Changed FBA Fees & Sponsored Ads in Poland

Updates: Amazon

Amazon lowers limit for inventory index

Good news for sellers: Amazon has announced that it will lower its Inventory Performance Index (IPI) limit for the first quarter in 2022 from 450 to 400, making it easier for FBA merchants to organize their inventory. The IPI value often causes problems: If it is too low, the merchant faces a limit on Amazon’s storage space for the following quarter.

Sponsored Ads are now available on Amazon.pl

Sellers and Vendors can now also run “Sponsored Product” and “Sponsored Brand” campaigns on the Polish Amazon marketplace, which was launched little less than a year ago in March 2021. Amazon recommends an ads budget of 45 Polish Złoty per day. In addition, it is now possible to create brand stores. The updated advertising offers could be a chance for Amazon to assert itself against the strong local marketplace competitor Allegro.

Are Amazon and Apple colluding?

The German Federal Competition Authority (Bundeskartellamt) is currently investigating whether Amazon is colluding with Apple. The electronics manufacturer is said to control the prices of its iPhones, among other things, by regulating sales on Amazon. After a fine was already imposed on the two corporations for anti-competitive agreements in Italy in November 2021 (related to Apple‘s headphones subsidiary “Beats“), the German Federal Competition Authority now also wants to have a tighter grip on the two tech companies.

Amazon’s latest marketing tool: Amazon Brand Lift

Amazon Brand Lift is Amazon’s newest marketing tool: Advertisers can use it to measure the impact of brand marketing. The free tool, currently in beta and only available in the US, collects data to measure the impact of ads on customers and their perception of the brand. It can be used by brands currently running DSP campaigns for at least 30 days with a budget of at least $50,000.

Amazon drops to No. 4 in global app downloads

While Amazon continued to rank No. 1 in US shopping app downloads in 2021, the e-commerce platform only made it to No. 4 on the global level. Still the top-ranked app on Apptopia’s global analysis in 2020, Amazon now trails Asian e-commerce apps such as Shopee, Shein and Meesho, which are all specialized in fashion and household products.

Updates: E-Commerce

Online Christmas shopping saw 11% increase in sales in the US in 2021

According to a data survey by Mastercard, retail sales during the past Christmas season in the US increased by 8.5% compared to 2020. Concerns about supply and staff shortages drove many shoppers back to brick-and-mortar stores and buying gifts on online marketplaces early. While e-commerce saw a sales increase of 11%, offline retail sales also increased by 8.1%. Nevertheless, online retail accounted for 20.9% of total sales.

Bol.com gets in on delivery services by partnering with Cycloon

Shortly after Amazon announced plans to invest more in the grocery delivery sector globally, online marketplace Bol.com is entering into a strategic alliance with delivery services provider Cycloon in the Netherlands. Bol.com says it aims to increase Cycloon’s growth and focus on making delivery more sustainable and social. Among others, the marketplace wants to increase the number of its deliveries done by bike.

What caught our attention

Amazon is raising its fulfillment fees by 5% and storage fees by up to 10% starting January 18, 2022. This poses a challenge to all sellers, and is a clear signal towards the potential upsides of the “Fulfilled by Merchant” (FBM) program, where storage and fulfillment are handled by the sellers themselves.

Remdash: Share of Voice

Remdash’s “Share of Voice” (SoV) feature lets you track your brand’s performance in searches on Amazon in a number of ways:

• Defined keyword sets (e.g. Branded vs. Non-Branded)
• Paid vs. organic performance
• Historical performance
• Automated tracking of competitors

Interested in Remdash?
Just click here to schedule a personal product demo with our team.

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

The growing spread of the new coronavirus variant “Omikron” is now also reflected in the most searched keywords: Especially in the US and Italy, searches for FFP2 masks increased again. German Amazon shoppers were the only ones to search for fireworks for New Year’s Eve 2021 despite a locally enforced ban on firecrackers.