Black Friday sales were on fire, thanks to mobile 🔥📱Sales were up by an impressive 7.5% YoY. But the real game-changer? Over half of the $9.8 billion in sales came from mobile shopping! 📱💰Now, the key question: Is your brand making the most of this mobile revolution? Here are some tips I always give my clients to optimize their mobile strategy:

Fast Loading Speed: Optimize your website and product pages for quick loading times on mobile.

Optimize Images: Ensure your image galleries are mobile-friendly. 📸

Responsive Design: Ensure your website has a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes.

Competitor Check: Keep an eye on your competitors on detail pages. Are you blocking and tackling effectively? 🔒

Dedicated Deals Page: A dedicated page for deals allows you to tell your brand story your way, following your brand guidelines. 🛍️

Any other tips you guys want to add to the list? Drop them down in the comments, I'd love to see your input as well!

#amazonfbaseller #amazonexpert #ecommercebusiness #amazonbusiness #amazonnews #amazon #amazonsellercentral #amazonseller #amazonsellerservices

🚨 If your brand is selling on Amazon, you should have unlocked Premium A+ by now. Not sure if Premium A+ is unlocked on your seller central account, this video will show you how to check in 30 seconds.If you do not have Premium A+ and want to unlock it, follow my tutorial in the comments. This should only take you 5 minutes and Amazon is now reviewing & unlocking accounts weekly.Important: While I don't recommend drastically changing your content during the holiday rush, you can still prepare content for Q1 and make small improvements. A full refresh is better left for most brands until after the first few weeks of January to avoid unnecessary content complications.

Attention Amazon Sellers! 📣

Did you experience issues with Seller Central today? Reports suggest that the platform was down for a few hours, my guess is that Amazon is integrating more AI into the system.

This isn't the first time I've seen this happen during big updates in dashboards.

#AmazonSeller #SellerCentral #AIintegration

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Small Updates, Big Impact | Amazon Advertising BetterAMS

🔶 Amazon Posts Video - “Advertisers can now share vertical videos as Posts on Amazon and drive brand discovery with engaging video content. Video Posts help advertisers drive traffic to their Brand Store, grow followers, and encourage shopper visits to tagged product pages.” Jeffrey Cohen

This is one of my favorite updates! I have preached social commerce and brand building for the last two years, and this is just another opportunity for bands to stand out on Amazon.

🔶 Sponsored Display | Product Targeting | View as groups - Big change to SD Product Targeting!! We can now view up to 50 individual product targets filtered into these 4 groups:
▶ Higher-Priced Similar Products (50)
▶ Similar Products in your Catalog (50)
▶ Lower-Rated Similar Products (50)
▶ Most-Viewed Similar Products (50)

This tiny but mighty rollout from Amazon has made PT segmentation much more efficient. No more relying on external tools to segment scraped ASINs!

🔶 Amazon Advertising Console Day Parting

Not incredibly new, but still a hot topic. Sharing my two cents in the comments ⬇️My main concern, prior to Amazon Marketing Stream, we did not have great access to hourly insights. And most brands still don’t have access to Amazon Marketing Stream. Meaning, there is a chance that brands will go in with an incorrect understanding of their actual hourly performance and make bid modifier adjustments that negatively impact their brand.

🔶 Rest of Search placement modifier

This is a fun and highly requested update, but there is one thing to keep in mind….Rest of Search placements perform well because the CPC’s are typically lower, NOT because it is a better placement on the page...(Lower quality/visible real estate)

What will happen if you add an aggressive bid modifier to your rest of serach placements? The CPCs will increase on a lower converting placement…..and your ACoS will increase. Be careful with placement modifiers!

🔶 Amazon Product Level Trends

This was one of my favorite updates in Ad Console, so I wanted to give it another shoutout here!!

Navigation - 
1. Advertising Console 
2. Products Tab 
3. Select Product
4. View Trends

This is a fantastic way to quickly view ASIN-level performance and identify changes.

🔶 Sponsored Brands Sponsored TV

No minimums. No commitments.

This is one of the most competitive products on Amazon UK with 59 sellers. Amazon is one of them.  And no-one can undercut them. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? They don't charge themselves sales commission or FBA fees. So they have an immediate cost advantage over all those resellers. Once Amazon gets hold of something via Vendor Central, the game is usually up for resellers. But they still keep trying to win that Buy Box.

