The below is an excerpt from the latest Amazon Weekly News Digest by Bobsled CEO & Forbes contributor Kiri Masters, a paywalled email delivered to digest subscribers every Friday.
Many advertisers and agencies have been interested in measuring COVID-19’s impact on Amazon PPC advertising, and Bobsled is no exception.
Curiosity got the better of us and we analyzed the CPC rates for a random sample of Amazon advertisers across various categories for February, March and April.
On the right: Advertising Director Stefan Jordev
Advertising CPCs still demonstrate opportunity
Our detailed findings were included in a recent Business Insider article. As expected, the results highlighted many opportunities that come with fewer advertisers on Amazon and lower advertising budgets. In summary:
- 21 out of 28 Amazon Sellers or Vendors had lower Cost per Click rates in April compared to March.
- 15 out of 28 Amazon Sellers or Vendors had lower Cost per Click rates in March compared to February.
- 21 out of 28 Amazon Sellers or Vendors had lower Cost per Click rates in April compared to February.
There are several major drivers for this occurrence:
- With last month’s restrictions around shipment creation, and the limited inventory quantity restrictions that are still active, many Sellers and Vendors have inventory headaches, and have run completely out of stock.
- Since Sponsored Products, the most frequently used campaign type on Amazon, are dependent on buy box ownership and inventory availability, ads stop running the minute sellers run out of stock, thus reducing the competition and resulting in lower CPC rates.
- Some sellers are looking to deliberately decrease the number of daily unit sales. They have reduced their Amazon Advertising investment in anticipation of some supply chain issues.
- Many advertisers have reduced advertising budgets because of the uncertainty that comes with the pandemic. When we implement a strategy like this one, the natural course is to focus on campaigns which are more profitable, operate with low ACoS and low CPC rates.
Covid-19 related events come as an opportunity to small and agile sellers, who are able to react quickly to changes imposed by Amazon, then advertise their products at more cost effective advertising rates which are currently available.
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The above is just a small snippet of Bobsled’s latest Amazon Weekly News Digest, which is delivered via email to subscribers every Friday.
For $20/month you’ll get a round up of the week’s biggest news and what it means for brands selling on Amazon. Also, as part of your subscription you’ll get access to our bi-weekly Office Hours where Kiri Masters and the Bobsled team conduct webinars, answer member questions and discuss Amazon best practices. To sign up, click the button below.