Pet brand owners have a good reason to be optimistic. In late March, the American Pet Products Association (APPA) announced the industry had reached a historic milestone. In its 2021 State of the Industry Report, the APPA confirmed that pet industry sales set a record of $103.6 billion in 2020, a 6.7% increase from the previous year.
In 2001, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos scribbled a diagram onto the back of a napkin that would ultimately define the company’s business model. He called it the “virtuous cycle” – a core approach to building Amazon by starting with the customer and working backwards, rather than focusing on a product or service. “Our mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company,” Bezos told PBS anchor Charlie Rose in 2010. He went on to explain that what distinguishes Amazon from other successful retailers – such as Walmart – is the company’s strict and long-term focus on the customer. “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts,” said Bezos. “It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
Driving quality traffic to optimized listings is essential to generating sales on Amazon, but it is also important to understand how customers are finding your products. Until 2018, Amazon lacked the means to track shoppers who arrived from external channels like Google and Facebook. This changed with the introduction of Amazon Attribution – an advertising and analytics measurement solution that gives brands insight into how their non-Amazon marketing channels across search, social, video, display, and email impact shopping activity and sales performance on Amazon.
Walmart is ramping up its competition against Amazon to become a dominant force in e-commerce. Describing itself as the world’s largest omnichannel retailer, Walmart’s online platform has expanded considerably over the past year. According to Marketplace Pulse data, more than 25,000 sellers have joined Walmart Marketplace during the pandemic, bringing the total to around 60,000. This is only a fraction of Amazon’s 2.5+ million active sellers, but the recent growth spike along with Walmart’s well-established base of more than 265 million customers gives Walmart Marketplace the potential to become a strong competitor. Below is a summary of Walmart’s latest expansions and developments to its e-commerce platform that are designed to attract more sellers and customers.
It’s no secret that customer reviews are an integral part of the shopping experience on Amazon. Customers use these reviews to learn more about products, assess whether they fit their needs, and make an informed purchase decision. While most sellers understand that accumulating positive reviews is an important component to building a successful brand on Amazon, many are unclear about just how powerful reviews can be and, more importantly, why they are so influential.
Building a successful business on Amazon requires a lot of work. In addition to the company’s ever-changing protocols, there are currently 2.5 million sellers competing across all Amazon marketplaces. It’s not just a matter of being on the platform; it’s a matter of distinguishing your brand from your competition. Business owners who are serious about growing their brand on Amazon will inevitably need help. Thus, the following question always arises: should you build an internal Amazon team or partner with an agency? The right answer will depend on the size of your business, your available resources, your experience with Amazon, and – most importantly – your goals on the marketplace.
Amazon Advertising is a robust platform for brands to target and convert both new and existing customers. As the largest and most powerful e-commerce marketplace, the retail giant is always improving and expanding its vast suite of marketing and advertising tools. Staying up to date with the latest changes can be challenging and time-consuming. As a proven and recognized Amazon agency, Channel Key receives early insight into new Amazon Advertising programs, analytics, and metrics. To help your brand stay ahead of the competition, we’ve compiled the most recent changes that impact Amazon sellers so you can focus your time and energy on what’s important – running your business.
Channel Key is excited to announce that Corey Heim has been named Head of Sales and Business Development. Heim will be a part of the leadership team for our agency, which is experiencing rapid growth due to the acceleration of e-commerce across all industries. “Through his background running his previous organization, Corey brings a tremendous amount of experience with Amazon and also a Brand perspective that will be critical as we continue to add brand partners to the CK portfolio,” said Dan Brownsher, CEO and Co-Founder of Channel Key. “I’m most excited about adding his leadership and progressive mindset to our culture.”
“It’s not the strongest or most intelligent who will survive,” Charles Darwin once said, “but rather, those who are the most adaptable to change.” The 19th-century naturalist was no doubt talking about evolution, but the notion that adapting is the key to survival resonates particularly well in today’s retail business climate. Customers are going through a major transformation in how they search and shop for products. Within this overall shift, however, a more specific change is taking place that provides a powerful opportunity for brands to position themselves for unlimited growth potential throughout the 2020s.
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.
