Amazon visitors are already in shopping mode—not just receptive to product messaging, but actively looking for it. " wrote eMarketer Senior Analyst Nicole Perrin in the September 2018 eMarketer report, "Amazon Advertising 2018: The New No. 3 US Digital Ad firm.".

Amazon Marketing Services (AMS, Amazon’s suite of cost-per-click (CPC)-based ad formats including Sponsored Products), Amazon Media Group (AMG, the business unit that sold display advertising on Amazon properties and Kindles) and Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP, now known as Amazon DSP) are becoming Amazon Advertising.

At an eMarketer breakfast event yesterday, a panel of eMarketer analysts weighed in on Amazon and discussed the giant's future.

Melissa Burdick, co-founder and president of Amazon ad buying technology provider Pacvue, joins host Nicole Perrin to explain Amazon's ad products and shares how the ongoing crisis (including logistics difficulties) is changing advertising on the ecommerce marketplace.

Social commerce accelerated in the US in 2020 amid the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom as key platforms advanced their shopping and checkout capabilities.

Though social commerce conversions will remain a challenge, the mid-funnel opportunity is growing. Instagram’s continued rollout of shoppable content features is helping brands and influencers spotlight product content and forge a better path to purchase. Pinterest has also introduced features to make it easier for retailers to upload and promote product content. And video-first platforms Snapchat and TikTok are both testing shoppable content features.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin discusses Amazon's newest inventory for advertisers, and how consumers might react.

Marketers that advertise on Amazon are continuing to pour more money into paid media on the ecommerce marketplace, according to Q4 2019 reporting from technology providers and performance advertising agencies.

Advertisers’ reasons for working with Amazon haven’t changed much this year—it’s the leading digital retailer and one of the most-visited web properties in the US. The ecommerce giant has vast amounts of data to use to target ads, and it can do so down to the very bottom of the purchase funnel. It can also measure the results in a closed loop because it’s processing the transactions.

In a significant move for the company's larger advertising goals, Amazon is rebranding its barely six-month-old streaming service to further ramp up its ad-supported video strategy.

But some brands aren't even there yet

According to a September 2018 survey from Third Door Media, 34.2% of US ecommerce-focused marketers currently spend 10% to 25% of their digital ad budget on Amazon. Future intentions are strong: 80% plan to increase their Amazon ad budgets next year.

Experts agree that it's a remarkable tool for brands that want to expand internationally. eMarketer's Jasmine Enberg spoke with Daniel Knijnik, co-founder and CEO of Amazon advertising agency Quartile and Andrea Omodei, head of digital and ecommerce at Italy-based cosmetics company Alfaparf Group, about the benefits of working with Amazon abroad and how Prime set customer expectations of the online shopping

Amazon advertising automation service Pacvue reported that Sponsored Product costs per click (CPCs) for its clients rose by 13% year over year in Q3 2019, while prices for Sponsored Brand ads were down 8% over the same period. Performance ad agency Merkle reported CPCs for Sponsored Product ads were up 11% in Q3 compared with a year earlier, vs. an 18% drop in CPCs for Sponsored Brand ads.

Amazon Advertising Ramps Up. As publishers learn to grab their slice of the growing pie of Prime Day commerce, so too are sellers by leveraging advertising on Amazon. Those that heavied up on their ad spend in advance of the event have found that it’s paid off. “Most sellers seem really pleased with Prime Day,” said Jeff Cohen, chief relationship officer at Seller Labs.

“Once Amazon fully establishes Prime culture abroad, it’ll be difficult for local ecommerce players to compete,” Daniel Knijnik, co-founder and CEO of Amazon advertising agency Quartile. “We saw that happen here in the US. Prime customers can log into their account, search for an item, and purchase with a click or two. And they know it’ll arrive in two days.

These new sellers are also getting a formal introduction into the universe of Amazon Advertising. “We'll familiarize them with advertising options that help drive discovery of their products and then provide recommendations on selection they might want to add based on the data we have about buyer desire,” Green said.