#amazon #amazonvendor #vendor #vendorcentral #brandstrategy #d2c #dtc #ecommerce #marketplaces #onlineretail #retail

When you walk into a store to buy a fragrance, you smell it. You might even spray it on yourself. But you can’t do that when shopping online. It’s hard to bring products to life on the digital shelf. How do you communicate scent or flavor to consumers? The only way to do that effectively is through quality imagery. Because consumers know what a blueberry smells like. So if your product has a blueberry taste or flavor, you want to use a heuristic anchor of a blueberry. AI isn’t there yet to create this type of content. And probably won’t be for some time.

Below are photography examples the Nectar team took for A Cheerful Giver in Nectar’s studio in Denver, CO. I think our team did a fantastic job of bringing the scents to life through the photography. If you’re an established brand looking for content help, don’t hesitate to reach out. Make sure to check out our photo, video, and graphic design samples on our website.

#productphotography #ecommerce #ecommercephotography

Amazon AVNs are around the corner. And Vendor Managers will ask you once again for more investment.That's why I recently sat down with Moritz Meyer and discussed:✅ How vendors can protect their profit margins✅ Why suppliers must focus on ROI-led negotiations✅ How to navigate discussions on Auto Marketing✅ How to get Vine and A+ Premium free of charge✅ Why media investments should form part of your AVNThe podcast is available here (German only): https://lnkd.in/eeptMCN5--- What else would you like to know about trade negotiations with Amazon?Let me know in the comments!#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

In Amazon's "biggest sales day ever" was also Amazon's biggest advertising day ever! +60% increase in spend in Sponsored search. For more insights check out our latest article:https://lnkd.in/gFagD6xS#blackfriday2023

Can we ditch “T5” next year and go with “Cyber November” instead? 🧐

Similarly, we are seeing more and more Amazon brands implement a “pre/post-T5 discount strategy.” Light discounts prior to BF, heavier discounts thru T5, light discounts post-Cyber Monday.

This morning, we’re seeing expected CVR% decreases post T5 - however, managed brands with active deals/discounts are still rolling. Discount strategy is becoming more and more detrimental to brand success in Q4.

What’re your thoughts on pre/post T5 deal/discount strategies?

#amazonadvertising #t5 #amazondeals #amazonads #betterams

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:❌ #Amazon is not a retailer. ✅ It's a tech and logistics company.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon delivers more packages than UPS and FedEx in the US.

Making Amazon the largest delivery business in North America.

And this is not the end. With Amazon externalising its fulfilment and transportation capabilities, it will soon surpass more providers in other markets.

Amazon is known to push more brands to participate in Amazon Freight.

A programme designed to grant businesses access to Amazon's owned fleet of trucks and carrier network.

The reason is simple: it's a profitable business model. The more volume goes through Amazon's warehouse and transportation network, the lower its operating costs.

In 2023 alone, Amazon delivered over 4.8 billion (!) packages in the US. That figure does -not- include Thanksgiving or the ongoing Black Friday event.

Great read from the WSJ.

--- What do you think? Will the rise of Amazon's delivery services outcompete other providers in your market?

Let me know in the comments!

#amazonstrategy #amazonnews

There's an AI tool that could replace you as a social media manager or make you irreplaceable if you know how to use it. It's called Ocoya. Think of it like having ChatGPT, Canva and Hootsuite at your fingertips.

Here's how I can use it:

1. Clicked "Create with AI".
2. Provide the AI with some information about the brand, and either select a template or leave it blank. If you don't like any of it, the AI is gonna take care of it.
3. Choose the platform that you wanna post. ✅ All done for you with just a click of a button!

And of course, if you wanna make any adjustments - just click edit or schedule, then you can click this button to regenerate a new caption or to re-edit the design. 💡 If that's not enough, Ocoya's automation feature will use AI to turn any online articles, blog posts, or even YouTube videos into social media posts. Super handy and a total time saver. Try other interesting features like AI prompt library analytics and e-commerce integration.

