one million deals (including some from U.S. Whole Foods Market stores), Amazon’s Prime Day continues to experience phenomenal growth since its inception in 2015. Surpassing Cyber Monday and Black Friday in overall sales last year and recording sales of over 100 million products this year, Amazon Prime Day represents a huge opportunity for Amazon sellers and vendors who advertise with AMS.
In 2017, AMS recorded a 150-200% lift in ad impressions, a 100-150% boost in ad clicks and a 250-300% increase in ad attributed sales. To capitalize on the increased traffic and purchase intent of Amazon Prime Day, you should sign up with AMS. This also helps increase your brand awareness & overall sales.
Higher Conversion Rates
If your product is being sold on Amazon and you’re not on the site or using AMS, it’s going to be a lot harder to generate sales. This is because you’ll be competing against Amazon sellers who benefit from both Amazon’s dominance in the online retail sector and the amazing benefits of AMS. Many consumers who search for specific products on Amazon already have Amazon accounts. This makes it very unlikely that they will leave the platform to purchase the products on your vendor site. The only chance you may have is offering a huge discount. To get higher conversion rates, you should be on Amazon and advertise your brand and products using AMS.
Phenomenal Growth in the Online Retail Sector
Generally accepted as the online retail giant, Amazon continues to experience a strong period of growth in the online retail sector, reporting a 30 percent increase in revenue (approximately $60 billion) in its fourth-quarter results released in February 2018. At the time of writing this article, Amazon’s stock is priced at $1,400 – a 25 percent increase from last year’s figures.
With Amazon’s aggressive expansion plans into international consumer markets as well as its Whole Foods acquisition and new developments in AWS and other consumer segments (mainly Echo and Alexa), the company is set to take the world by storm. Signing up as a seller and using AMS enables you to leverage Amazon’s 310 million active customers and over 100 million Prime subscribers, thus creating your own success story. With explosive growth projections in the near future, you need to be on Amazon and advertise with AMS.
More Return on Advertising Spend when You Advertise with AMS
Compared to other marketing channels such as Google Shopping and Adwords, Amazon Marketing Services is relatively new. As such, there isn’t much competition. That means that bid and ad costs are quite low and much cheaper than Google Shopping or Adwords. Google Shopping only lets you bid on products, and the algorithm organizes search term results in your feed. AMS allows you to also bid against selected search terms and keywords instead of letting the algorithm decide for you. With lower bid and ad costs than other channels and better optimization of ad results, AMS is more efficient.
Aside from these amazing benefits, Amazon is looking for more ways to improve its advertising platform. With the announcement of the “Extended Ad Network”, which allows advertisers to promote their sponsored products on external websites, Amazon continues to provide its sellers with more opportunities to significantly boost traffic and increase sales with very little effort.
Get in on the action now by being on Amazon and using Amazon Marketing Services to expand your online real estate, increase brand awareness and sales, and ultimately – generate more revenue from your product offerings.
