Amazon Amidst the E-Commerce Landscape

It is no secret that e-commerce is booming across the globe, especially as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The Nordic e-commerce landscape specifically is a fast-growing and sizable market, according to a BCG report. The report finds that Nordic B2C e-commerce reached almost €24 billion (just over $29B)  in 2019 and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

An e-commerce presence is a critical channel for brands everywhere to continually serve customers. Amazon remains steadfast in its commitment to offering a wide variety of products, low prices, and a convenient shopping experience, according to CNBC. These tenements are what draw consumers to online shopping in the first place. FBA options can easily bring your products directly and reliably to local customers. An Amazon presence can help your brand capitalize on increased exposure on one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.

According to BCG, Amazon is poised to capture 5-10% of the Nordics e-commerce market. This is an enormous opportunity for brands to grow in the upcoming years.

To help brands grow their Amazon presence as well as maximize their overall e-commerce strategy, NetElixir has also expanded our reach to the Nordic region. Earlier this year, NetElixir announced our international expansion into Sweden. We aim to empower e-commerce growth through empathy, insights, and innovation for all brands. We want to ensure brands have a strong Amazon strategy from day one on the marketplace that fits in seamlessly with their overall business needs and goals.

“At NetElixir, we consider ourselves to be strategic growth partners to our clients, who help to drive business performance through ecommerce channels,” said Udayan Bose, Founder and CEO of NetElixir, in a MarTech Series conversation. “2021 will be a year of transformation in which the changes we saw materialize become ingrained in business culture and consumer habits. Digital habits are forever changed, which presents an enormous opportunity to businesses to grow in new ways. We aim to be a partner to those businesses and help them seize this opportunity.”

Developing a brand presence on Amazon and strengthening your strategy with experts like NetElixir can be a great opportunity to expand your business and capture new markets.

What Does Amazon’s Growth Mean for You?

As Amazon continues to grow, you will have a new marketplace to reach a global audience. Selling on Amazon helps you to increase revenue, test products, gather product reviews, target and engage new customers, and support your own website — so you don’t want to miss out on launching and growing your Amazon brand presence. 

Learn proven strategies and insights to compete on Amazon with NetElixir’s three-part webinar series, live Thursdays in March at 2 CET starting on March 4th:

• Part 1: March 4th — How to Launch and Grow Your Brand on Amazon
• Part 2: March 11th — What Are the Cornerstones of a Strategy to Compete On Amazon?
• Part 3: March 18th — Amazon as an International Marketplace

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NetElixir found that Prime Day had an impact on eCommerce sites beyond the Amazon marketplace. Lingering Prime Day sales could continue to boost online traffic and sales, as the initial two day sales event had a rub-off effect across the digital landscape. 

What Did You Buy On Prime Day?

 Prime Day is a communal event, as friends and coworkers share the best finds. As a hotly anticipated sales event, Prime Day 2020 did not disappoint.

NetElixir found a 61% lift in revenue per day on the Amazon platform within our dataset, compared to regular shopping days throughout the week. While we had bullishly predicted a 90% increase in YoY online sales during Prime Day, the sales event showed a positive start to the holiday shopping season. 

Prime Day encourages splurges on large orders and this year saw a 14% higher average order value (AOV) for purchases compared to the days leading up to the sales event. During this hectic holiday season, consumers are inclined to wait for a sale as they are more conscious about their holiday budgets. With time for more browsing and research, shoppers are on the lookout for the best deals and promotions, leading them to search related products and deals across search engines and social sites. This research prompted a dramatic rise in non-Amazon website traffic and sales. 

NetElixir found that 53% of user traffic came on the first day of Prime Day (October 13th), while 57% of the revenue came on the second day (October 14th) within our dataset. Consumers seemed to spend the first day researching the best deals and products out there, while following through with purchasing on the second day. Day two of Prime Day saw 12% lesser clicks and a 7% higher conversion rate compared to day one. Additionally, majority of the high-value products were purchased on day two, leading to a 44% higher AOV compared to day one.

While Amazon may want to encourage impulse purchases, consumers are a bit more hesitant this year. Expect consumers to continue to research carefully prior to purchasing throughout the holiday season. Retailers should make promotions and sales information prevalent on their website for easy user navigation. 

Across the board, while not releasing their own numbers, Amazon announced that Prime Day generated more than $3.5B for third-party sellers, as this year the retail giant focused more on supporting small businesses. Those billions led to a 60% increase from last year’s sales for small and mid-sized businesses selling on Amazon’s platform – in line with NetElixir’s own research.

The Residual Impact of Prime Day on eCommerce Websites 

While those retailers who participated in Prime Day were able to boost their sales and brand awareness, many retailers saw success beyond the scope of the Amazon marketplace itself. NetElixir had advised retailers to continue promotions across search and social media channels to leverage the surge in online traffic during the two day sales event.

