EVALUATING AMAZON'S VENDOR PREMIUM SERVICES · enhance their capabilities on the marketplace through a variety of features. From valuable product reviews to external search optimization,

EVALUATING AMAZON'S VENDOR PREMIUM SERVICES

An Analysis of How Amazon Vendors Can Invest to Grow Product Orders

We Turn Browsers Into Buyers

Table of Contents

Intro to Amazon Vendor Premium Services Amazon StorefrontsAmazon ReportingAmazon Retail Analytics (ARA): BasicAmazon Retail Analytics (ARA): PremiumVineAmazon Media Group (AMG) Promos & Special OffersCo-Marketing OpportunitiesA+ Content AMS Search OptimizationFinal Takeaways

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3Evaluating Amazon's Vendor Premium Services |

Intro to Amazon Vendor Premium ServicesAmazon Vendor Premium Services offers vendors—a.k.a. brand suppliers to Amazon’s retail business—an opportunity to showcase their products and enhance their capabilities on the marketplace through a variety of features.

From valuable product reviews to external search optimization, it’s critical for vendors to analyze and decipher the various offerings from Amazon Vendor Premium Services to allocate their marketing dollars appropriately.

In the following white paper, we will analyze aspects of Amazon’s Vendor Premium Services and provide vendors with insight on which offerings are the most influential to advance their business.

Amazon Storefronts: Customized Landing Pages


Amazon Storefronts: Customized Landing PagesWhat are Amazon “Storefronts”?

Amazon Branded Stores aka "storefronts" are specialty landing pages at Amazon.com created by the brand owner.

When a vendor creates an Amazon Storefront, they are provided a unique amazon.com URL for their brand. Within the landing page, they also have the ability to pick which products they want to merchandise and how they want to customize their brand’s creative.


Branded stores are located by clicking on the brand name on the detail page or search for the brand name from the Amazon.com. The Amazon Brand Store icon can be found at the top of the search results with a link to their storefront.

What vendors should know

Unfortunately, in some scenarios vendor storefronts don't have a significant impact on performance because shoppers find products on Amazon through search as opposed to finding a product by browsing a seller’s storefront. For this reason, a storefront typically won’t have a strong immediate or long-term impact on sales.

Additionally, these pages don't always offer substantial practical value to consumers. In some cases, these storefronts are designed to make brands feel better about their "brand presence" on Amazon.

For a vendor who already has a stand-alone ecommerce site, it's difficult to understand why or when vendors would want to drive traffic to this type of page. With that said, it’s not a huge investment to set up a storefront if you’re manufacturer who has the initiative to refine your branding, but we wouldn’t recommend this be a central focus early on.

Amazon Reporting: Basic & Premium Services


Amazon Reporting: Basic & Premium Services Amazon Reporting includes both basic and premium level analytics, both are located in Amazon Vendor Central.

What is Amazon Vendor Central?

Amazon Vendor Central is the web interface used by brand manufacturers and distributors. If a brand sells via Vendor Central, they are considered a first-party seller. First-party sellers act as a supplier or wholesaler, selling in bulk to Amazon.

Registration on Vendor Central is by invitation only. Only Vendor Central allows enhanced content, which Amazon refers to as A+ content and other premium services (that we will discuss in this white paper).


Below is a surface-level comparison between Amazon Seller Central vs. Vender Central offerings:

Anyone can sell Invite only

More control over inventory and prices Less control prices

Potential for higher margins Potential for larger volume

Control over listings & inventory shipments Amazon can decide it's overstocked & return items to vendors

Quick payment 90-day payment

Doesn't allow A+ content Allows A+ content

Sponsored product ads Amazon Vine Program, Subscribe & Save, and other marketing programs

Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) Basic Reports


Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) Basic ReportsVendors can use ARA Basic reports to track:

• Sales and inventory data

• Operational issues

• Stock levels

• Catalog quality

Vendors can see which of their catalog items will need prep before shipping and which, if any, defects they can improve in the operation.

