Code3's Commerce team is up to date on the latest information about Amazon and other marketplaces. Check out our monthly knowledge drop to see everything you need to know, curated by our award-winning Commerce team.
We'll add everything we know to this page each month so you can stay as in-the-know as our expert team members.
July
Amazon PDP/SERP
Amazon Mobile App Testing New Search Placement Amazon is testing a new layout for their mobile app, moving the search bar to the bottom of the screen, which will follow the shopper as they scroll through the SERPs. Amazon says the new configuration is being tested initially with “select mobile customers” in the U.S. on both iPhone and Android devices, and will be rolled out to additional customers worldwide soon.
Amazon Summarizing Reviews with AI Amazon is summarizing reviews using AI, turning all reviews for each product into a few sentences that best describe consumer feedback.
New Eye Catching Attributes Added to PDPs Amazon is displaying new backend attributes onto PDPs across select categories. It’s great to see Amazon expand coverage to showcase the often unseen important product attributes, making product catalog completeness more important than ever.
Return Feedback Feature Seen on PDPs Amazon first started flagging “Frequently Returned” products on PDPs back in March, and now we’re seeing this “try a better fitting option” callout appear across Shoes & Clothing category PDPs, which gives the shopper return-related insight on sizing discrepancies, while directing them off page to competitor PDPs.
Amazon's Choice Badge Expands to 3 Winnable Options Previously, Amazon only rewarded one product per search query with the badge, but now Amazon has unveiled 3 new classifications of the badge that all can display in the same SERP.
- Overall Pick: This product is highly rated, well-priced, and available to ship immediately.
- Popular Brand Pick: This brand is popular with other customers and this product is highly rated, well-priced, and available to ship immediately.
- New Arrival Pick: This product was added to Amazon in the last 90 days and is highly rated, well-priced, and available to ship immediately.
Amazon Advertising
New Capabilities with Sponsored Brand Video
- We're seeing highly anticipated advancements in Sponsored Brand Video campaigns. SBV can now advertise up to 3 products & drive shoppers to Amazon store pages (previously, we could only advertise 1 product & drive shoppers solely to PDPs).
- These added capabilities could serve to be very impactful to search performance since 3-ASIN product collection classic ads see roughly 44% higher CTR + 34% higher ROAS than 1 ASIN product collection classic ads.
Amazon Catalog
Opportunity Explorer Expands Research Capabilities Seller Central’s Product Opportunity Explorer just upgraded our research capability to have the option to search for either keyword niches or specific ASINs now. Here’s what ASIN data we now have access to:
- High level ASIN metrics (including click count) alongside similar competitor ASINs
- Specific ASIN level metrics, including click count and BSR trends
- Any ASIN’s specific review insights (previously the ASIN-specific review insights were only given to the top performing ASINs in the niche)
We can obtain a lot of this data from a 3P tool, but when Amazon shares more of their 1st party data actuals, we’ve got to take advantage.
Free Amazon Vine Credits for Sellers To help boost sales and build product awareness, brands can enroll up to two units per parent ASIN in Amazon Vine for free from 9 a.m. (PT) June 5 to 5 p.m. (PT) July 21, 2023.
With Amazon Vine, you’ll get reviews from a community of unbiased and insightful reviewers to build credibility and improve discoverability of new or slow-moving items.
Seller Fulfilled Prime Program Returning in 2023 SFP allows Sellers who meet all requirements to sell products with the Prime badge directly from their manufacturer warehouse. Amazon started the program in 2015 but halted service as the experience did not match the FBA Prime offering. Amazon now states, "We will accept new applications for the program later in 2023 and will provide more details in the coming months."
3D Model Upload Option Added to Image Manager A new 3D Model image upload option appeared in the Image Manager section of Amazon's backend platforms recently. 3D imagery has never been self-service, and brands previously had to work through verified 3rd Party providers separately to add the 3D model imagery to their PDPs. Coincidentally or not, Amazon recently partnered with Hexa, a 3D production company, to allow Amazon sellers to easily develop 3D models with a simple upload of their ASIN into Hexa's CMS.
June
Here's the latest for June.
Amazon Advertising
DSP - AMC Custom Audiences. We can now create custom audiences in AMC that can be used in DSP campaigns. The audiences are built using custom queries in AMC utilizing eligible signals across Sponsored Ads, Amazon DSP ads and Amazon Shopping Insights. They are then automatically made available in Amazon DSP and can be applied to your line items. Some examples of use cases are:- Cart Abandoners
- Exposed to one campaign but not the other
- Deal Seekers
- Bulk Purchasers
- Seasonal Purchasers
- Inactive customers
- High long-term value
AMS - New Sponsored Ads Daily Budgeting Policy + Capabilities. The daily budgeting policy for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brand, and Sponsored Display has been updated to allow advertisers to spend up to 100% more than the average daily budget on any given day using unspent budget amounts. This update gives us the capability to take advantage of high-traffic days by reallocating previous unspent budget from less active days.