🔗 You can get a link to the program here: https://lnkd.in/dixB3mgM

Most brands make one of these mistakes with their Amazon A+ content

1. No crawlable text to index for SEO( YES, crawable text in A+ indexes for SEO)
2. Too much text(consumers don't want to do homework when shopping)
3. Crowded/busy images (again, consumers want you to make it easy)
4. Not using lifestyle images to sell the experience(You have to relate to your target audience)
5. Failing to cross sell related products

Below is an A+ template that the Nectar team did for Nostalgia

We also did the photography with the child models that are used in the A+

You can see more of our photo, video, and graphic design work on our website (link in comments)

If you're an established brand that needs help with content, don't hesitate to reach out to me or Nectar

#amazonsellers #amazonvendor #amazonadvertising

The Couch Won Black Friday 2023

Black Friday stats I've read over and over confirm it. Retail stores growth seems flat to slightly up, while digital is up much larger. Consumers are valuing convenience - why get off the couch to get the same discounts I can get on the couch?

Mastercard Spendingpulse reported that Friday eCommerce sales increased 8.5% y/y while in-store sales increased 1.1%.

For consumers, the deals are already revealed. For retailers, all the discount coupons have been distributed. Mostly, Cyber Monday is going to look like a more muted version of Black Friday because most consumers knew what the best deals were the week before Black Friday, and so they could prepare for what to buy sooner, and what to buy at the peak.

The last few years, Cyber Monday was still significant. This year, I expect it to be more muted. I have a long list of shopping items. Some brands seem to be already pulling back their discounts slightly. You will get some of the "last chance" shopping of course. Why not? You still need to buy those gifts.

But on a day which used to be "the digital version of Black Friday", we seem to have just had that -- on the actual Black Friday. We'll see if consumers agree with me or not.

Sorry Scott Silverman but we might mark 2023 as the day your holiday died.

I really like the idea of price testing and price optimization as a concept as a whole. On the surface, it's a simple tweak to a number, but beneath, it's a strategic maneuver to optimize pricing, a way to tap directly into the pulse of demand.

Before the big days hit, I experiment, observe, and adjust, setting the stage for a price point that's irresistible.

In closing, as the festive shopping frenzy approaches, I stand ready.

#pricetesting #amazonoptimization #amazonppc

Use these 3 strategies to ensure you don’t waste your Turkey 5 Amazon traffic

Consumers still buy lots of goods after today—Cyber Monday

So make sure to capatilize on the traffic that didn’t purchase

1. Use sponsored display views remarketing (or DSP) with a short lookback window

This will target consumers who viewed your product detail pages but didn’t purchase

2. Entice consumers who showed buying intent (such as an add to cart) with a brand tailored promotion

We are seeing great results with them so far

3. Use coupons

They have good visibility in the search engine results pages

And the redemption rate is typically nowhere near 100%

Don’t know why everyone can’t figure out how to clip a digital coupon, but it’s the reality we live in

What strategies are you using to drive sales this holiday season after today?

#amazonsellers #amazonvendor #amazonadvertising

📊 The Story Behind the Data

Imagine judging a soccer player's performance based solely on the number of goals scored. It might seem straightforward, but this single metric overlooks crucial aspects like assists, defensive contributions, and overall teamwork. Similarly, in the realm of brand strategy and advertising, relying on just one or two metrics can lead to misjudgments and potentially costly strategic errors.

It's like assessing a book by its cover without appreciating the depth of its contents.

➤ Consider this scenario: A product has a low TACOS and high profit, indicating efficient spending in relation to sales. But what if our advertising campaigns are only converting existing loyal customers rather than attracting new ones? Or if it's sacrificing long-term brand building for short-term sales? In essence, no single metric is the 'magic bullet'. It's the collective insights from different metrics that tell the full story of your strategy's effectiveness.

Like a skilled coach analyzing various aspects of their team's performance, brands and advertisers must look beyond the surface. Dive deep into the data, understand the interplay of different metrics, and only then can you craft a strategy that scores not just one goal, but wins the game.

✅ That is why we developed our in-house dashboard, DataOwl, to centralize and dive deeper into various metrics. This tool allows us to draw a comprehensive picture, optimizing our strategic insights.

In light of recent Pan-European #Amazon negotiations, you may ask yourself:𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?And the answer is probably Yes. ✅But you don't have to turn your business upside down because of it.Instead, you need to understand three things:

1- Which processes require local knowledge
2- What tasks get duplicated across markets
3- What political motives hinder centralisation

Once you've understood the above, you can craft the business case for selective centralisation.For example, you may decide to centralise:

- Annual trade negotiations
- Dispute management
- Content production
- Financial audits
- Retail analytics

But keeping business-critical tasks local:

- Selection management
- Advertising campaigns
- Deal event management
- Cost support negotiations
- P/L ownership

We can like it or not. But Amazon's centralisation efforts have a direct impact on the way we need to manage our business with the online retailer.Ignoring Amazon's push towards a pan-EU setup will only lead to one thing:Higher costs to manage the Amazon account for your brand.---How are you managing Amazon's pan-EU management of your vendor account? Let me know in the comments!#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

This is how to win BIG on Amazon🤑

Always be testing your content...