To access basic reports vendor click on Reports > Amazon Retail Analytics Basic

Within ARA Basic vendors can:

Download data to their computer for offline analysis in multiple formats while retaining the original online report layout

Filter reports using a wide range of criteria

Sort data in columns


The list of reports vendors can see might vary, depending on access, which is based on permissions and contract terms.

Below we’ll take a look at all of the reports available in ARA Basic including:

Sales and Inventory

Demand Forecast

Catalog

Operations

Sales and Inventory

Vendors can use Sales and Inventory reports to view sales and inventory information in current date ranges, past results, and at the level of individual products.

The Dashboard also provides reports with detailed views of sales and inventory information. It gives a snapshot of sales volume and inventory levels, based on different time periods, including: year-to-date, quarter-to-date, month-to-date, and week-to-date.

Demand Forecast

Vendors can use the Demand Forecast tool to help in planning based on past results.A “forecast” is an educated guess and Amazon does not guarantee results in terms of predictive accuracy. Demand Forecast provides search functionality, report export, & other filters.

https://vendorcentral.amazon.com/gp/vendor/members/help/help-display?ie=UTF8&itemID=201824070





If vendors want to look at the actual sales data for example “the past 13 weeks” and see how it might help predict the next 25 weeks, the Demand Forecast report will provide a baseline that they can adjust for potential influences, like an anticipated production ability or even a holiday season.

Catalog

Vendors can use Catalog reports to see:

• Products they have in the Amazon catalog

• Upload main product images

• Review shipment preparation requirements

Vendor Catalog Listing displays all of the products that have page views in the Amazon catalog. Vendors can use this report to upload their main product images – directly from the report. This report is also helpful to identify products that require additional preparation before they can be shipped to Amazon.


Operations

Operation reports provide information about:

• Purchase orders

• Operational metrics

• Detail about performance

In Operational Metrics, vendors can see the operational performance in monthly snapshots.

They can filter these in terms of:

• Purchasing

• Receiving

• Lead Time

• Inbound Defects

• Fast Track Instock

The Purchasing section displays a high-level view of the operational performance as it relates to both the confirmation and fulfillment of purchase orders (POs).


There are two detailed reports for POs including:

Purchase Order (PO) DetailsProvide an account overview units received and received fill rate data for any POs created during the current month and over the past 3 months.

Vendors can use this report to understand trends and exceptions, identify improvement opportunities, and investigate the root cause of issues. The PO Item Details report provides metrics on each line item, allowing vendors to understand their purchasing metrics at a granular level.

Receiving SectionVendors can see total received cost, units received, advanced shipment notifications (ASN); and related metrics, including ASN accuracy rate, ASN late quantity, ASN missing quantity, and more.

Vendors can review all of the major aspects of their operations, including date ranges, search, and other filters. Like all other reporting categories, they can export these reports as well.


Now that we’re covered what basic premium reporting offers, in our agency’s experience, the most valuable report from a business perspective are those focusing on Product Orders and Operations.

If vendors are hoping to take advantage of Amazon’s millions of monthly visitors, they will want to advertise the product and measure the efficiency of that advertising (both in AMS and by tracking your Sales & Inventory levels in Vendor Central).


Vendors may also want to keep an eye on the demand forecast as Amazon tries to help brands anticipate spikes in sales, especially around the holiday season.

A screenshot of the Operations Report in Vendor Central

Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) Premium


Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) PremiumAmazon Retail Analytics (ARA) Premium provides access to more than 20 top level reports with multi-level capabilities.

In total this amounts to almost 60 different types of reports available in ARA Premium including:

• Sales

• Marketing

• Operations

• Customer Behavior

• Trends

What does ARA Premium offer?

According to Amazon, ARA Premium offers support for ongoing cycles of evaluation, strategy, and adjustment of business decisions and activities.

ARA also helps vendors assess their market share, identify new opportunities, and monitor trends that impact their resulting sales and market acceptance.


ARA Premium provides:

Pre-Orders Data Measure pre-order sales by product and state to get early signals of demand.

