While most of us were on summer vacation, the tech behemoth has introduced 4 Retail Digital Media (RDM) innovations. We created a short recap for you to stay ahead.
4 RDM innovations at Amazon during summer 2018:
- Testing on-site ads directing shoppers back to advertisers’ sites
- Expanding sponsored product ads outside of Amazon.com
- Introducing the new ‘Video in search’ ads for mobile
- Testing an Attribution tool
1. Introducing Amazon on-site ads directing back to advertisers’ site
Amazon is testing ads that appear on Amazon.com but link back to advertiser’s websites rather than to the traditional product pages on Amazon.com
According to Digiday, this month, the home furnishings company Lamps Plus will test programmatically targeting ads to Amazon shoppers across the internet with ads that will link back to their own Lampsplus.com, not Amazon.com.
This is interesting for brands looking to target shoppers in shopping mindset but who want to close the loop on their own Direct to Consumer (DTC) websites.
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2. Expanding sponsored product ads outside of Amazon.com
Sponsored Products are one of the most popular ad formats on Amazon’s platform, which like the search ads on Google, lets advertisers show ads to people who are looking for specific keywords.
Now, advertisers can also purchase these ads outside Amazon.com within Amazon’s marketplace, which connects to top publishers and therefore enables a much bigger reach. People who click on the ads will be sent back to Amazon.com on either product detail pages or Amazon stores.
Read our post to know who this format affects brands
3. Introducing the new ‘Video in search’ ads for mobile
Amazon has officially introduced a new format of sponsored product ads which it calls ‘video in search’. These video ads will only appear on mobile and will be shown below the search results when a shopper types in a keyword. As visual content can be a very powerful trigger for consumers in general, in a retail environment these ads could play a very crucial role to break shopper barriers and lead to a simplified shopping journey and sales increase.
Example of the ‘Video in search’ ad format, provided by Amazon
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4. Testing an Attribution tool
The attribution tool Amazon is testing is said to let advertisers compare whether ads on Amazon’s sites are more effective than those on websites such as Google and Facebook.Metrics such as Pageviews, purchase rate and sales will be available to advertisers which should help them measure the influence of their display, search or video ads outside of Amazon.com
Google already had an attribution to measure Amazon campaigns. Now, Amazon will be competing letting advertisers use its own attribution to measure ads.
Click here for more info
Conclusion
The ad business of Amazon is increasing at a fast pace as it is competing increasingly with Google and Facebook, who make up for almost 60% of the digital ad revenue in the US according to eMarketer[1].
But the rumors around this changing in the coming years are increasing as by 2020 Amazon is expected to become the third largest ad seller in the US2.
Although in the first quarter of 2018, Amazon disclosed its ad revenue already generated more than $2 billion, which is close to the expected $2,35 billions for the whole year1, the launch of 4 new Retail Digital Media innovations in such short time might lead to surpassing expectations.
For brands this only means one thing:
Retail Digital Media innovations and trends are evolving at an extremely rapid pace, and brands need to make sure they stay tuned.
Author: Jordane Beller
At the eBusiness Institute, we have been studying the Retailer Digital Media space since 2015. Get in touch to know more and leverage this opportunity as a competitive advantage for your company.
Sources:
[1] Company reports – eMarketer, Sep 2017
[2] eMarketer, 2018