You should never just set your content and forget about it

Refresh and test your cotnent to continue increasing conversions in every step of your product page

Be sure to follow for more Amazon value🙌🏼

Initial Black Friday Results...While we're still waiting on all the attributed sales to post, our data shows a 63% increase in ad sales on Black Friday compared to the average ad sales the week prior. This year, the holiday shopping season has been extended more than ever with continual deals starting earlier and earlier. The Turkey 5 sales period is now the Turkey 11. Walmart started offering Black Friday deals early in November. Overall sales are definitely up but the impact of specific days like Black Friday are becoming less impactful due to the diluting effect of the continual deals. We anticipated fewer peaks and valleys of traffic and that appears to be playing out. Adobe Analytics announced online Black Friday sales reached a record $9.8 billion this year and they predict a record Cyber Monday. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out - what have you been seeing so far this holiday season?

👉Sponsored TV is now showing in all accounts (US)
Should we consider using it?

Essentially, it helps to expand your Brand reach by displaying ads on Amazon streaming TV services like Twitch and Freevee, reaching a growing viewer base on Amazon streaming.

Amazon's data indicates that viewers spend an average of 2 hours daily on this platform, making it a potent tool for brand awareness.

Beyond brand awareness, Amazon's internal study highlights +44% incremental reach and +73% purchase rate compared to those relying on a single approach.

➡️ What's also interesting about Amazon streaming TV ads, is the integration of shopping with viewing. Amazon's been launching new features like Shoppers can save product notifications for later or scan QR code to open the product detail page.

➡️ Importantly, there is no high spending requirement. You can start it similar to other campaigns with a small daily budget. The minimum bid is $10 for 1000 impressions (CPM model), so that's about $20 minimum daily budget you can run with.

➡️ In terms of targeting, there are Amazon's first-party insights to help target audiences based on likely content interests and product categories on Amazon.

For a few categories, CPC on Thanksgiving ($3.97) has grown by 88% over last year's Thanksgiving ($2.11).

👉 New Product grouping for SD Contextual targeting!

The individual product option under contextual targeting now has a theme-based grouping of the suggested products to target:

- Higher-priced similar products
- Similar products in your catalog
- Lower-rated similar products
- Most-viewed similar products

This makes it easier to select products to target directly from the UI, based on category.

While the grouping is well-thought-out for targeting competitors, it's crucial to manually choose products to ensure relevance since Amazon is mainly looking at the product category/sub-category.

It would be useful if Amazon adds the export option in the future, and would be great to see this functionality extended to SP and SD product targeting as well.

🌟 Amazon PPC Update: Placement Suggestion & Default Bid 🌟

➡️ Amazon now defaults to using "Dynamic bid - up and down" for manual targeting campaigns as well. Initially, this practice was confined to Auto Campaigns, but Amazon has extended it to include Manual Campaigns.

➡️ In addition to the default bid, Amazon recommends a percentage increase for Top of Search placement, relying on internal data. When setting up campaigns, it's crucial to pay close attention and adjust both bidding and placement modifiers according to your specific requirements.

➡️ To stay informed about such features, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter https://lnkd.in/dr3Uyd5E

👉 New Product Ad insights on Add Products page (Ad Console)

Amazon has added new labels for Suggested products to help identify advertising opportunities with useful insights.

Brand building
Products identified to help grow brand engagement. Shoppers engaging with the product are likely to further engage with the brand, such as viewing or purchasing other products of the brand, visiting the Store, or searching for the brand.
Advertising these products can introduce a wider audience to your brand and stimulate sales of other items in your catalog.

New product
Products listed less than 90 days ago.

Trending
Products in categories experiencing a surge in detail page views, based on periods where detail page views are higher than the trailing 24-week average.
Advertising these products can help you to reach shoppers actively looking for products like yours and help increase sales.

Forecasted demand
Products in categories that have historically shown an upturn in detail page views in the upcoming 4 weeks, based on periods where page views are expected to increase considering 3-year historical page view data.
Advertising these products can help you to reach shoppers actively looking for products like yours and help increase sales.