Detailed Competitive Benchmarking Detailed metrics on how vendors are performing against a specific competitor’s product(s).

Customer Behavior Tracking (Item Viewing Pre-Purchase)Follow customers through the store to see what they are looking at before they buy products.Market Basket Analysis: Learn what other products are purchased in conjunction with your products.


The most influential and useful tool within Premium Reporting is the fact it shows vendors search volume for specific keywords. This information provides vendors with an understandable advantage at AEO and with advertising.

While pricing around premium services is dependent on a variety of factors. For example, if a retailer chooses an individual product or total package cost. Some retailers may be eligible for a package discount as well which compared to purchasing Product Setup Service (PSS), A+ and Vine individually, does not take into account the benefit from remaining services since they are not offered individually.

Total package costs (involving up to 11 different types of vendor premium services) can run anywhere from $30,000 per year (basic) to $70,000 per year (premium).*

* Please note these prices are only estimates - for specific pricing packages contact [email protected]

Vine: Helping Amazon Vendors Drive Product Reviews


Vine: Helping Amazon Vendors Drive Product ReviewsWhat is Amazon Vine?

Amazon Vine is a program that invites reviewers to post their opinions on (free) new or pre-released items to help shoppers make purchase decisions.

According to Amazon, all Vine reviews are independent opinions of the Vine Voices selected (by Amazon). Vendors cannot influence, modify or edit the reviews. Amazon also states they do not modify or edit Vine reviews, as long as they comply with their posting guidelines.

http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines/


Why should Amazon vendors join the Vine program?

Because Vine is an invitation-only program for high-quality reviewers, vendors can typically be assured that their products will receive detailed and well-articulated reviews. But like any reviews solicitation programs, there is no guarantee that the product will receive a positive review.

Amazon invites reviewers to participate in the Vine program based on feedback from other customers. A reviewer's rank is determined by the overall helpfulness of all their reviews, factoring in the number of reviews they have written.

For more information on how reviewer rankings are determined, please check out How Ranking Works.

* NOTE: More "weight" is given to recent reviews

Enroll Your Product Ship Samples to Amazon

Your Product gets featured in Vine Monthly Newsletter for Vine Voices to select & order

Amazon Ships samples to Vine Voices who post their reviews on the Amazon detail page

Reviews increase awareness of your product and drive sales & pre-orders

How it Works

1 2 3 4 5

http://www.amazon.com/review/guidelines/top-reviewers.html/

http://www.amazon.com/review/guidelines/top-reviewers.html/


Writing a negative review will not impact a Voice's reviewer ranking. Vendors have no contact with the Vine Voices, and have no influence over which Vine Voices will review their products.


Newer brands looking to increase market share are the most likely to leverage and benefit from a program like Amazon Vine (or other review platforms).

Amazon Vine offers 3 level of services including basic, plus & premium. Basic allows enrollment of 5 products, Plus allows enrollment of 10 products and Premium allows enrollment of 20 products.

As mentioned earlier, fees to access the program may vary depending on the vendor. A+ Content & Amazon Vine are offered individually (if vendors do not want to commit to the entire package offering)

Amazon Media Group: Creative Efforts Seek to Drive Engagement


Amazon Media Group: Creative Efforts Seek to Drive EngagementFrom home page banner placement to HTML offerings, AMG is another premium offer within vendor services.

AMG claims to help vendors:

• Reach Amazon shoppers on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices

• Create relevant campaigns that drive results

• Access transparent, full-funnel campaign metrics

AMG’s creative team manages:

• Amazon Display Ads

• Amazon Advertising Platform

• Kindle & Fire Experiences


Amazon Display Ads

Amazon Display Ads reach shoppers on desktop and mobile devices to showcase brands at every stage of the customer journey.

Amazon Product Display Ads:

• Advertise individual products

• Drive traffic to product’s detail page

• Create targeted ad campaigns

• Control spend with bid and budget

• Pay only when shoppers click

• Track campaign performance

With Amazon Display Ads, vendors can access reporting across all platforms, ad products, and campaigns—driving transparency, campaign efficiency, and performance with non-indexed campaign metrics.

Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP)

With Amazon’s Advertising Platform, vendors can extend their campaigns by reaching Amazon shoppers on Amazon sites and quality third party sites.


AAP implements full-screen or video formats during natural content breaks to drive traffic to the vendor’s website and landing pages. According to Amazon, AAP offers a variety of placements, including the ability to integrate Product Display Ads functionality (such as customer reviews and the Add to Cart button).

Kindle and Fire Experiences

The third element of AMG allows vendors to advertise appealing visual campaigns for Amazon customers on Kindle, Fire tablet and Fire TV.

Amazon offers ads that appear on Kindle and Fire tablet lock screens as well as placement at the top of the Fire TV home screen. These ads are integrated into the product design and enable vendors to speak directly to their targeted consumers.

According to Amazon, Kindle, Fire tablet, and Fire TV campaigns can drive measurable brand awareness at cost-per-consideration rates at or below similar web-based campaigns.With this feature, vendors can access to reporting details that elaborate on the campaign’s impact throughout customers’ purchase journey.



We’ve had mixed reviews on AMG as it relates to the value it adds to vendor performance. But more recently, it appears that the program is focusing more on being able to prove its value to users and is showing signs that it can be an asset in a brand's toolbox.

For example, vendors seeking brand awareness rather than a distinct ROI can benefit from programs such as Kindle & Fire Experiences since these programs are similar to the way traditional Display Ads work.

Before vendors invest (estimated minimum investment $35,000 – $50,000), they should weigh their own creative and marketing options. Ultimately, AMG is not designed to show a distinct ROI but rather is a long-term investment in acquiring greater market share, which is often measured by a suite of metrics.

Promos & Special Offers


Promos & Special OffersFrom coupon codes to Lightning Deals, special offers are a great marketing tool for raising awareness around a product or brand.

Promos & Special Offers include:

• Coupon / Promotional Codes

• Gold Box Deals

• Lightning Deals

Coupon / Promotional Codes

Amazon promotional codes are online coupons that can be used at checkout to save money on an Amazon purchase. Customers enter the alpha-numeric code in the appropriate box on the checkout page at Amazon and the corresponding discount is reflected in their total.

Amazon Special Offers are deals that may include:

• A discounted price on select merchandise

• A buy one get one free offer on certain products

• Promotion for a free gift or product with the purchase of a select item


Vendors can set up self serviced coupons, which has been pretty effective for certain slow moving products by offering incentives on a specific ASIN.

Several Terms & Conditions associated with coupon codes

Coupons are valid for a limited time only. Amazon reserves the right to modify or

cancel coupons at any time.

If customers do not purchase the qualifying items added to their Cart when the coupon

is in effect, the discount will not apply

The coupon applies only to qualifying items displaying the coupon offer in your

Coupon Book and on the item detail page

The coupon offer will not be valid until it is applied to the qualifying item

The coupon may only be used on www.amazon.com and in conjunction with the

purchase of products shipped and sold by Amazon.com and not on products sold by

third-party sellers

The promotion is limited to one coupon per customer

Promotion may not be combinable with mail-in rebates

If a customer returns any of the items purchased with a

coupon, the coupon discount or value may be subtracted from

the return credit

Applicable shipping and handling charges apply to all products.

Add-on Items require a minimum purchase.


Gold Box Deals

Gold Box deals are special offers featured in the Today's Deals link at the top of most Amazon.com pages. Customers with an Amazon account will see all Gold Box features.

Gold Box deals include the following:

• Deal of the Day- A single item or small set of closely related items discounted for one day only

• Best Deals- A selection of discounted items and ongoing promotions from across Amazon.com

• Lightning Deals- A single item paired with a limited quantity of extra savings coupons, available for the time period stated or until all coupons are used

• Gold Box Quick Picks- Is currently unavailable


Lightning Deals

An Amazon Lightning Deal is a promotion with a limited number of discount offers on an item for a short period of time. These premium deals can be found throughout Amazon.com, including the Gold Box page and are available one per customer, until either the promotional period (typically 4 hour blocks) for the deal expires or all the available promotional discounts are claimed.