AMS - Sponsored Products Search Term Data Available within Bulk Operations. Within the Ad Console’s Bulk Operations tab, we now have the ability to include Sponsored Products search term data in our custom downloads. A separate tab will be created within the download with this search term data, and we will have access to entity IDs, keywords and product targets, the terms customers searched to discover our ads, and performance metrics. TBD on whether advertisers can use this data to bulk upload search terms as keywords into their respective campaigns, but this could potentially be a huge time saver.Amazon Catalog
Sellers Must Reverify Identity & Business Updates by June 27th. DSP Amazon Ad Tags (AAT) Replacing Simple Pixel. Amazon is asking sellers to reverify their identity because of a new U.S. federal law. On June 27th, the FTC will start enforcing the INFORM Consumers Act to protect online shoppers from unknowingly purchasing counterfeit or stolen goods and stop criminals from exploiting anonymity on marketplaces. Marketplace Pulse research shows that nearly 100,000 Amazon sellers changed their business name or address over the past few weeks.
You Can Now Easily Download Your Subscribe & Save Metrics. Navigate to Merchandising, and click Subscribe & Save. Use the View drop-down menu to select the desired timeframe: weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Click Edit filters, select any relevant filters, and click Apply filters. Click Download: CSV.
Untapped Potential: Reorder Coupons. Reorder coupons allow you to offer discounts to customers who previously purchased your products but have not reordered within the expected time.
- Improve visibility: The coupon badge can help drive traffic, sales, and customer reviews. Reorder coupons are also promoted on the coupons home page, category pages, and peak events pages. Duration: Reorder coupons last longer than other deal types. You can schedule coupon promotions that last up to one year.
Amazon Posts moving to Advertising Console Effective June 5th. Amazon Posts will be located within the Advertising Console rather than the previous URL of posts.amazon.com. Newer stats on Post Performance can be located here.
May
Check out our updates for May.
Amazon Advertising
DSP Amazon Ad Tags (AAT) Replacing Simple Pixel. Instead of creating individual pixels per page, AAT is compatible with tag managers for easier deployment. Benefits include:
- Can use one tag to capture multiple events and attributes across the site
- Coverage on all browsers for signal capture
- Events captured within the tag can be used for conversion measurement
- Reporting support for 10 pre-defined events and one customizable event
Top-of-Search Bid Multipliers (LinkedIn Post). In the Amazon Ad Console, advertisers are now able to set top-of-search budget multipliers directly from within the campaign overview. While this is convenient, it will likely inflate CPCs, and we will have to be more strategic about proper placement bid management.
Amazon Catalog
Updated Dimension Attribute Requirements for 532 Product Types (Vendor Central Article). Effective April 24, 2023, Amazon will provide new product-specific dimension attributes for 532 product types. The new attribute definitions are clear and specific to product types. These attributes will be optional for at least 30 days after which they will become mandatory. If values are not updated, customers may see incorrect or incomplete information on the detail page. Note: Package dimension attributes and fees are not affected by this change.
Amazon PDP/SERP
Editorial Recommendation Removed from Amazon SERPs in Early April (LinkedIn Post). According to Momentum Commerce, Amazon removed Editorial Recommendations from search results on April 6th, which previously owned large SERP real estate across popular searches. Editorial Recommendations were part of Amazon’s On-site Associates Program, where popular products were eligible for inclusion if a publisher site (ie Simplemost) wrote a favorable review of the product.
“Highly Rated” sponsored product modules have since taken more ownership within search results, alongside the organic feature sets that include Climate Pledge Friendly and Amazon’s Choice product carousels.
Search Query Keywords Highlighted Within Titles of SERP Placements. Amazon is testing bolding keywords from the shopper’s search query throughout the SERP placements. The feature alerts consumers to how relevant a listing is to their search, but it also hints at the importance of incorporating key search terms into titles.
The tested feature also reaffirms the fact that brands do not need to include exact match keywords in order to rank well for the keyword.
Amazon Brand Store Metrics (All from Amazon US internal data).
- Shoppers who browse a Brand Store during their shopping journey purchase 56.5% more frequently (June 2022).
- Brand Stores adding video for the first time see an average 44% increase in shopper dwell time in the next two months, compared to those who don’t. (Aug – Dec 2022)
- Adding best-selling products or recommended products tile to a sub-page of their Store for the first time see an average 37% increase in shopper dwell time in the next two months, compared to those who don’t (Aug – Dec 2022).
Walmart PDP/SERP
Walmart Redesigns App and eCommerce Site (Forbes Article). Walmart is revamping its digital storefront, creating a more engaging way to browse and discover its assortment. Quotes:
- “The new homepage offers a product-focused experience that better mirrors the way our customers love to shop, highlighting the items that matter most to them at any given moment – whether it’s game day or holiday."
- “The feature-packed homepage has rich imagery, live video, and is optimized to better bring Walmart’s massive assortment to life, including a new social-inspired scroll, so customers can browse our selection just as they’d scroll their favorite social media apps."
Check back next month for more commerce knowledge! In the meantime, contact us now to learn how we can help your brand succeed in marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and more.