Ad offerings on Amazon Marketplace have also become more complex, as the company introduced several features at the end of last year that further customized advertiser options.
“Amazon released a lot of changes around advertising in Q4 [2018], including additional bid controls and the ability to provide extra targeting,” said Jeff Cohen, chief relationship officer at Amazon seller software Seller Labs. “What we're seeing as we roll into 2019 is that advertising has become more complex, which is requiring a different skill set for managing advertising on Amazon."
According to the Feedvisor survey, 37% of sellers who use optimization tools utilized third-party software for bid optimization, while 16% used keyword research tools. Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents used consulting firms and agencies that specialize in the Amazon retail media space. However, sellers were only allowed to select a single answer, so any additional optimization tools were not factored into the survey.
As sales on Amazon Marketplace continue to grow—and as its advertising options become more complex—it’s not surprising that most sellers have expressed a desire to improve strategic advertising. And there’s reason to believe that adoption rates for optimization tools will increase in the near future.