Amazon markets these deals through daily e-mail subscriptions, the Amazon mobile app, Twitter, Facebook advertising on Amazon’s page, and a link from Amazon.com.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_565778_ablightning?nodeId=201134080

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=nav_cs_gb


When a Lightning Deal is available, retailers will see

• The item featured in the deal

• Any available variations of the item (for example: different sizes or colors)

• The promotional discount amount and final price

• A status bar indicating the percentage of deals currently in customers’ carts or purchased

• A timer showing how long you have to add the item to your Cart and claim the discount

• An “Add to Cart” button if there are available promotional discounts

• Whether or not Prime members get early access to the deal

What are the Amazon Lightning Deal requirements?

1. Proposed Deal Price is at least 20% off current buy-box price

2. ASIN does not have an Amazon Retail offer (Third Party unique ASINs)

3. ASIN with a sale price must be greater than or equal to $10 (US)

4. ASINs in hardlines or consumable product lines only

5. Seller instock units is more than 20 units

6. No Add-On Items (if the product is in FBA)

7. Over 3.5 review stars (if no stars, it will be monitored during the deal)

8. Item condition is new

9. High quality image, good title and complete detail page

10. Product must be in FBA

11. At least 10 (or more) reviews on the ASIN

12. Must have at least 30 days worth of inventory in FBA

13. Must have at least $5,000 in current inventory value

14. Third party offers only (no vendor applications)

15. For products with variations, all variations must be

discounted and participating in the deal


Some categories may require a charge for Lightning Deals including:

When all the promotional discounts for a Lightning Deal are held by other customers, shoppers will see a Join Waitlist button and the status bar will show that 100% if the promotional discounts are currently being held in other customers’ Carts or have already been used to purchase the deal.


Products that are featured in Amazon’s Lightning Deal spaces typically enjoy a bump in sales throughout the duration of the deal.

Although the seller sacrifices profit in the form of the discount, it is a great marketing tool for raising awareness around a product and/or brand.

While beneficial to vendors, It can be extremely difficult for vendors to be accepted into a Lightning Deal Offer.

Apparel Watches Shoes Jewelry Luggage

* For more information on how to access Amazon’s Lightning Deals email [email protected]

Co-Marketing Opportunities


Co-Marketing OpportunitiesAmazon offers retargeting opportunities for vendors via Display Ads and through Facebook advertising. Because Amazon prefers to keep vendors on Amazon (specifically for advertising and purchase), vendors can direct Facebook traffic to an Amazon Product page (if they choose).

If vendors can find value (whether it be through sales increase or traffic generation), they are likely to test out co-marketing opportunities with various channels.

Generally, the more volume a vendor can push, the more likely they are to generate funding for these types co-marketing opportunities, if it makes sense for the vendor.

Information around this type of strategy is still vague, but as Facebook and other social media platforms continue to grow and develop, retailers are finding more ways to leverage co-marketing opportunities across other advertising channels as a way to direct traffic to their Amazon page and increase conversion rates.

A+ Content: Multimedia Marketing Tactics


A+ Content: Multimedia Marketing TacticsA+ Content also known as enhanced content is an extended version of the basic product description. This elevated content includes scannable text that explains the features and benefits of a product.

HTML-based, premium content from manufacturers is meant to drive more conversions on a detail page. In simple terms, A+ content better conveys the value of the product through the use of multimedia.

Examples of A+ Content include high quality images, video and comparison charts.

Vendors have 2 options for A+ content creation:

1. Self-Service ModulesBrands can build the content themselves by selecting modules, uploading files / content and submit for review.

2. Amazon “Build For You” At an additional cost, Amazon will use the files / content uploaded and create the A+ content for your company.


