COVID-19 & Amazon Marketplace

For an updated list and what Amazon is doing to support its employees, partners, customers, and communities visit the Amazon Blog. There you will find information about Amazon’s decision to prioritize housewares, medical items, and other highly sought-after products that arrive at their logistics centers.

Amazon takes into account many factors when deciding what to consider, including high-demand products that customers need now; current stocks and stocks that are on the way; capacity of logistics centers; and its ability to adhere to the most current health guidelines; in the US and Europe, sellers can use the Restock Inventory Page and Restock report in Seller Central to check which products are eligible for shipping.

We recommend getting in touch with your Amazon representative to discuss inventory levels and develop an action plan for your campaigns. You can also contact us and we will help you with this area.

Sponsored ad campaigns are automatically paused if the advertised products are no longer in stock. You do not have to do anything. Below is more detailed information on how each promotional product works in the event that the products are out of stock:

• Sponsored Products and Sponsored Display ads will automatically pause when advertised products are out of stock. As soon as the products are back in stock, the campaigns will automatically go live again, provided they are still active.
• Sponsored Brands campaigns that link to a product listing page that shows fewer than two products in-stock will be automatically paused.
• Campaigns linked to a store continue to run regardless of inventory levels. Stores allow you to present your entire product catalog on your own branded landing page on Amazon, which may help you become less dependent on inventory. For the product grid and full-size product tiles, you can choose not to show products that are out of stock in your store. If you choose this option, the products will automatically be displayed again as soon as they are back in stock.

For the product grid and full-size product tiles, you can choose not to show products that are out of stock in your store. If you choose this option, the products will automatically be displayed again as soon as they are back in stock.

Sellers can use the Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) to manage the shipping of an Amazon order themselves. More information can be found here. Dealers can speak to their vendor manager about direct fulfillment.

If you have longer delivery times, here are some tips to optimize your campaign results:

• Sponsored Products: Select ‘Dynamic bids – increase and decrease’, as this bid strategy takes changes in the conversion rate into account and adapts your bids accordingly. Fixed bids are not adjusted automatically – you have to change them manually.
• Sponsored Display: Bids for Sponsored Display are dynamic, so the bids are automatically adjusted according to the probability of a conversion. You could redistribute budget to products that generate more sales.
• Sponsored Brands: Think about which keyword and product targeting strategies will work for your business. You can increase the budget for the strategies that lead to conversions and lower the budget for strategies that do not work.

 Regarding COVID-19, at this point, Amazon has restricted advertising for keywords in the areas of protective equipment, including face masks, hand sanitizers, medical gloves, and other related keywords. As before, you should choose keywords that are relevant to your products.

Here are some strategies to manage your ACoS:

• For Sponsored Products campaigns it is best to use ‘Dynamic bids – only lower’, or ‘Dynamic bids – increase and decrease’. If you choose one of these strategies, Amazon will automatically lower your bid in real-time when your ad is less likely to result in a sale. We currently recommend using these strategies instead of ‘Fixed Commandments’.
• Evaluate which keyword and/or product targeting strategies work for your Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns. As always, you can then increase bids on the strategies that result in conversions and lower bids on strategies that do not succeed.
• For Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, you can also use negative product targeting to exclude products that do not result in clicks or sales.

Here are some things to consider when controlling your DSP ROAS:

• Automatic optimization adjusts your bids, budget allocation, and pacing based on the changes in conversion rate and KPIs that you have set up.
  Use the Audience Segmentation Report to see the results for each target group segment of a particular campaign. You can add audiences that drive conversions and remove those that don’t.
• Use the custom report template to check the results for various campaigns and line items such as inventory. You can use these insights to adjust your targeting settings accordingly.

If you are a retailer or a seller registered in the Amazon trademark register, you can use the following free self-service products to communicate your brand message and to deepen your relationship with potential customers:

• Amazon Brand Store: This free solution lets you create your own landing page for your brand on Amazon, which helps buyers to discover the diversity of your brand’s products. Stores can be set up and updated easily and are displayed on mobile devices and desktops without you having to do anything. You can link Sponsored Brands and DSP ads to generate traffic to your store homepage or subpages.
• Posts (the US beta): Posts is a new shopping experience on Amazon that focuses on branded shopping. Posts help buyers discover new products and see what’s new from brands in feeds. They are linked to product detail pages, which means that every post in the feed is linked to a shopping experience. Also, each post includes category tags so buyers can discover more posts in related categories. In order to participate in the Posts beta, you must have a US store.
• Amazon Live (the US only): Interact with shoppers in real-time with interactive live video streams. You can stream for free on the product detail pages of your products, as well as in various other placements on Amazon where buyers are browsing. US dealers and sellers who are registered in the Amazon trademark register can use the live stream on Amazon.