Benchmarking
Products that saw a unit-sales trend or a conversion rate (CVR) lower than similar products. For unit sales, Amazon looks at the metric change for 4 weeks and compares it to the average change for similar products in the same category.
For CVR, it compares your products’ rate over 4 weeks to the average rate of similar products in the same category.

For these labels, Amazon is using machine-learning models to identify advertising opportunities based on the information that customers can view about your product, historical data, and category trends.

Individual Products as Groups

✅You may have noticed a recent change to SD product targeting campaigns that allows you to view and target products grouped by theme.

✅These groups are Higher-priced similar products, Similar products in your catalog, Lower-rated similar products and Most-viewed similar products.

✅Before targeting these groups, check over each targeting because more than half of them are irrelevant. You can end up wasting money on them.

✅Follow the basic rule of research and targeting. Don't add them into your campaigns blindly.

✋ Five questions to challenge your Vendor Manager during #Amazon vendor negotiations:

1- How will Amazon improve the AVS support in 2024?

2- How has Auto Marketing contributed to growth this year?

3- What growth assumptions justify Amazon's investment ask?

4- Will Amazon reduce investments mid-year if targets aren't met?

5- We know that other brands don't pay for this. Why should we?

Asking these and other questions allows you to negotiate on -𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓- terms.

Instead of answering to your Vendor Manager.

---

What other questions can you think of?

Leave them in the comments!

#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

#Amazon Retail Analytics Update:

Vendors can now filter by brand, category, and subcategory. This change applies to all ARA reports in Vendor Central. ... right in time for the analysis of BFCM sales.

---

What do you think? Are these filters a helpful feature, or did they get launched too late? Let me know in the comments!

#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

We are off to a strong Black Friday start!!

Lots of people up early and shopping 🎅🎁🎄

Things I am keeping an eye on 👀🏈

How the Black Friday NFL game goes 🏈

How competitive Top of Search gets 🏈

How strong our conversion rates are 🏈

The Stream traffic insights

What is everyone else seeing? Any amazing deals I need to Add to Cart?!

Despite Amazon being a massive place for ecommerce, Google still rolling out very cool AI-driven updates for shoppers and search. Their SGE updates really clue you into what's coming more and more and the future of search.

Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) Update:
Google has really pushed the mobile-visual component of search, with 'virtual try on' for clothing, photo-seach-shopping (upload a photo and find that product)

New SGE subcategories:
For example, searching “great gifts for home cooks” will serve a variety of subcategories to explore like speciality tools, artisanal ingredients, culinary subscriptions, and cooking classes. Users can easily browse and purchase products within these categories.

Photo search shopping:
Users can now search for products using images, allowing them to find the desired style or product more easily.

Virtual try-on expansion:
Google is expanding its virtual try-on tool to include men's tops, following the positive reception of the feature for women's tops.

The #1 way to increase your sales 🙏🏼 even if you are an established brand 😎 This brand saw a 37.9% increase in sales even though they were an established brand in their category 🙌🏼

Old shopping habits die hard. Since well before I was born, Black Friday was the start of the holiday shopping deal season. The deal windows have unquestionably been extended this year. Instead of Turkey 5 we have Turkey 11 or whatever on Amazon. Other retailers and marketplaces kicked off deals early as well. They were trying to kickstart the holiday shopping season early while beating each other to start the fiesta.

But we didn't see meaningful early holiday shopping in our portfolio of brands. I think there was a lot of noise about early deals. That didn't materialize. Because consumers (including you and me) are well trained to start holiday shopping on Black Friday.

At first, I was a little worried that there would be a slow down this shopping season because of lukewarm reaction to the early deals. However, it looks like consumers have been waiting until Black Friday to get the best deals. Which is a powerful lesson that you don't always need to reinvent the game to get ahead.

Interested to hear how others are viewing this.
#ecommerce #blackfriday #cybermonday

Almost every ad during Amazon’s BF game has a QR code or interactive feature to direct people to purchase

If you're looking to understand the state of #Amazon's product catalogue, all you need to do is check out their Black Friday deal selection.

Cleaning supplies and even shoes seem to find their way into the Grocery categories.

However, main images showcasing Food Cupboard promotions seem to be missing.

This serves as a good reminder that vendors should hold Amazon accountable for the investments they make in deals and media. They might even consider asking for a refund.

Have you found any other examples on Amazon's deal page? Feel free to share them in the comments!