Within the self-service modules, brands will be asked to:

Create Project

Build Layout Retailers

Upload & Arrange Content

Review & Add To Cart

When building a layout, vendors can design their page with up to 5 different modules including:

• Standard

• Advanced

• Internal

Tip: Standard module 1 is a great pick for product with multiple image shots or product capabilities you want to stand out. Advanced module 1 has the ability to show comparison charts (which are also extremely valuable).

The cart price will depend on the types of module a vendor selects.



This detailed content is valued by the consumer. Historically, we have seen conversion rates improve as a direct result of A+ content, specifically comparison charts which provide shoppers with a visual feature comparison of the product’s competitors (as seen below)

* A+ Comparison Chart from GreatCall Splash's detail page.

Search Optimization: Amazon Marketing Services


Search Optimization - Amazon Marketing ServicesWhat is Amazon Marketing Services (AMS)?

Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) is an advertising solution for Amazon vendors to enhance their brand discoverability and drive demand for their products sold on Amazon.com through Product Display Ads and Headline Search Ads.

Headline Search AdsTarget by Keyword

Appears above search results

Sponsored Products Target by Keyword

Appears below search results

Product Display Ads Target by Product or Interest

Appears on related product detail pages

Amazon Marketing Services is available to Amazon vendors and some third-party sellers who have been on the platform for a long period of time. Access to Amazon Vendor Central will be required. Vendors can start a campaign for as little as $100 and pay only when shoppers click.

https://ams.amazon.com/


The Amazon Marketing Services program provides vendors an opportunity to:

• Create engaging display ad content

• Measure ad content success

• Reach potential customers throughout Amazon and Amazon owned and operated sites

Amazon Marketing Services offers target options for vendors to optimize performance:

KeywordProvides suggestions for the best keywords to bid on based on customers’ search and shopping history

Product Allows search intent for select products

similar or related to their own

T

AMS provides vendors with a robust dashboard to help gauge impressions, clicks, considerations, sales, and more. This gives vendors the information they need so they can make the appropriate bid adjustments, revamp their creative approach or add / remove keywords.


Amazon Marketing Services offers three advertising platforms:

• Product Display Ads

• Headline Search Ads

• Sponsored Products

Amazon Marketing Services is constantly evolving and changing as Amazon makes the tool more robust and allows advertisers more access to the analytical information. Headline Search is based more on the customer intent and branding, where the Product Display side is based more on products.

AMS Product Display Ads

Product Display Ads boost product visibility through advertising and reach millions of Amazon shoppers with ads linking to product detail pages.

According to Amazon, Product Display Ads help brands drive sales with interest-based or product targeted advertising.

Targeting based on shopper interests or target products makes it possible to deliver highly relevant ads to shoppers with certain interests or actively viewed specific products.

With Product Display Ads, Amazon vendors have access to customer information from Amazon. Interests could include: customers searching for science books or customers browsing home goods.


Amazon Product Display Ads are designed to integrate unique and familiar Amazon features into display advertising such as:

Customer Reviews

Add to Cart

Coupons

Video Showcase

Customer Review Ads

One of the most influential tools of purchase on Amazon is product reviews written by other Amazon customers. Customers turn to product reviews to help them make purchase decisions.

Research indicates, 72 percent of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

Customer Review ads enable advertisers to incorporate Amazon’s customer ratings and product reviews directly into display ads.

AMS Customer Review ad campaigns have shown 10 to 30 percent stronger performance results across key metrics.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=6246110011

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=6246110011


Add to Cart Ads

Add to Cart ads enables customers to add products to their Amazon shopping cart with a single click. This encourages immediate transaction by shortening the purchase pipeline, allowing retailers to drive sales of specific products. Customers can even choose from several models, features or product types―right from the ad.

AMS Add to Cart ads have shown 20 to 30 percent stronger performance across key metrics.


Coupon Ads

Coupon ads enable customers to accept an offer that is automatically applied at checkout.

