Amazon Product Ads

Amazon product ads are a form of advertising that allows online merchants to present products on the Amazon platform. Clicking on a product ad takes the user to the merchant's website, where they can make a purchase.

Background

The product ads on Amazon have been around for some years now. Since April 2014, Amazon Product Ads have been available in Germany. The development of this ad form was probably encouraged by pressure from its competitor, Google, with its Shopping Ads.

By integrating product ads into its own offering, Amazon both builds interest for its own portal and generates new revenue. For the sales platform, product ads also offer the opportunity to find out which products users find attractive. This way, the company could theoretically also discover which items might be worth selling via Amazon.

Implementation

To book Amazon product ads, advertisers need their own Amazon account, which is used both for billing and for managing the products posted. A store can add products to its online assortment either manually, article by article, or via FTP file upload.

The product data must contain the following information:

• Product type: This is a categorization according to Amazon categories
• Product title: Here the customer has up to eight words to describe the product
• Abbreviations may not be used
• SKU: This is a unique stock keeping unit number
• URL: This is the link destination in the advertiser's online store for the product in question
• Product image: The size of the product image should be at least 500 x 500 pixels. It is recommended to show the item on a white background, with more than four-fifths covered by the item
• Product price with shipping costs
• UPC/EAN
• Product description: Here, advertisers have the opportunity to describe the offered item in more detail
• Keywords: Optionally, up to five keywords can be stored in the data feed for each article in order to categorize the product even better. A restriction of 50 characters per keyword must be observed. Brand names may not be used

After the data feed has been uploaded, it is up to Amazon to decide where the products are ultimately displayed. It is recommended to offer products that are not yet found on the Amazon platform.

Ad placements

Amazon product ads can be displayed at various positions on the platform. Possible positions are search results, product recommendations, product detail pages, shopping carts, or browse results. How well the products are placed depends on the level of the click bid and the quality of the data.

Basically, Amazon reserves the right to test ad placements and to change the position again and again. The advertiser cannot determine in advance where the ads will appear, but can only ensure optimal conditions through the amount of the bid and the data quality.

Product ads can be placed on 15 portals, including the American, Canadian, Mexican, Brazilian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, British, Australian, Indian, and Japanese portals, as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arabic Emirates.

Possible product groups to choose from are baby, DIY, beauty, body care, perfumery and cosmetics, clothing, office supplies & stationery, computers & accessories, electronics & photo, home & garden, pet, suitcases, backpacks & bags, food & drinks, musical instruments, jewelry, shoes & handbags, toys, sports & leisure, and watches. Each category has specific requirements that retailers must follow beforehand in order to be listed.

Pricing Model

Amazon product ads are charged according to the Cost per Click model. The price per click is determined by the category of the product offered. There is a minimum bid for each category. The bids of all advertisers compete against each other for the best possible positions on the Amazon platform.

There are no fixed monthly fees or minimum sales. Billing is based only on actual clicks. To trigger the placement of ads, the advertiser should specify a maximum click price and a daily budget.

Advertisers must create a separate account for this form of advertising in order to pay for the ads. The costs are paid via a credit card stored in the account. Charges are always made when a certain amount has been generated by clicks. In the default setting, billing takes place when clicks worth 50 EUR have been generated.

Depending on the customer's daily budget, the balance can be up to 500 EUR before a charge is made.

Amazon Product Ads vs. Google Shopping Ads

Google Shopping Ads Details

• CPC or CPO model
• Ontegrated into Google search result page and own price comparison
• File upload only
• Data management via Merchant Center and Google AdWords
• Setting to the desired ad position possible
• No costs for impressions
• Customer pays in the store
• Free choice of the bid amount
• No more ad placement when the budget is exhausted

Amazon Product Ads Details

• CPC model
• Integrated into own sales platform
• File upload via CSV or manual creation possible
• Data management via one platform
• No options on ad positions
• No costs for impressions
• Customer pays in the store
• Works with automatically generated minimum bids
• No more ad placement when the budget is exhausted

Benefit for online marketing

Those who use Amazon product ads can expect a very large reach because the sales platform is one of the most frequently accessed online shops in the world. At the same time, Amazon's high brand awareness ensures that consumers have a higher level of trust in the products listed there. Advertisers can also benefit from this trust in solid logistics.

If products are placed in popular categories, this can generate a great deal of traffic. However, it must be remembered that this traffic can quickly become very expensive. It is therefore advisable to evaluate the ROI precisely. At the same time, merchants must be aware that when a user clicks on an Amazon product ad, the website changes. This can confuse many users and lead to high bounce rates.