By Dan Simmonds, Amazon Director, OMG Transact
There’s no denying that 2020 has been a minefield for marketers and whether you like or not, the Christmas season is nearly upon us. With Amazon’s Prime Day moving to October, coupled with the lingering effects COVID-19 has had on consumer behaviour, online shopping is going to be bigger than ever. So, to remain profitable and competitive, it has never been more important for brands to have a successful Q4 online.
Recently, Channel Advisor revealed that 61% of digital buyers conduct product research on Amazon, whilst Mintel cited that 89% of the UK population are now Amazon customers. The tech giant will therefore play an important part in the success of any ecommerce plan in the final months of 2020.
Below, we go through our top five tips to ensure your business is ready for the expected traffic and sales increase in Q4 on Amazon.
1. Make your products attractive to the consumer
Conducting a retail readiness check on your available ASINs will ensure that your product is presented in the best possible light to consumers. Product detail quality is more important than ever given the increased competition online. As a result, strong content on your products’ page such as a clear title containing your brand, the product variant and size will help show why your product fills the customer need. In turn, this should increase the conversion rate of your campaigns.
2. Create your promotional plan early
In addition to the Q4 staples of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, 2020 has thrown a new element into consideration, with Prime Day being moved to October. This was in response to the COVID-19 lockdown directly impacting the plans for the usual July date. This will mean that the merchandising options for Q4 will also be more competitive than ever. It’s crucial to have a clear promotional plan set out for these key events with specific promotions such as a ‘deal of the day’ or ‘best deal’ for your ASINs based upon previous sales trends. This will then help you manage a consistent level of traffic and brand awareness throughout each month of Q4.
3. Take over your category
Given Q4 is the key gifting season, we see some slight behavioural changes in the consumer journey. In particular, we see more of an emphasis on browsing compared to search queries. Therefore, if your business sits in part of a large gifting category, such as toys and games, we’d recommend taking over the category with banner ads. This will not only deliver additional sales but increase brand exposure by driving traffic to your brand store and increase awareness of your hero ASINs.
4. Focus on category keywords
As alluded to in point 3, consumer behaviour shifts in Q4 as the gifting season starts. Whilst there is more browsing, consumers product searches also become more generic. By conducting a thorough piece of keyword research with a focus on more generic keywords at a category level such as ‘fitness watch’, ‘fitness watch tracker’ or ‘pedometer’ could lead to incremental sales outside of the brand terms that deliver year-round.
5. Prepare a robust supply chain
Be ready for an uplift in sales and ensure you have enough stock to meet your forecast, regardless of your fulfilment method. Unsurprisingly, improvements to your product pages and advertising campaigns will lead to increased sales, so keep an eye on the inventory and forecasting reports in Vendor Central, daily if necessary. If your products have a long restock lead time, for example, they need to be shipped from the Far East, make sure to factor this in to your logistics plans.
It’s certainly set to be a busy couple of months ahead for marketers. But by following our top tips, your brand will be poised for success on Amazon and can hit 2021 running. Good luck!