Prime Day triggered a site-wide growth across eCommerce websites that were not linked to Amazon marketplace. During the two days of Prime compared to non-sales days, websites saw the following increase in site performance metrics:

• Website sessions increased by 19%
• Site orders jumped 39%
• ECommerce revenue rose 42%
• Website conversion rates increased by 17%

Over the course of the two days of Prime, shoppers searched for brand and product information across other channels as they conducted thorough research prior to purchasing. Prime Day searches gained 23% more interactions across search engines and social media than non-sales days.

By creating a cohesive digital presence around Prime Day – advertising on non-Amazon channels, showcasing product deals on social media, and leveraging key words like “Prime” and “best deals” – retailers were able to tap into the surge in online traffic and demand generated by the sales event. By showcasing products related to what was on sale during Prime Day, retailers had opportunities to gain market share.

Consumers were already online; retailers didn’t necessarily have to sell on Amazon to reach Prime customers. A strong digital presence will be the key to success this holiday season, as well as timely marketing campaigns around expected surges in online traffic as giant retailers push their eCommerce channels more and more.

The post Prime Day’s Impact on Non-Amazon Site Sales appeared first on NetElixir.

Will Prime Day Kickstart the 2020 Holiday Shopping?

The answer is YES.

Amazon has always had an outsized impact on online shopping in the United States. During 2019, Prime Day sales registered an increase of 70%+ from 2018. Also, the impressions continued to grow at 140% for days following Prime Day. Even on Google, the product search impressions saw a 25% increase during Prime Day (with the impressions spiking to 40% during certain day-parts).

Moreover, the other mega retailers like Walmart and Target have announced their online sales events during the same week (Walmart’s Big Save Event starts at 7 pm ET on October 11, while Target’s Deal Days exactly coincide with Prime Day). Online shoppers may find it difficult to miss all these sales events.

After 7 months of pandemic-led shipping delays and product stockouts, shoppers are more likely to do their holiday shopping earlier than prior years. NetElixir believes Prime Day will act as that trigger for the holiday shoppers, thereby kickstarting the longest holiday shopping season ever.

A longer holiday shopping season, coupled with fewer shoppers visiting stores, will drive an explosive growth in online sales in Q4 this year. We estimate eCommerce will account for 25% of all holiday retail sales, up from 16% last holiday season. This amounts to an incremental online sales volume of $50B-$80B compared to the 2019 holidays. 

So, how should the retailers prepare for this mega sales event and ride the wave to kickstart their holiday shopping season?

Recommendations for Online Retailers for Prime Day 2020

• Multi-channel sales will accelerate at a rapid pace. Ensure that your ads are visible on not just Amazon, but also search engines and social media channels.
• Focus on the products that you want to aggressively promote during Prime Day. You may want to think of Lightning Deals and creating a Prime Day Subcategory page.
• Ensure that there is adequate inventory – both for FBA as well as direct fulfillment. Nothing is more painful than losing valuable orders and revenue because you don’t have stock.
• If you are advertising on Amazon, prioritize products that have a higher BUY BOX percentage and go aggressive on Sponsored Ads by opening them up for popular search queries.
• Keep the search and social ad budgets high to tap into the surge in product search volumes. For products sold exclusively from your website, you can run an aggressive search ad campaign highlighting the exclusivity and your Prime Day Offer.
• Prime Day only pricing should be offered to move inventory, especially if there is a lot of remaining stock from Q2 and Q3. Try to activate heavy discounts on any stock that needs to be moved before the end of the year. This data and inventory-clearing will help you plan better for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and showcase new products specifically for that time.
• For your Amazon white labelled product: focus on key brand attributes in your ad creatives for brand searches to better help you retain your loyal existing customers. Also, employ retargeting and advance audience targeting (in-market, affinity, and lookalike) to maximize sales opportunities, while showing specific messaging for users across different stages in the purchase funnel.
• Small businesses linked to Amazon should see higher sales this Prime Day due to Amazon’s $10 credit for Small Merchants.

What about if you don’t have an Amazon marketplace? We recommend capturing market share by taking advantage of the surges in search volume. This may not necessarily translate into higher sales, but will boost your traffic as customers comparison shop for truly the best deal. Carefully monitor similar products on Amazon, as unavailability of products during Prime Day can open up opportunities for your products and store to fill the gap. Leverage the exclusivity of your sale and words like “Prime” in your ad copy to entice searchers.

This year’s Prime Day will set the tone for the holiday season; let’s make sure it’s a jingle.

The post Amazon Prime Day 2020 appeared first on NetElixir.

DigitalCommerce360 found that over 100 million products were sold on Prime Day in 2018. Prime Day in 2018 made Amazon’s sales larger than both Black Friday and Cyber Monday of that year. In 2019, Amazon’s Prime Day boosted online sales across America, especially as Amazon’s competitors started their own version of an online sales event. This year even, Walmart is officially launching their own membership program, Walmart+. 

Historically, the two-day event in July kicked off the back-to-school season and provided valuable consumer insights in time for the holiday shopping season. Prime Day’s placement in July encouraged summertime splurges, helping participants acquire new customers, promote brand awareness, and get a sales boost. The buzz around Prime Day this year should continue to encourage consumers to shop online, increasing their familiarity with online services even more in time for the holidays. 

