Launching a product direct-to-market has never been easier thanks to the ever-evolving digital selling landscape. However, continuous innovation and an abundance of tools can often be confusing and overwhelming. With Amazon as a force to be reckoned with, we define the new Amazon Advertising formats and explain their purposes.
Amazon and Luxury Beauty
Amazon revolutionized the direct-to-consumer approach to shopping. As of January 2018, the e-commerce leader has 310 million active users worldwide, 90 million of which are US-based Prime members. Statistica reports that on average, Prime members spend $1,300/year, which is more than double the amount non-Prime members spend ($700/year).
In addition, Health & Personal Care products continue to dominate sales on the platform across the US, UK, Germany, Canada and France—accounting for more than a third of Amazon’s total consumables sales. In the US, growth for this sector continues to increase, correlating with the rising interest in the wellness trend.
Historically, high-end beauty brands would focus distribution on brick-and-mortar stores—leaving Amazon for cheaper, mass-market cosmetic products. However, data shows that the Luxury Cosmetics and Luxury Skin Care categories are experiencing explosive growth on the platform. In 2017, US sales of Luxury Cosmetics on Amazon grew by 69% and Luxury Skin Care, 37% (PR Newswire). Not including Amazon as part of your sales strategy is more likely to hurt your brand and direct your customers to the competition.
To accommodate its growing and diverse seller base, Amazon recently announced it would be simplifying its advertising. Amazon Media Group (AMG), Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), and Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP) will be phased out over the next few months and combined into Amazon Advertising. The now streamlined service will offer the following Amazon advertising formats:
Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands
Promote your products and brand through Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns. These keyword-targeted ads will display on the search results page and product detail pages, both on desktop and mobile. Sponsored Products promote individual product listings to Amazon shoppers based on the keywords they use in their search. This ad type is a great way to put your products in front of the eyes of new customers. Sponsored Brands ads (formerly Headline Search Ads) also appear to customers searching for relevant keywords. The creative on this format is more customizable—allowing advertisers to include the brand’s logo, headline and up to 3 product listings. These ads click through to a custom landing page or the brand’s store to drive brand awareness. Both ads can help improve discoverability and drive sales.
Display Ads
Since Amazon has such an enormous customer base, brands that don’t even sell on Amazon still advertise on the platform to drive traffic to their own sites with Display Ads. These customizable creative ads allow users to set objectives and use actionable insights to reach defined audiences on Amazon and third-party sites. Product Display Ads are exclusively for Amazon sellers looking to drive traffic to their Amazon product listing pages.
Video Ads
Use video to tell a compelling brand story or demonstrate a product how-to and benefits. Amazon displays the ad on its own platform and devices (such as Fire TV and Fire Tablet), and across trusted third-party sites and apps.
Stores
The Storefront tool allows you to build and manage your brand’s store within Amazon. Using the tile builder, you can add content to customize how your brand appears within Amazon. The Creative Assets Requirements serves as a guideline to designing and curating your images and copy. This is a free service that allows you to strengthen your presence and offer a more branded experience to customers.
Measurement
As with all advertising, you should continue running tests and regularly measure campaign performance. Download keyword and search term reports to see where your ads are showing and evaluating potentially negative keywords. If you are using automated campaigns and bidding structures, but not appearing to relevant searches, you may want to revisit your product page and add more targeted keywords to your listing.
By taking advantage of these tools, you can optimize your Amazon strategy and drive conversions. Feel free to leave questions in the comments or contact us directly for help with your Amazon strategy.
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