Current and Upcoming Amazon Ad Updates, Did Amazon Deliver What it Promised?

This article is written by keeping Amazon Sellers and Advertisers in mind to keep them thorough with ongoing changes on Amazon Advertising platform. 

SOME OF THE MAJOR UPDATES OF 2019 :

• Introduced Product Attribute Targeting (PAT) and Automatic Targeting Match types : one of the biggest updates of last year
• Opened Amazon Vine Review program to Sellers
• Headline Search Ad (aka Sponsored Brand Ads) made available to Sellers
• Enhanced Brand Content feature was upgraded to A+ Content
• Amazon Live program where hosts can showcase products on a livestream video
• Brand Analytics : another big update with neat features such as Customer Search Terms, Alternate Purchase Behavior Report, Item Comparison Report, Demographics Report; all along with sufficient data, custom time frame and a scheduled mail reporting option.

2020 SO FAR :

1. SPONSORED BRANDS AD RECEIVED MULTIPLE UPDATES

A. STORE SPOTLIGHT : MARKETPLACE – US

• This new format will let you advertise Store sub-pages instead of individual products
• When setting up a Store Spotlight campaign, Amazon will automatically pull three Store sub-pages into the creative
• Helps you showcase different product categories

B. TALL PRODUCT GRIDS : 

• Brands can now select between tall and standard product grids based on the product image styles

C. ADDED PLACEMENT ON PRODUCT DETAIL PAGES 

2. SPONSORED BRAND VIDEO (BETA) : MARKETPLACE – US & CANADA

• Available to Vendors as well as Sellers
• Placement available on Desktop and Mobile shopping pages
• Ad Pricing Method : CPC (not CPM like other Social Media Platforms)
• Keyword targeted

3. AMAZON INFLUENCER PROGRAM

• Extension to the existing online Associates program for social media influencers
• Here, influencers with large followings can apply to host their own stores in exchange for a commission on products sold on their own vanity URL on Amazon’s website
• As per Amazon, Influencers across any category can participate in this program
• To stay on top of trends, Amazon recently launched ‘the celebrity store’ as part of their Influencer Marketing tactic

4. CUSTOMIZATION IN ADVERTISING REPORTS

• New features available in reporting section allows you to schedule future ad reports and send a copy directly via email

5. CHANGE HISTORY

• Now you can keep a log of all the changes made to your Ad Campaign in past days or even few months
• The available data is time- and date-stamped to make it more convenient to users

6. SEARCH TERM INSIGHT

• Allows advertisers to view the search terms that shoppers are entering in the Amazon search bar and which keywords they’re matching to within a Sponsored Product campaign
• The data is available at Ad Group level for last 65 days time period

7. AMAZON POSTS (BETA)

• Here, shoppers can browse through Image based post feed (similar to any Social Media feed) without any cost
• This new feature provides brand owners an added advantage over Social Media, as on Amazon they will be able to target customers with relatively high shopping intent
• Brands can add multiple products to their Amazon Posts, schedule Posts and download reports to analyze how they are performing
• To sign up, you can visit posts.amazon.com and create a profile using existing sign in information

8. AD CONSOLE

• Seller Central advertising interface is slowly migrating to Amazon Ad Console
• This is just a cosmetic change and there is a lot of room for improvement to work towards navigation in Amazon Ad Console

9. AUDIO ADS FOR BRAND AWARENESS

• These ads reach audiences as they listen to the free tier of Amazon Music across Alexa-enabled devices, including Echo and Fire TV, as well as on mobile and desktop
• It can be between 10 and 30 seconds, are played periodically during breaks between songs

10. ROAS

• Introduced a key metric Return on Ad Spend to measure ad performance

11. REACH TWITCH AUDIENCE WITH AMAZON ADVERTISING

• Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon, It lets gamers livestream video content
• Amazon recently announced that it combined Audiences on both the platforms
• Brands running Amazon Advertising campaigns can address the diverse interests of the Twitch community through Twitch video and display ad products

12. SELLER FULFILLED PRIME

• Enrolling with this program allows you to deliver directly to domestic Prime customers from your own warehouse
• Condition is to fulfill orders with Two-Day Delivery at no additional charge for Prime customers
• Amazon requires sellers to go through a trial period to qualify

13. NEW STORE FEATURES

• Shoppable images
• Images with text
• Bulk and out-of-stock product management
• Stores scheduling : lets you publish updates at scheduled dates and times

UPDATES EXPECTED IN FUTURE FROM AMAZON :

• Dayparting
• Automated bidding optimization using custom formula
• Real time data availability
• Bid adjustment option as per device
• Enhance B2B selling
• Ad data comparison as per custom time frame
• Introducing new metric such as Conversion Rate
• Custom data reports similar to Google Ads

The nature of changes suggests that Amazon is trying to remove third party integration by making itself an exclusive and reliable platform in all possible manner.