Given Amazon’s importance as a market mover, NetElixir believes that they will try to kick-start the holiday shopping season with their delayed Prime Day. An extended holiday shopping season will ensure customers find a good deal and have enough time to ensure deliveries.

Statista found that the most popular product category in 2019 was electronics, followed closely by clothing, shoes, and accessories; while the coronavirus pandemic will most likely shift the popularity of different categories, it is no secret that consumers are flocking to Amazon for ease of navigation and finding necessary products. Good deals could boost sales in retail categories that have been struggling throughout the pandemic. Amazon has quickly become the “shopper’s search engine,” a market retailers can no longer afford to ignore.

Amazon Best Practices

With Amazon Prime membership at over 112 million people and continually climbing, retailers have a tremendous opportunity to turn their Amazon marketplace presence into a reliable channel. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the adoption of Prime memberships, especially during the weeks of March 16 and 23, reports Forbes.

Prime Day is a great way to get noticed and gain market share among consumers. Deals will drive the initial discovery, but your brand’s value and service will get customers to stay throughout the holiday season. 

Amazon is an excellent testing ground of new products and campaign performance, as it garners user reviews and feedback that can be used for your main website and e-commerce channel. By learning what customers are shopping and searching for now – and who these customers are – marketers will be better prepared to give customers exactly what they want. 

Anticipating sales and interacting with new brands will get customers prepped for the holiday season, while jumpstarting retailer’s advertising initiatives. 

Sustaining growth and product ranking is different on Amazon than it is on Google and Bing, as Amazon’s new A10 algorithm places more weight on indirect factors such as relevance to shopper’s search inquiry, prior customer behavior, and product rating off Amazon.

Learn more about best practices for Amazon by reading:

• Amazon SEO
• Amazon Automatic Targeting
• Using Amazon to Fuel Organic Growth

The post The New Amazon Prime Day appeared first on NetElixir.

The A9 considered direct and indirect factors. Direct included some traditional SEO content factors like product copy, title, and description, as well as availability of the item and the price of the item as compared to competitors. Out of stock items would not rank high, if they ranked at all. If the price of an item is drastically higher than a competitor’s, the algorithm would give precedence to the cheaper product.

Indirect factors include sales history, customer feedback, image quality, product reviews and more. Amazon’s new A10 update adds even more weight to these indirect factors. 

Amazon A10 Algorithm Updates

The A10 update adds more significance to the intent of the buyer. One of the main purposes of the update was to remove fake and fraudulent sellers from the platform to protect users and provide them with a better shopping experience. While Amazon PPC campaigns are still considered by the algorithm, customer behavior factors have more importance.

Relevancy in Customer Behavior

Amazon prioritizes product relevancy to match user intent, which the A10 algorithm update reinforces.

The update looks at seller authority, which charts how long the seller has been active on Amazon Marketplace, their overall rating and performance metrics, and the amount of products in their feed. Older sellers with a trusted background will get precedence over newer sellers. Amazon also looks at off-site sales to track how well a product linked to an Amazon account sells from a branded website. If a product performs well separate from Amazon itself, then Amazon will rank the product higher. 

The selling history of a product is also considered – if a product consistently and historically sells well and customers highly review it, then the product will rank higher. Focus on organic sales, as that means customers are searching for and exactly finding your product, making it relevant and desirable.

Ensure your Amazon product listing is complete. A complete product description – from bullet points to titles to manufacturing dimensions to images – will help increase your conversion rate, user impressions, and relevancy to user’s searches. All these factors are considered by the A10 update. Including images in your product listing is a must because it impacts your click-through-rate and helps confirm user intent.

Customer feedback is critical. Slow order processing speed and a high order defect rate will make Amazon drop your product’s rankings. Respond to reviews and answer questions, as sellers answering questions about their own products offer more accurate and more relevant information to searchers, increasing their likelihood of converting.

All these factors work together to create your Amazon ranking. While there is no single factor to magically and instantly boost your ranking, you should focus on providing the relevant product for your searchers. When customers can reliably find what they are looking for, Amazon’s A10 algorithm will take notice.

Further Reading

• Using Amazon to Fuel Further Growth
• Amazon A10 Algorithm Update: Weightage Shifts in Ranking Factors

The post Amazon SEO appeared first on NetElixir.

Check below to see what has changed in the Amazon A10 Algorithm update.

Having your products rank on Amazon requires a different approach than ranking on Google. While improving your organic search results on Google could take a matter of months after optimizing, you can see results in as little as one to two weeks on Amazon. The search intent for users is different. People go to Google to shop, yes, but also to research products, brands, and information before following through with a purchase. People who go to Amazon have a higher intent to buy and Amazon heavily caters to their user experience.

Further Readings

• Online Retailers Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Amazon
• Amazon Automatic Targeting
• Facebook Shops

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