#amazondeals #blackfriday

The NFL’s decision to start a new Thanksgiving tradition with a streaming platform instead of a broadcast or cable channel is yet another indicator of trouble for linear, or traditional, TV, which has suffered from slumping ad revenue and customers cutting the cable cord.

What to expect:

1. Audience-based targeting will be in full effect for tonight's game!

2. Potential Amazon Advertising demand across non-endemic brands

3. The un-measurable: digitally-influenced sales.

"Shoppers in stores are watching the NFL game as they shop and might be influenced in real time to buy things they see as ads on the Amazon Black Friday broadcast. This game could in fact have a halo impact for other retailers.”

https://lnkd.in/gTgAjfft

How many people on your team are focused solely on increasing profits? 💰 Not many, I bet.

In the eCommerce world, the pursuit of revenue growth often overshadows profitability efficiency.

This happens because most businesses and operators end up investing thousands and thousands to sell more. But forget other essential areas like their internal resources and supply chain.

The best example of this is Thrasio, the Amazon aggregator that recently filed for bankruptcy. The key factor behind this downfall may be their lack of emphasis on operational efficiency📉.

Because their decisions were focused mainly on growing the top line and hoping the economy of scale would work for them. Not in improving their core operations.

The key to preventing this situation would have been focusing on maximizing profits in the supply chain, product development, and building a solid brand.

But what can we learn from cases like these? 🤔

Simple: Even the biggest companies in the world with substantial financial resources can fail when they overlook the importance of operational efficiency.

So, I believe understanding the tips, tricks, and strategies of eCommerce is crucial. But it’s even more important to streamline the processes that make you profitable.

And that's why I created the Sellverse, to help you optimize your operations and effectively address challenges.

Join Sellverse to get expert insights and advice on how to streamline your processes and connect with fellow sellers to brainstorm and solve problems 🚀

No offense to the Dolphins and Jets, but I'll mostly be watching today's NFL football game for the ads. The teams are facing off in the first Black Friday NFL football game in more than 60 years. And you'll only find the game on Amazon Prime. Amazon paid $100 million for the rights to this historic game on historically their largest shopping event. 

According to the release from Amazon, "Be sure to keep an eye out for exciting deals appearing on the screen as you watch, with new deals available each quarter during the game, as well as before kickoff and after the game ends." They teased that massive brands like LEGO, Dyson, and Nintendo would be dropping special deals and limited quantity product drops throughout the livestream. 

Viewers will be able to take advantage of those deals and others rolled-out during the broadcast, through a click of a QR code, according to the AXIOS article attached to this post. 

Plus, with Amazon Ads capability of audience-based creative, viewers signed into their Prime accounts will likely be served highly relevant ads. When you compare experiences with your coworkers or family later, you may have seen different spots of a particular brand based on the segmented audience you fit in. 

Will this expanded and targeted Black Friday shopping experience become a new tradition? Amazon hopes so. 

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together this afternoon.

I think people are hungry for discounts and Amazon is still the place to go for great deals in many markets. But I think what will be in the headlines afterward. Are other online shopping marketplaces experiencing a significant boost? Walmart.com and Target.com will both significantly improve from last year.

A watershed moment? Something else to ponder on Black Friday. Today has the potential to be one of those moments that we look back and realize was the start of something special. Today, Amazon Prime Video goes mainstream with their #blackfriday Thursday Night Football broadcast. Here are a few things to consider and watch as the day unfolds.

1) Ads for the special Black Friday event are sold out! Advertisers see this as a potential Superbowl for advertising as the NFL is one of the world's biggest franchises, and today is one of the year's biggest shopping days. Let's also remember that Amazon allows the game to be viewed by anyone, paid or free subscribers. The first Thursday Night Football game set records for the number of Prime subscriptions sold in the period leading up to the game. How many new subscribers will Amazon gain from this event?

2) They are not just ads. They are calls to action. Today is Black Friday, and consumers are in the mindset to shop. While watching the game today, notice how many ads are run with a call to action. In most cases, this will be using a QR code. Scan a few and see how they are being used. If you have Fire TV, see if your remote lets you take an action like "add to cart." Don't forget that Amazon also has the capability to view dynamic ads so that you may see a different commercial for the same product than one of your friends.

3) The impact isn't only related to the number of new subscribers or the sales that are generated today. Think about the number of viewers this game has the potential to have. The record for a TNF game sits around 13M. Those brands can then retarget people viewing this game and interacting with an ad for future actions downstream.