The ad gives retailers an opportunity to highlight a select sale or special offer―typically this will engage customers who might be on the fence about whether to invest in your product or not.

Coupon Ads are a great way to catch the consumer eye and increase revenue potential.


Showcase Ads

Showcase ads enable advertisers to combine video with the immediacy of a single click to their Amazon shopping cart. Adding video allows an opportunity to efficiently educate, build brand loyalty and convert customers to purchase.


Amazon Marketing Services Headline Search Ads

Sponsored search is the banner advertising on Amazon. It provides the number one tool to tap into customer intent and searches within AMS.

Retailers are only charged when an Amazon.com shopper clicks on their ad. Marketers can control their spend by setting a maximum cost-per-click and budget.

For each campaign, retailers can track the total number of impressions, clicks and attributed sales, discover which keywords perform best and adjust keywords and bids to improve campaign performance.

The two advantages of Headline Search include:

1. High Visibility PlacementWith Headline Search, Amazon.com shoppers see an ad in a prominent placement above search results.

2. Keyword TargetingRetailers can target their ad to keywords that are relevant to their brand and products, reach out to customers directly and drive traffic to their Amazon Page.

With Headline Search, ads could appear below the search results, in the right column on search results pages, and in an ad placement on detail pages. Ads may also appear on both mobile and tablet browsers.


How do Product Display Ads differ from Headline Search Ads?

Product Display and Headline Search are different in the sense that Headline Search is based on the ability to capture search intent and go after specific searches with a combination of a graphic and a text based ad. On the other side of the equation―Product Display is more product specific and allow placement on actual product detail pages.

So far we’ve seen a lower advertising cost of sale on the Product Display side, because we’re able to target specifically against competitive products or to specific interest groups. On the Headline Search side, it’s more a branding effort so advertising cost of sale is a little higher but we see a corresponding effect often times within the organic sales.

What is Amazon Sponsored Products?

Amazon Sponsored Products use targeted ads to give vendors more control over product merchandising on Amazon.com by boosting the visibility of their products when shoppers search for keywords you bid on.They pay a fee for this service only when an Amazon shopper clicks their ad to go to the detail page where the offer is listed.

Some of the main advantages of AMS Sponsored Products include:

• Only pay when shoppers click your ads• Keyword-targeted ads display in search results and on product detail pages• Effectively measure ROI with sales reporting


Why should vendors use Sponsored Products?

According to Amazon, targeted ads help vendors to increase product visibility, for new offers, unique selections, offers with low glance views, clearance items, and seasonal promotions.Your ads are eligible for display in a variety of ad placements on Amazon.com. Ads appear below search results, in the right column on search results pages, and in an ad placement on detail pages.

Ads may also appear on both mobile and tablet browsers. Over time, the service might expand to other placements across Amazon.com.


Sponsored Products is one of the most powerful tools in an Amazon seller’s arsenal for enhancing the discoverability of their product catalog. With Sponsored Products, third party sellers and vendors alike have the opportunity to get their products on the first page of the Amazon SERP for search terms which drive conversions.

Making sure your products are getting found on Amazon is key for success and properly leveraging Sponsored Products is essential to maximize your visibility on the Amazon marketplace.


Why is Amazon Marketing Services important?

Amazon Marketing Services offer effective tools to help vendors stand out against their competitors. It is important for vendors to understand how to leverage these tools to their best advantage.

Every click does not equal a buy- so vendors should be aware of their ROI and campaign performance and make adjustments specific to their target audience as they see fit.

AMS is a tool in and of itself for driving incremental traffic to product detail pages and branded Pages. The primary benefit of using AMS is that it gives sellers/advertisers an opportunity to get their products and brand in front of additional shoppers on Amazon.com due to the premium placement at the top of Amazon SERPs and beneath the buy box on product detail pages.

Specifically, the ability to target individual product detail pages gives sellers an opportunity to introduce their products directly alongside competitor products when consumers are at the last stage prior to conversion. With AMS still being a relatively new tool to Amazon and its sellers, there are still opportunities to find efficiencies within this platform as it is still maturing.

