Amazon Marketing & Listing Optimization Tips

Over the past few years, DTC brands have increasingly found Amazon to be a powerful channel for additional sales. Despite this, many are still hesitant to join the world’s largest online shopping platform due to a misunderstanding about how Amazon can benefit businesses that sell direct-to-consumer. Today, Amazon is much more than an e-commerce marketplace. It has become the most popular platform for customers to discover new brands. According to reports, 66% of consumers begin their online shopping search on Amazon. With COVID-19 boosting e-commerce to record levels, Amazon has become an effective way for DTC brands to reach new customers.

Driving traffic to your Amazon product pages is essential to converting sales. Customers need to find your products before they can add them to their cart. One of the most effective means to generate traffic is through Amazon’s various advertising solutions, but this isn’t the only way. Amazon Posts is a relatively new program designed to help drive brand and product discovery with curated posts that mimic the social media experience.

The year that changed retail – that’s likely how 2020 will be remembered in the business world. A lot happened, both good and bad. All are in one way or another tied to the most important event of the year: COVID-19. The pandemic impacted just about every aspect of daily life. Healthcare, education, entertainment, and social engagement all look very different today than they did just 12 months ago. Fortunately, each of these is likely to return to at least somewhat normal conditions once COVID-19 is officially behind us. One thing that has changed for good, however, is retail.

Sponsored Products are one of the most popular and effective marketing tools that Amazon provides to help brands reach customers. These cost-per-click ads promote individual product listings by appearing where customers will see them when searching on Amazon, such as the first page of shopping results. Sponsored Products allow advertisers to choose their budget, bids, and targeting parameters. This helps brands of any size reach a wide variety of goals, including generating awareness of a new product, promoting seasonal items, clearing excess inventory, or showcasing best-selling items. 

Customers can now fill their prescription medication via Amazon as easily as ordering a pair of socks or a smart speaker. Well, almost as easily. In November, the retail giant launched an online and mobile prescription medication ordering and fulfillment service called Amazon Pharmacy. The new store allows customers to complete an entire pharmacy transaction on their desktop or mobile device through an app. Amazon states its new pharmacy service will make it simpler for customers to compare prices and purchase medications for home delivery.

During what has been a challenging time for most Americans, Cyber Week will be regarded as one of the most positive weeks of 2020 – at least for brands. It’s no secret that small- to medium-sized businesses have spent the better part of the year struggling to survive in the wake of COVID-19’s disruption of life and commerce. For those that adapted to the rise in e-commerce, the five-day stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday was a much-needed relief.

To sell on Walmart Marketplace or not – that is the question for many brands that currently sell on Amazon. Describing itself as the world’s largest omnichannel retailer, Walmart’s online platform has expanded to around 60,000 sellers. This is only a fraction of Amazon’s 2.5+ million active sellers, but the recent growth spike along with Walmart’s well-established customer base gives it the potential to become a strong competitor. Here Channel Key highlights the key similarities and differences between the two platforms to help you decide whether Walmart Marketplace is a good e-commerce channel for your brand.

Cyber Week is finally upon us – and it’s going to be big. By all accounts, the shopping momentum between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is expected to generate record sales this year as online shopping continues to spike. Ideally, brands should have their Cyber Week marketing and advertising strategies in place by now. If not, there are still things you can do to better prepare for what is forecast to be the highest-grossing Black Friday and Cyber Monday in history.

Market research company eMarketer forecasts that American consumers will spend more than $192 billion on e-commerce platforms like Amazon. While this is great news at first glance, it also presents possible challenges for both shoppers and sellers. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Amazon is recommending that shoppers place holiday orders as early as possible to avoid shipping delays. For sellers, increased demand means potential issues with FBA fulfillment – especially as COVID-19 cases surge in many parts of the U.S.