Total ecommerce sales in 2020 jumped 32.4% year over year, totaling $791.7B1. Brands that embraced digital transformation prior to the pandemic were able to quickly pivot and capitalize on ecommerce opportunities they might have otherwise missed.
In particular, Amazon sales accelerated dramatically. In Q4 2020, they delivered their biggest quarter of all time with $125.6B in sales. Their strategic investments in infrastructure and logistics afforded them the foundations to provide safe and (mostly) reliable delivery of needed products across categories, including an acceleration in the previously under-performing Grocery space.
More than half (62%) of Amazon sales are generated from third party sellers within their Marketplace. In fact, those 2.5 million Amazon sellers transacted $386.1B worth of goods in 2020.2 So this question is more important than ever: are you optimizing your relationship with Amazon to leverage the massive opportunities that exist within its marketplace and broader ecosystem?
At Sellwin, the dentsu marketplace consulting experts, we produced The Marketer’s Guide to Amazon, a helpful resource for brands looking to improve their Amazon listings and differentiate themselves from the 300B+ products currently sold on the marketplace. Here’s a sneak peek into the three-pronged approach we recommend.
Build Solid Foundations
Whether you are an Amazon Marketplace newcomer or an established seller, it is important that you either create or revisit operational best practices to fuel a successful and profitable Amazon business. Investing time and effort in these critical business elements can help you navigate Amazon’s vast, and sometimes complicated, universe.
With 150.6M mobile monthly users, it’s important that your brand puts its best foot forward in both mobile and desktop shopping for a totally seamless customer experience.3 Not to mention that consumers already trust Amazon for online purchases. Surveys have shown that 89% of those surveyed say that they are more likely to buy products from Amazon than other ecommerce websites.4
Activate Advertising
Ecommerce media spend is one of the fastest growing categories and Amazon is leading the charge. The combination of Amazon’s reach, unique media platforms (both online and offline), impactful formats and unmatched shopper audience data are highly attractive to brands. Deploying a full funnel strategy, and not limiting advertising to one area of the Amazon portfolio is a best practice. For example, while Sponsored Ads accounted for 70% of Amazon’s ad revenue, many brands don’t realize the wide range of ad opportunity that exists across multiple emerging platforms, like immersive video through Fire TV, integrated audio opportunities through Alexa and branded OOH opportunities tied to Amazon’s delivery side of the business. It’s critical to deploy a full-funnel media strategy to attract, engage, convert and retain customers.
Measure & Optimize
Amazon is known for its robust analytics capabilities, and brands can benefit from its rich data sets. Sales reporting may differ depending on how a brand sells (Vendor or Seller) but advertising metrics are standard, available directly in console or through API partnerships. More established brands often have sophisticated analytics frameworks in place so they can truly make the most of their investments on the platform.
Want to learn how to better formulate your end-to-end Amazon strategy? Download The Marketer’s Guide to Amazon now.
2 https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/amazon-gmv-in-2020
3 https://www.statista.com/statistics/579718/most-popular-us-shopping-apps-ranked-by-audience/
4 https://fv.feedvisor.com/rs/656-BMZ-780/images/Feedvisor-Consumer-Survey-2019.pdf