Amazon has recently sent out an announcement that they will be discontinuing their ‘Product Ads’ option for those who were advertising on the Amazon platform. These ads, which are currently still in place, were displayed just like other products on Amazon and featured information like product name, price and shipping information. The big difference was the tagline ‘Product Ads from External Websites.’
Many businesses and marketers ran these ads on Amazon because of the fact that so many people go to Amazon first when shopping. Brands could put their ads in front of people who were shopping for similar products, and hopefully attract their business. According to a survey from ChannelAdvisor, many UK and US retailers found that this type of ad was very effective at generating ROI, so it the option will be missed.
Amazon likely made the decision to pull these specific ads because of the fact that they were driving traffic (and potential sales) away from the Amazon platform. Amazon is replacing these ads with a text-only option that will operate in a similar way, but text ads rarely perform as well so it is unlikely that these will be as popular or effective.
Of course, Amazon is also giving brands and marketers the option to sell their products directly through Amazon, which is what most people believe Amazon would like anyway.
The product ads will be completely gone by October 31st according to Amazon. The text version of the ads should be rolling out and have more information coming soon.
