The Customer Journey – why FMCG brands should be optimising on Amazon

“If there’s one reason we have done better than of our peers in the Internet space over the last six years, it is because we have focused like a laser on customer experience, and that really does matter, I think, in any business. It certainly matters online, where word-of-mouth is so very, very powerful.” - Jeff Bezos

Retailers and brands are obsessed with the customer journey – how your products look, what the brand represents, where it appears on the shelf – your sales, category, shopper, CMI and brand teams are always looking at how they can improve your brand's position and brand affinity. A huge amount of money is spent in the FMCG industry on brand tracking, category insights, consumer research, NPD development – all to understand consumer path to purchase and how we can retain loyal customers, whilst enticing new and repeat purchases.

And that’s just looking at Bricks & Mortar – what about all the companies investing in d2c, media activation – digital ads (hello Facebook & Youtube boycotts), OOH advertising, print, media, programmatic….

So why are so many FMCG brands still neglecting Amazon?

I’ve been working with FMCG brands for 5 years now, first recruiting across commercial sales and marketing, and now at Molzi – a full-service Amazon agency. From my recruiting days, I’ve seen how eCommerce teams vary from company to company, as well as the differing levels of investment/prioritisation. Some of the common themes are:

• Amazon sales are only single digit % of our business and therefore not a priority
• It can be time consuming
• We don’t have the resource
• We’d like to improve but don’t know where to start
• Amazon requires more than our other customers and we don’t know how to do what we want
• We had a Vendor Manager and now we don’t – we don’t seem to be making progress ourselves

A lot of these challenges come from not having resource or fully understanding how Amazon can work for your brand. Amazon’s Vendor approach is largely self-serve, unless you’re a top performer in your category and have a Vendor Manager/AVS. You need to be on top of your account operations, including POs, avoiding charges and ensuring your inventory and catalogue is healthy.

If you’re not sure where to start, it can be daunting. I've been speaking to a number of brands who have been going down the rabbit hole for a few years now and the task seems impossible. However, the formula for success on Amazon is relatively simple. With an optimised account and catalogue, you can take advantage of so many tools to focus on driving your brand presence. With good, informative content that educates the customer on the features and benefits of your product and brand, to then driving growth through advertising and boosting your search rankings and overall presence.

However, most FMCG businesses fall into the trap that a large volume of their products are also sold into wholesale, and then you end up competing against 3rd party sellers. Ensuring you have a strategy in place to win the BuyBox is key. 3P sellers can ruin your brand reputation with a bad customer experience easily.

Data is also king – but without access to Amazon category and sales data (maybe one day, but certainly not today…), it can be hard to commit to what can sometimes feel like a gamble, to invest in something that’s doesn't give you the same level of insights as ye olde faithful B&M.

Amazon is an amazing platform to drive growth, but it will require your time and attention to make sure you are staying ahead of the competition.

So..... what are the opportunities/benefits for FMCG brands on Amazon?

• Customer experience – a lot of consumers research products online before buying. Amazon’s enhanced content features allow you to create striking and informative images – combining your brand, category and shopper activation. You can utilise A+ content and brand stores to also raise awareness of your wider portfolio to drive cross-sell and upsell. Product comparison charts are also a great way to build on this in a way you can't do in-store
• Advertising for the top-spot/increasing your share of the digital shelf - consumers shop by need on Amazon, not as often by brand. There are lots of opportunities to recruit and retain new customers by driving awareness through targeted advertising. You can also protect your brand’s listings to stop competitors getting in on your product detail pages
• Advertising data – you can track and measure the results of advertising with tangible sales results. The world of advertising has come under pressure recently to justify ROI - with the plethora of advertising data available, it's possible to drive growth with targeted and data driven results that are backed by sales.
• Testing NPD – you can get a feel for how customers may react to a product by testing NPD on the platform, again attaining sales results relatively quickly
• Promotional activity – there is evidence to suggest that optimised Amazon campaigns can see an increase in offline sales too. Think back to the power of education a customer on your brand and their research - they may find you on Amazon and then buy your product in their next trip to the store
• Reviews – customer reviews are the best way to build trust with your target audience (I can't remember the last time I bought something without combing the reviews!)
• Amazon puts the customer first – the seller with the best proposition will win. If you are optimising your brand against competition, the algorithm will favour you
• Pan EU & International expansion – Amazon’s fulfilment network makes it easy to sell cross-borders and expand your presence
• Ultra Fast Fresh launching in the UK – Amazon is taking the Grocery opportunity very seriously. Whilst they’re not currently the biggest online grocery player, their ability to meet same day delivery for 30% of the UK now is a big factor, as well as the increased investment in their fulfilment networks to grow this further

Molzi research in 2020 has shown:

• Over 15 million UK Amazon shoppers bought in new categories for the first time since lockdown
• 59% of customers start a product search on Amazon, compared to 41% on Google Shopping
• 84% of people head to Amazon to purchase products, compared to 16% using Google Shopping
• 36% of consumers indicated that product range choice is the most important purchasing factor, with 23% saying convenience was their reason for shopping on Amazon

See more here: https://molzi.com/ecommerce-reports/

Surely there’s a reason some of the biggest FMCG companies in the world are investing in their digital end eCommerce presence, right? Those who take advantage now, will be beating the competition in the long run and reap the rewards.

And remember, Amazon is obsessed with the customer experience and you should be too.

Want to see some examples of a great Amazon experience? Click here or here!

“We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.” - Jeff Bezos

Have I missed anything? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

** Molzi is a Full-Service, Global Amazon agency. Drop me a note if you’d like to have a chat about help with Amazon**