Monthly Amazon Update – January 2019

AMAZON INFO
Amazon is making vendors rethink their packaging methods – Amazon algorithm will push ‘Amazon choice’ labels on products that are not the best-selling ones but have smaller shipping weight which potentially increases the profitability of the product. Link
A new way of advertising: Amazon will send free product samples to their customers based on their purchasing history. The customers can feel, smell or taste the products and they are not obligated to review or pay for them. What concerns does it raise for data mining? Link
Field testing of new delivery system: Amazon is testing Amazon Scout, a fully-electric delivery system. The project has been tested in the US and aims at providing even more sustainability and convenience to customer deliveries. Link
In a new survey, Amazon Prime memberships in the US have been estimated to exceed 100 million with 62 percent of US households being Prime members. Link
MARKETING ESSENTIALS
Through parent ASIN optimizations, all relevant keywords will be applied to all child ASINs and special letters such as accents, misspellings or German “Umlaute” (ö,ü,ä etc.) do not have to be included as Amazon recognizes these automatically. Link
Various online media channels recently announced upsetting news about Amazon SEO being in danger or already wiped out as the product detail page creation arguably becomes automated, which turned out to be “nothing but hot air”. Link
VOICE SEARCH
Essentially, there are two ways how brands can engage with Alexa users through voice – commerce and Alexa skills. Link