Rapid, unprecedented growth – the words that define eCommerce in 2020. It should come as no surprise that businesses both big and small are shifting their focus to the company that has become synonymous with “online shopping” – Amazon.
While many brands already sell on Amazon, the largest portion of sales actually comes from third-party sellers – many of whom start their business on Amazon. Amazon.com had over 475,000 active sellers in 2020 and over 2.4 million sellers worldwide. Amazon recently reported that these same sellers sold over 1 billion products with a 50% growth in sales during the 2020 holiday season.
It sounds inviting for anyone looking to launch an online business. Just head to Amazon and boom! Sales start flooding in!
However, when the majority of sales come from a small pool of sellers who appear on the first page of search results, an alternative solution to “win” on Amazon is imperative. The best way to get in front of shoppers is to promote listings through Amazon Advertising. But what about new brands in a saturated category who can’t make it to the top of the results regardless of how much they spend on Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brand Ads?
Let’s take coffee as an example: You just launched a cool new coffee brand using Amazon as your main business platform. Based on what you’ve heard, you’re ready to see the sales pour in. However, there are currently over 500,000 active listings within this category – how do you make it to the first page of search results and then compete with industry giants like Folgers and Starbucks who have thousands of ratings (one of the most important factors in consumer conversions)?
Should you use all of your advertising budget toward Amazon Advertising, going after all the internal traffic that already exists on the site? Of course, Amazon Advertising is necessary – but if you really want to compete, it would be wise to break apart the marketing budget and drive traffic to your product pages both internally and externally using other marketing solutions.
There are many benefits to this approach:
- You can drive traffic to a product page or a custom landing page so consumers are more likely to focus on your product(s) versus having many options within the search results.
- Amazon lets sellers create custom promotional links with deals to use on Facebook or Instagram campaigns. These will bring the consumer directly to the Amazon product page – a great way to create growth and increase conversions on a newly launched product.
- External campaigns will also help create brand recognition for your product – one of the most important goals for a new Brand. Even if someone doesn’t convert to your campaign right away, it will still place your Brand in front of your target audience and drive awareness. This audience pool may then visit Amazon later and see a sponsored product campaign for your new brand that they keep seeing on Instagram.
- Amazon will reward you for bringing in external traffic. If you drive sales through external sources and consumers convert, your organic ranking will increase.
There are many tools and strategies to drive traffic to your Amazon product pages – whether it be a promotional link that sends your audience straight to the product page or a link to a landing page where the consumer enters their email for a promo code to use on Amazon.
No matter what tactic you use, one thing is clear: Amazon is getting larger and more competitive by the day, and driving external traffic is a competitive advantage that is currently being under-utilized. This is a great opportunity for sellers looking to grow and will likely be a significant focus in 2021 as we continue to see year-over-year growth in eCommerce.
With Amazon Attribution available for many Brands, it is worth a try for new and existing sellers looking to gain market share in a hyper-competitive but incredibly lucrative market.
Direct Agents is one of the only agencies that have complete eCommerce capabilities both on and off Amazon. While many agencies specialize in just one area, we have in-house experts in paid media (search and social) and eCommerce marketplaces so we understand how to utilize both advertising strategies to gain a competitive advantage. Direct Agents recognizes the ways in which the eCommerce landscape is evolving and what it takes to grow an omnichannel presence.
– Emily Lease, Digital Marketing Strategist at Direct Agents
If you want to learn more about how we can elevate and grow your brand on Amazon, email us at [email protected]