2020 has been a hell of a year for everyone else; for Amazon sellers, it was turbulent at first and then incredible afterward (All thanks to Prime Day, Black Friday & the holiday season!). COVID-19 gifted Amazon greater market share and sales volume we could only dream of and sellers selling on Amazon were at the right place at the right time. With the company’s foundation getting stronger, everyone is thinking what’s ahead for Amazon in 2021 and, more importantly, how will it benefit the sellers?
Top 7 Amazon Predictions for 2021:
After the rollercoaster ride of 2020, what does 2021 has in store for us? Here are some of our predictions:
#1: Amazon will continue to grow and flourish
In 2020, Amazon saw insane growth in sales and traffic and this isn’t changing anytime soon. COVID was the catalyst that changed how customers shop. Months long lockdowns and retail shutdowns compelled shoppers to switch to online buying while staying cooped up (and safe) in their homes. In fact, some of the experts say that the pandemic has taken e-commerce 10 years into the future. Amazon being the “e-commerce mogul,” will surely benefit in the coming year because no other online retail platform is as established as Amazon is. But with great opportunities comes even greater responsibilities. To capitalize on this growth, sellers will require a comprehensive understanding of changing shopper demand and staying abreast of the new trends within the e-commerce space; otherwise, you are at risk of getting left behind.
#2: Amazon advertising will get more bells and whistles
Image reference: Forbes
Believe it or not, Amazon is the third-largest advertising platform, after, of course, Facebook & Google. And in 2021, Amazon advertising will continue to grow at a ravishing speed by offering more and more ‘above the line’ advertising opportunities to the brands. The retail giant will launch many more advertising features that will allow even the smaller and growing brands to target (and retarget) shoppers and increase their reach. Amazon will also unleash more creative forms of advertising, similar to Posts and Video Ads. Just like the past year, Amazon will also continue to expand its Sponsored Display & Sponsored Brand offerings and sellers can expect new types of ad soon. Also, you are going to see better and better analytics, detailed insights into customer engagement, store traffic and Amazon selling trends and sellers will have more opportunities to retarget their shoppers.
As both targeting and performance metrics will evolve in tandem, there will be a new level of complexity in the ad landscape. To better manage your advertising operations, it is advisable to hire experienced Amazon PPC Optimization consultants.
#3: (Branded) Content is, was and will always be the king
Selling on Amazon in 2021 will be all about branding – “build a brand or go home.” It is clear that Amazon wants to give its shoppers a “Branded” shopping experience. With Posts potentially being included in the search result pages and Sponsored Brand Video Ads getting two new placements, brand sellers will have more opportunities to capitalize on their branded content. We can expect to see sellers making greater investments in crafting their creative strategies and enhance their Amazon listing. These enhancements will go far and beyond your Amazon listing, for example, creating full-customs Amazon Seller Storefront to auxiliary branding videos for their Sponsored Brand Video Ads campaigns.
#4: Competition will be fiercer than ever & trust levels will be low
As the marketplace gets more crowded, it will be challenging for the sellers to differentiate their brands from the next. In the past year, there was widespread use of professional and branded creative assets across entire Amazon listings. From larger than life imaging and enticing Amazon Enhanced Brand Content to attractive product packaging and videos, sellers are leaving no stone unturned to hit their aggressive conversion targets. Even the smallest of category sellers had visual assets that made them nearly indistinguishable from Fortune 500 sellers. And this year will be no different. Skillfully dealing with the ever-increasing competition will require thoughtful branding and world-class customer service (Amazon agrees with it too!). So, the companies looking to #CrushItIn2020 will have to step up their branding strategy or get lost in search result pages as more aggressive brands take up the real estate. Hiring Amazon Marketing Consultants will become more commonplace when it comes to improving your marketplace presence.
#5: Work from home products will see immense success
Any product or solution that makes the remote working experience easy will be successful in 2021. We may even see some innovations in this sector as new problems uncover, so 2021 looks absolutely bright for the creative sellers. No matter how much we hate it, coronavirus doesn’t seem to go anytime soon and 2021 will still be the year where people work from home, students take online classes and all of us still stay socially distant. So any product that can help shoppers make their quarantine period convenient will be a booming success.
#6: Fraudsters beware!
Amazon will accelerate its initiatives to root out counterfeit sellers and will continue to suspend the accounts using black hat tactics. In the past year, we have seen Amazon make some efforts to fight off the fakers like making it a compulsion to add seller name and business address, video calling some of the sellers, launching a Counterfeit Crimes Unit to fight the knockoffs gaming the Amazon system and introducing Amazon Project zero. Owing to these measures, Amazon spent about $500 million on tracking down fraudulent sellers and closed over 6 billion listings and 2 million accounts and the number will definitely go up in the year 2021.
#7: Amazon will get more stringent
Last year, I have seen so many listings getting blocked and accounts getting suspended owing to the minutest of errors. This could be anything from having “nontoxic” word in your listing to keeping ALL CAPS headers in your bullet points. I know what you are thinking, aren’t these glitches too small to suspend a listing with 100+ reviews? Yes, they are, but Amazon isn’t in the mood for forgiveness. The worst part is that Amazon uses bots to identify these errors, so if your listing contains the words N95 Masks, Amazon will block your listing even if your product isn’t a mask in the first place. If you want to avoid the hassle of getting your product out, follow the rules to the T. Make sure your listing does not contain any information that can trigger Amazon to flag your product, or worse, your account.
In short, selling on Amazon is going to get harder and rewarding at the same time. On the one hand, Amazon sales will grow by leaps and bounds, but at the same time, the retail giant will put up additional barriers and it will require more sophistication to stand out, thanks to the increasing competition.
Key takeaways:
- From the above predictions, it is clear that having high-quality digital assets isn’t going to be an option anymore and advertising will see some significant changes in 2021.
- As Amazon is introducing more and more places to advertise, sellers will need high-quality creatives that can help their ads convert better.
- Videos appear to be gaining more popularity when it comes to displaying your brand and highlighting the USPs of the products.
- Overall online sales will increase and so will the competition.
- Not following the Amazon Seller Code of Conduct policy will cost you more than you think.
2020 was the perfect example of the survival of the fittest
As Charles Darwin rightly said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” The year 2020 was rewarding for the restaurants who focused on increasing their takeaway orders instead of whining about dine-in being canceled. Selling on Amazon was no different. Only the sellers who didn’t stop despite the hurdles were rewarded. 2020 has also taught us one more thing – the importance of hiring professional Amazon Consultants to work for you.