Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) launched over two years ago, yet still has some growing to do. Amazon is expected to be the 3rd largest digital advertising player by 2019. However, ad buyers aren’t quite diving head first into Amazon.
The platform, labeled as self-service scares ad buyers into thinking it is a complicated and manual process. Maybe rightfully so because many experienced in AMS have noted that the tool is not as handy as it should be.
Facebook and Google are leading the way over Amazon when it comes to easy to use ad systems. That makes a difference. Here are some issues ad buyers are having with AMS:
- Setting up campaigns is laborious
- Budget control is manual
- The auto-pausing on ads for out-of-stock products has its pros and cons
- It takes longer to set up manage and get results than other platforms
- Cannot schedule and download campaign reporting in a granular and efficient manner
- Creation of product display ads and headline search ads is clunky
Amazon’s self-serve platform targets ads to consumer search terms, products, or interests. With 95 million monthly unique shoppers, you need to be on Amazon. They might be behind on making their platform easy to use, but that doesn’t mean it is not extremely effective. Hot Chocolate Design, a local beverage retailer, commented, “Over 40% of our profits come from selling on Amazon.”
1 in 3 Amazon customers reports that they trust ads they see on Amazon more than ads they see on other sites across the web.
“If Amazon can improve some of its advertising back-end and focus on growing its non-commerce business, 2018 will certainly be the year of Jeff Bezos.
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