AMS ads work differently from Sponsored Products as a PPC instrument in that they do not take into consideration which seller is in the buy box, an important consideration for advertisers.

Final Takeaways


Final TakeawaysAccording to our team’s experience we’ve pulled several valuable takeways your brand should adhere to in making the decision to leverage Amazon Vendor Premium Services.

Amazon Storefronts

They do not have a significant impact on performance because shoppers find products on Amazon through search as opposed to finding a product by browsing a seller’s storefront.

Amazon Reporting

• BasicIn our agency’s experience, the most valuable report from a business perspective are those focusing on PO's and Operations.

• PremiumPremium Reporting shows vendors valuable search volume for specific keywords.

Amazon Vine

Newer brands looking to increase market share are probably the most likely to benefit from a program like Amazon Vine (or other review platforms).


Amazon Marketing Group

Unfortunately for vendors, Amazon’s incentive is to achieve max spend from their clients. Often, AMG pressures vendors into thinking they need to expand their creative and rack in thousands of dollars for AMG services which provide little value to the brand.

Promos / Special Offers

Products that are featured in Amazon’s Lightning Deal spaces typically benefit from a bump in sales throughout the duration of the deal. Although the seller sacrifices profit in the form of the discount, it is a great marketing tool for raising awareness around a product and/or brand.

Co-Marketing

If vendors can find value (whether it be through sales increase or traffic generation), they are encouraged to test out co-marketing opportunities.

A+ Content

Historically, we have seen conversion rates improve as a direct result of A+ content, specifically comparison charts which provide shoppers with a visual feature comparison of the product’s competitors.


Amazon Marketing Services

The primary benefit of using AMS is that it gives sellers/advertisers an opportunity to get their products and brand in front of additional shoppers on Amazon.com due to the premium placement at the top of Amazon SERPs and beneath the buy box on product detail pages.

• Product Display AdsAMS Product Display Ads boost product visibility through advertising and reach Amazon shoppers with ads linking to product detail pages.

• Headline Search AdsAllow brands to create keyword targeted ad campaigns to drive traffic to landing pages at Amazon.

• Sponsored ProductsSponsored Products is one of the most powerful tools in an Amazon seller’s arsenal for enhancing the discoverability of their product catalog. With Sponsored Products, third party sellers and vendors alike have the opportunity to get their products on the first page of the Amazon SERP for search terms which drive conversions.

Closing Thoughts

Amazon Premium Services can be a challenging platform to dissect given the vast variety of options. If vendors are seeking to elevate their marketing strategy, we recommend taking an educated evaluation of what areas will be worth the investment for your business.


As experts marketers for big name retailers, we’ve seen the most value from A+ content, in depth reporting, AMS, and special promos and offers.

We understand your business wants to leverage only the most valuable aspects of Vendor Premium Services, which is why we emphasis focusing on these specific aspects, which are most likely to impact your brand.

The value of each of the tools available to sellers is highly dependent on that sellers' goals and opportunities. For a vendor already driving significant volumes of sessions to product detail pages and finding that traffic not converting at an acceptable rate, enhanced content in the form of A+ detail pages and/or videos on detail pages may be the most valuable incremental lever they could pull.

For a seller with very strong conversion across their catalog but not reaching the exposure to sufficiently grow the channel, getting the brand out through expanded AMS advertising modules would provide the greatest benefit.

At the end of the day, vendors want to know which courses of action are going to increase the bottom line.

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What Now?

Maximize Your Brand's Potential on Amazon

CPC Strategy’s Amazon Vendor Audit is a complimentary 60-minute analysis and assessment of brand's existing Vendor Central account, advertising programs, product order (PO) volume, and profitability metrics.

http://www.cpcstrategy.com/amazon-evaluation/

Documents

EVALUATING AMAZON'S VENDOR PREMIUM SERVICES · enhance their capabilities on the marketplace through a variety of features. From valuable product reviews to external search optimization,