Good news for Amazon sellers. Online shopping remains on a growth trajectory – albeit somewhat steadier than 2020 and 2021. The past two years have seen an unprecedented spurt in eCommerce growth, propelling online retail giant Amazon to a reported 51% growth growth (2020) (£19.4 billion) and claiming 30% of the total online market share in the UK. 

This poses a continued opportunity for UK manufacturers and resellers to grow their investment in their Amazon business or to move their products onto Amazon for the first time. 

Consequently, as Amazon continues to grow as a highly competitive online market and sellers are challenged to respond by improving product offerings, listings, logistics and marketing & advertising to gain customer attention, sales and loyalty above the competition. 

Therefore, we’ve identified 5 key trends and predictions that will keep you ahead of the competition and growing your Amazon business. 

Amazon Trends & Predictions 

1. Advertising on Amazon is more expensive.

 A noticeable trend is that having your ads and sponsored products seen by customers has become increasingly competitive. The influx of sellers and products has led to higher advertising costs and ACoS, resulting in advertising budgets reportedly doubling or triple over holiday seasons. Although higher costs are here to stay, sellers can implement a brand defence strategy to remain competitive and to drive sales. You can do this in two ways: defending your own branded terms and Product Detail Page ad placements targeting similar competitor products. Reevaluating expectations, overall Amazon strategy and budgets will also help manage return on investment.

2. Customers are looking for domestic products.

Supply issues and closed ports have resulted in customers looking for products that are easily accessible to remove potential delivery delays. Resellers are looking for local manufacturers to mitigate delays or shipment failures. Subsequently, this does drive up the cost per unit; however, it brings both sellers and customers confidence that their products will arrive on time without additional costs or lost revenue. According to Jungle Scout, searches in the US alone for “made in the US” have increased by 54%” indicating that customers want products that can be delivered within 48 hours. As the world becomes more environmentally and socially conscious, this trend may continue to combat our collective social and environmental impact.

3. Success on Amazon means more significant investment as competition grows.

Sellers already know selling on Amazon is a viable sales channel and requires strategy, planning and investment. As competition grows, so will the need to become more analytical and intentional about your Amazon business strategy. This may mean that in-house inventory and logistics are straightened out and budget allocations are increased to meet the demand for better customer targeting and increased spending to out-bid competitors. 

4.  Creative & strategic thinking will provide a competitive edge. 

For brand registered sellers, Amazon has many tools to improve your interaction with customers and grow sales. Fine-tuning strategy using historical and live data is crucial to staying ahead of competitors. Then, using the information to implement creatively into listings, brand stores, and advertising will prove vital in gaining market share and increasing return on investment. A feature that will significantly impact Amazon sales is the Attribution Model that allows you to track your off-Amazon advertising and social media efforts and gain insight into how they drive value for your brand on Amazon. 

5. Finally, Amazon will continue to create and launch tools for brands.

Amazon’s customer-centric philosophy drives them to create capabilities for sellers that will improve the customer experience and allow businesses to stand out and better position themselves on the platform. Amazon has already implemented and profit & loss feature that displays your actual profit and loss within Seller Central. They’ve been in the process of rolling out more social media-like features such as posts, lives and influencer marketing features. The latest is a widely discussed TikTok-like short video to feature products. We’ll also start seeing the development of Virtual Reality integration in online shopping, which Amazon has been playing with the past few years. Their existing View Your Room feature, will likely roll out to other categories soon.

Move your company from where it is to where it wants to be.

At RT7 Digital, we’re committed to helping you utilise Amazon’s latest platform features and consumer trends. We have first-hand experience from years selling our own products on the Amazon marketplace and bring this knowledge to our clients. Our tried-and-tested methods allow us to guide you in making data-driven decisions about your current and future Amazon business. 

Contact us for a commitment-free Amazon audit.