The Remazing News Package - LinkedIn Edition: June
Here are the most important Amazon and e-commerce news of the last month. Our evaluation of each update is marked in italics.
What caught our attention
It is now possible to set rule-based bidding strategies and a target ROAS directly in the Amazon ad console. At the moment, it is just a beta version and only possible for Sponsored Product campaigns that have been running for at least 30 days. This new feature will presumably be especially helpful to vendors and sellers who have not yet used an agency or tool to optimize their campaigns.
Amazon launched the possibility to create ad groups in Sponsored Brand campaigns on its US marketplace. We expect this new feature to be helpful especially in the organization of campaigns. ?
Speaking of Sponsored Brands: In preparation for Prime Day, we recommend adding promotional headlines in Sponsored Brand campaigns. Important: Merchants must follow Amazon's guidelines for promotional messages! Campaigns are only allowed to have promotional messages if all promoted products have a live Amazon offer.
Generally, Amazon allows promotional messages in the headlines when they meet certain criteria. These include for example that the start and end dates of your advertising campaign must reflect the duration of the offer or promotion. Furthermore, superlatives such as “Big Savings” or “Great Discounts” must be omitted. We recommend checking Amazon’s guidelines regarding promotional and seasonal messages once again as part of the preparations for Prime Day 2022.
Updates: Amazon
After Amazon announced that Prime Day 2022 would take place again in the summer, the exact date for the popular sales event has now finally been set: online retailers should start to prepare for July 12 & 13 to sell their products with discount promotions. Additionally, there are rumors that Amazon is planning a second “Prime Fall Deal Event” in Q4 just some weeks before Black Friday. However, what merchants need to consider when preparing for this year’s Prime Day is highlighted in our latest blog post. Amazon is probably hoping to boost holiday season sales earlier already by adding a second Prime Day in fall. This is important because many merchants are not satisfied with the sales developments in 2022 so far.
Amazon has announced that Dave Clark, the CEO of its global consumer division, is leaving the company after 23 years. His responsibilities included Amazon's marketplace business, brick-and-mortar stores, and Amazon Prime - all of which accounted for 75% of Amazon's revenue in Q1 2022. His position will be taken by Doug Herrington who led the North American consumer business the last seven years. But the focus has shifted: In his message, Andy Jassy announces Herrington as the “CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores”. It seems like after the last years of exponential growth, some challenges such as over-expansion, over-staffing, and rising costs appeared for Amazon - and for Clark.
Amazon is planning to launch new marketplaces in Nigeria, South Africa, Chile and Colombia, according to media reports. It is believed that all countries will have their own local marketplace and also access to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services. Moreover, the Prime membership program will also be implemented in the new markets. Since Amazon's latest expansion plans became public, the share prices of African e-commerce company Jumia fell by almost 10% and those of Argentine marketplace leader MercadoLibre by more than 7%. It is interesting that the share prices of the competition are reacting so clearly here. We'll have to wait and see whether Amazon succeeds in gaining significant market share in these more specialized markets with established players. Currently we can see that Amazon is not having an easy time with late entries in the Netherlands and Poland.
By the way, these will probably not be the last new markets this year... our tip is Belgium!
Following the successful launch of the "Luxury Stores at Amazon" in autumn 2020, Amazon is now planning to expand its range of higher-priced products within the clothing and beauty segments. While products in this category were previously only available in the US, customers in the EU5 countries will now also be able to take advantage of the steadily growing range of luxury brands that are available on the platform. Amazon understood that luxury brands and products have a hard time winning the trust of customers in the midst of the hotly contested marketplace with sometimes questionable methods and sellers. Therefore, a solution was needed that is separate and conveys higher reliability.
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For almost three years, antitrust proceedings have been ongoing against Amazon in the EU, which among other things concern the handling of retailer data and buybox awards. Now there is a possibility of a settlement if Amazon agrees to share selected data of its merchants with all sellers. The move would fall under the recently passed Digital Markets Act, pre-empting a fine for its current actions. Once again, this is good news for the e-commerce giant.
Amazon is launching an invitation-based ordering option in the United States for products with high demand and low supply, such as the Playstation 5 (PS5) and the X and S series of the X-Box. Certain items are marked "available by invitation" on the product detail page, which customers can use to request an invitation. They will then receive an email to complete the purchase. According to Amazon, the goal is to ensure that only real customers can buy the products which in turn shall prevent scarce inventory and price gouging by bots. Great initiative if it works as intended.
Updates: Other marketplaces
Walmart is continuing its efforts to attract international sellers to its online marketplace in the US, extending invitations to sellers from the UK. The UK sellers will be able to benefit from tools and services such as Walmart's Fulfillment Services. The retail giant aims to attract 40,000 new sellers to its platform this year. Walmart also plans to expand its marketplace assortment to over 200 million items. We are interested in learning whether sellers accept this offer and what they think about it.
New competition for Amazon, Zalando and About You? Trendyol, the largest online marketplace for fashion in Turkey and a subsidiary of Alibaba, is opening its first European office in Berlin. According to statistics from the analytics company SimilarWeb, Trendyol was Germany's second-fastest growing fashion platform in February 2022. Whether it will also be a long-term competitor to Amazon and co. remains to be seen.
Remdash: Amazon Label Tracking
With Remdash, it is possible to track the current status and historical development of your own products' various labels on Amazon. The following labels are visible in Amazon’s search results and can lead to higher sales:
Interested in Remdash??
Just click here and arrange a personal product demo with our team.
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