Merchant ads can be found in Amazon.com search results – labeled “sponsored” – and now the company is making merchant ads available in search results on mobile devices. Because advertisers are likely to see an increased number of impressions and clicks to their ads as a result, merchants should closely monitor and evaluate their campaign budgets.
Amazon allows its merchants to spend more for exposure in search results through its advertising programs. There are two main types of ads Amazon makes available to merchants. Amazon Product Ads are links to products available from other websites, while Amazon Sponsored Products are advertisements for products available on Amazon.com.
Amazon recently launched new tablet and smart phone placements for Amazon Sponsored Products as part of its efforts to grow the program in 2014. “These new ad placements are designed to increase the visibility of your products,” the company told sellers.
The move is similar to when Google launched enhanced campaigns. In the case of Amazon Sponsored Ads, advertisers cannot specify where their ads are displayed (mobile versus desktop), nor can they specify the bid amount for a specific placement type.
Advertisers are also unable to view the performance for a specific placement type. But Amazon explained, “If our data shows that a click from a new ad placement is less likely to result in a sale, then we may reduce the cost-per-click that we charge you in order to be comparable to the performance of the existing placements.”
Lest anyone pooh-pooh the impact of mobile shoppers on Amazon’s bottom line, comScore reported that 31% visitors to Amazon sites are mobile-only visitors – that’s over 52 million mobile-only visitors.
The new mobile placements are available to all eligible Sponsored Products categories. Like other ad programs, Amazon determines on which pages Sponsored Products ads will appear based on relevance and price auction.
EcommerceBytes spoke to Amazon merchants using Sponsored Product Ads in the program’s early stages, and you can learn more about the program on the Amazon website. Information about the new mobile ad placement is available only through Seller Central.
