Amazon Shipping launches for UK and a look at the competition

General Updates

Amazon Shipping rolls out in the UK

As the first market outside the United States, Amazon has launched Amazon Shipping in the United Kingdom. This premium shipping service for ecommerce retailers picks up parcels, starting from 20 parcels a day, and delivers them to the end customer. The service is not restricted to Amazon orders only and online retailers in the UK can now request information about the service.

Amazon, Valentino file joint lawsuit over shoe counterfeiting

As the e-commerce giant looks to scale its delivery capability to service the grItalian luxury brand Valentino and Internet giant Amazon have filed a joint lawsuit against New York-based Kaitlyn Pan Group for allegedly counterfeiting Valentino shoes and offering them for sale online. The move is Amazon’s first joint litigation with a luxury fashion brand and Valentino’s first with an online retailer.

Is Wayfair becoming the Amazon of home goods?

Furnishing home offices and upgrading homes and living rooms has become a top priority for shoppers sheltered at home. Wayfair, the relatively young home decor and online furniture store, has skyrocketed since Covid-19 struck. First quarter sales increased almost 20% from last year, and shares are up 112%. Offering 18 million products, Wayfair is becoming the Amazon of home goods.

German online marketplace real.de acquired by Schwarz Group

The Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland) has strenghtened its digital business by acquiring the online marketplace real.de. The online platform is to be continued under the name Kaufland and will complement the retail giant’s brick-and-mortar stores, the Schwarz Group announced on Monday. No information was provided on the purchase price.

Amazon investing in climate

Amazon is establishing a $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund that will invest in companies that develop products, services and technologies to decarbonize the economy and protect the planet, facilitating the transition to a carbon-free economy.

Changes that caught our attention

For Amazon Ads, we have observed a significant overall increase in impressions and a lower Click-Trough-Rate. To explain the reason for this, our Senior E-Commerce Consultant Claudio Pajares shares his analysis below.

More Ad impressions, lower CTR?

We are managing many advertising accounts, for which we constantly monitor a broad set of KPIs. Thanks to this extensive data set, we are able to understand macro developments quickly.

At the beginning of the Corona crisis, more precisely on March 21st, we saw a sudden increase for the CTR values. At the same time impressions dropped heavily from one day to the other. After investigating this further, we figured out that Amazon decreased the number of ad placements. Low performing ad placements at the bottom of the page were reduced: “Rest of Search” placements accounted for 85% beforehand, while after the update they only made up 65% of the total impressions. Taking into account that the CTR for Sponsored Product placements on the product page or on top of search placements is much higher, we had the explanation for an improved CTR performance.

A few days ago we observed the reverse development: While impressions jumped significantly – in some cases they nearly doubled – the amount of clicks did not increase at an equal rate, resulting in a lower CTR. As it was no reason to celebrate performance skills when the CTR hit the roof, it is no reason to be in mourning now that CTR is on a lower level again. It looks like Amazon shifted the ad placements and is going back to normal.

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

All the best and stay healthy,

Your Team at Remazing

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