The power of a moment like today is the reach. The power of a moment like today is the ability to drive action. The power of a moment like today is in the ability to interact with customers in the future.

As a football fan, I sit back, relax, and watch the game. As a marketer, I will be watching the commercials like it's the Super Bowl, trying to learn what smart advertisers are doing, and looking for potential trends that provide insights into our future with streaming TV.

Happy Black Friday to all, and good luck.

Has your Amazon Vendor Manager gone AWOL? 🕳️🚶‍♀️

Brand Specialist not up the job?

Account support driving you insane?

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿... 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱.

📈 They care about your profitability, investment and ability to grow.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲.

Whatever "contacts" you think you have, Amazon is a self-service channel.

So, don't get frustrated.

🟢 Find the right people 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 your business to drive the channel forward

🟢 Find the right support 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 your business to fill in the gaps

🟢 Take ownership

🔴 Expect nothing from Amazon.

That's the only way to win.

Let me know in the comments if I'm being unfair?

The silent killer of your #Amazon vendor margins?

Fractional ownership.

- Commercial teams know their retail budgets.
- Media teams know their advertising spent.
- Finance teams have insights into financial disputes.

The problem is:
Each division only has insight into their budgets and spending. So every team thinks their investments are reasonable.

The better way?
» Appoint a central team that brings all the pieces together:
- Cost prices
- Trade terms
- Advertising costs
- Supply chain benefits
- Chargebacks
- Shortages
- Price variances
- …

Then, divide your total spend by your Net Receipts.

If your investments are >35%, your teams should:
- Renegotiate cost prices
- Reduce trade terms
- Improve supply chain efficiencies
- Request chargeback waivers
- Escalate financial disputes

Then: rinse and repeat.

---

And that's how you overcome the silent killer of your Amazon margins.

Here's a proven tool to better understand your total costs to serve Amazon:

https://lnkd.in/gPXiPynX

#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

🎯 A Comprehensive Guide to Walmart Sponsored Products Placements

If you're familiar with Amazon Advertising, you know its placement system. Amazon offers three key placements: top of search, rest of search, and product detail pages. Walmart's approach is similar, yet it provides more placements and greater control.

Walmart Sponsored Products appear in 6️⃣ distinct placements. Automatic campaigns are eligible for all six, with bid multiplier control on four. Manual campaigns can access three, controlling bids on two.

✅ A unique aspect of Walmart's system is the platform-specific bid multiplier. This allows tailored bidding strategies for Desktop, App, or Mobile. ❌ It's a feature Amazon advertisers often request.

For a complete understanding of these placements, see the attached carousel.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has announced that Sam Altman will return as CEO only days after he was ousted. This decision comes after intense discussions about the future of the start-up, which is at the heart of the current artificial intelligence boom.

In addition to reinstating Altman, the company has agreed to overhaul the board of directors that had originally dismissed him. Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, has been named as chair, and Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, has been appointed to the board.

The reshuffle on Tuesday seems to be in favor of Altman and financial backer Microsoft, which is currently deploying OpenAI's technology to business customers around the world.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella released a statement on X welcoming the changes, stating, "We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance."

Adam D'Angelo, CEO of Quora, will remain on what OpenAI has termed the new "initial board." It is not yet clear whether the remaining directors who do not hold equity in OpenAI will keep their seats, or if investors in its capped-profit entity - such as 49% owner Microsoft - will receive their first appointments.

#openai #chatgpt #microsoft #samaltman

Read the whole article

We took over an ad account in June.

Here is what we did to 4x sales:

🎯 Expanded Ad Types 🎯

The number #1 problem we see when taking over an ad account is using Sponsored Product only. They will have the standard Sponsored Product ads and use your typical Broad, Phrase, Exact match funnel that targets keywords. This won't maximize your advertising performance. You need Sponsored Brand (image and video), Sponsored Display (image and video) to get your product in more profitable placements.

We added:
✔️ Sponsored Brand Videos Targeting Keywords - These are now showing top of search (sometimes) and middle of search results page. They are the only movement on an otherwise static page. Of course, they grab the eye and drive a ton of views. Just like Facebook creatives, you need a Scroll Stopper and a Hook.
✔️ Sponsored Display Videos Targeting Re-Marketing - These put you in front of customers that purchased or viewed your product. These are AWESOME. Have a consumable, high LTV product? You should be running these all of the time. BONUS: Combo these with a Brand Tailored Promotion to ensure your customer gets a coupon when they show up. Certified conversion booster.

🎯 Targeted Competitors 🎯

We rarely see competitor targeting in ad accounts. This is leaving a fortune on the table. For this account, competitor targeting was limited to SP keyword ads. We added:
✔️ Sponsored Display ASIN targeting with both images and video. - These show up underneath the buy box on the product detail page, underneath bullet points and on top of the page. These are the "above-the-fold" targets on the product detail page, expensive, but can work for OWNING a competitors listing.
✔️ Sponsored Product ASIN targeting. - These show up in the carousel below the fold, but typically convert quite well. I think it's because if the customer scrolls below the fold, something in the content didn't hit for them and they're interesting in seeing more, aka YOUR product.
✔️ Sponsored Brand Keyword targeting. - Use both images and video to show up on your competitors top keywords, but only if you can convert well on them. These are great for growing your organic rank.

🎯 Defensive Ads 🎯

Just like we target your competitors. Some of them are targeting YOU. The smart ones are advertising ALL OVER your page and stealing your customers. Fortunately, this is easy to combat. Flip the script on all your competitor targeting ads (listed above) and point them back at your own ASINs. Your product detail pages should be one big ad for all of your products.

QUESTION FOR YOU

I would love to make a video walking through our strategies more in depth. But I don't want to waste my time if no one cares. If at least 10 people comment "SHOW ME" below, I'll make a video and tag you in it. 🤞 because I want to share. 🤲

#Amazon has drastically reduced its stock-holding with vendors in 2023.🔻

The reason? The online retailer's laser-focus on margins. 💰

But what can vendors do to increase their product availability in 2024?

Here's a quick 6-point plan ✔

1- Know and benchmark the right KPIs

2- Prioritise your inventory allocation

3- Correct any catalogue errors

4- Prevent intermediate storage/PO consolidation of carriers

5- Optimise your supply chain (Vendor Flex / Direct Import)

6- Negotiate born-to-run budgets as part of your AVN

I recently spoke about this in more detail on the AOM podcast with Moritz Meyer.🎙️

You can listen to it here (only available in German): https://lnkd.in/eQFAe4k5

#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

You're definitely not the only one confused about when to finalize your Amazon cart purchase.

With holiday shopping deals extending far beyond the traditional event days this year, it's hard to predict when you'll get the best price for your items.

As an advertiser, I speculate that we'll see less dramatic swings in traffic and conversion throughout the shopping season.

We did a post reviewing the past four holiday seasons analyzing impressions and conversion rate last week. (I’ll link the post in the comments here.)

Several items are currently on deal, but it's uncertain if they'll drop even further on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

It's a waiting game.

OPS, GL, IPCP, PPOS, … Ever felt lost in the Amazon jargon jungle? 🌍💼

Then I've just got the tool for you - my freshly updated #Amazon glossary.

It's designed to decode the complex terms and acronyms that can make Amazon a challenging marketplace to navigate.

Don't know what your Vendor Manager or AVS are talking about? 📚

Find your answer in 10 seconds or less 👇

https://lnkd.in/eZfNKS7z

Have I missed any terms? Let me know in the comments! #amazonresources #amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

Imagine having a network of Amazon experts who are with you no matter where you are. That's Sellerverse!

With us, you've got a community that truly understands the pains and struggles of selling on Amazon and that's always ready to help you.

Whether you're on your cell phone, working from your computer, or relaxing with your tablet, Sellerverse is just a click away. 📱🖥💻

All you need is a solid internet connection, and you're in – it's that simple!

We understand the demands of the modern seller – the need for quick advice, insightful discussions, and staying updated.

That's why Sellerverse is designed to be your virtual co-pilot, providing expert insights, problem-solving support, and the latest Amazon trends, accessible anytime, anywhere. 🌐

Join Sellerverse and embrace a community that's wherever you are.

Are you ready to have Sellerverse in your pocket?

Your journey to Amazon success starts here 👉https://lnkd.in/enKpennv

Most brands make this mistake, costing them hundreds of sales😅

Amazon and shopify are not the same...

So you can’t use the same content for each and expect great results🤦🏽‍♀️

Grabbing attention is one of the most crucial factors when it comes to selling on Amazon

That is the purpose of your content🧐

For more Amazon tips, follow for more➡️