4 Steps to Stay Ahead in the Retail Landscape [Webinar Recap]

4 Steps to Stay Ahead in the Ever-Evolving Retail Landscape

1. Focus on Channel Diversification

Brands are using channel diversification strategies to keep up with competitors and reach their target audiences. By implementing e-marketplaces, you can drive sales (46%), acquire new customers (45%), and build brand awareness (45%).

There isn’t any time left to ease into different channels slowly. You must be more aggressive in your expansion strategy. Brands are now on at least one marketplace other than their own online store, and Amazon is a necessary channel to include in diversification. 

Including Amazon in Channel Diversification

Nearly half (45%) of brands take advantage of Amazon in their current retail strategies, and for a good reason. Here are a few reasons why brands are choosing to include Amazon in their strategies:

1. 96% of brands see Amazon as a growth engine, saying the best part about selling on Amazon is the increased sales volume
2. 92% of consumers say they are more likely to buy products from Amazon than from any other e-commerce site 
3. 53% of Brands advertising on Amazon see an average return of 7x’s or more

Although Amazon is necessary to most e-marketplace strategies, it alone is not sufficient.  Brands are commonly selling on the trio, Amazon (45%), Walmart (25%), and Google (21%).

How to Diversify Your Channels

Diversifying your channels does add complexity, but here are some steps you can take to begin expanding.

1. Use Amazon in your retail strategy to acquire new customers, examine your investment strategy and performance and see how you can optimize  
2. Select two or more marketplaces whose audience best fits your target and experiment
3. Look for ways to stand out
4. Analyze baseline ad spending percentages to guide your allocations for advertising funds
5. Use social and mobile as complimentary channel opportunities; drive to marketplaces

2. Focus on Supply Chain Logistics

The most significant challenge for brands in 2022 is supply chain logistics. Since the start of the pandemic, inventory concerns and out-of-stock messages have been incredibly prevalent. 

Low stock availability can significantly impact product ranking and sales, inactive PPC campaigns, and loss of loyalty. In fact, 65% of consumers said they purchased products from brands they hadn’t previously tried before during the pandemic.

Despite the supply chain and inventory setbacks, 64% of brands selling on Amazon saw an increase in sales and revenue, and nearly half (49%) saw a sales increase of 11% or more.

What can you do to remain successful amidst supply chain logistics? 

It sounds simple, but plan in advance, especially for big shopping events like Amazon Prime Day. 

Here are some tips you can use to start your planning:

• Learn from the past holidays. Are there trends from past Prime Days or Cyber 5 that you can use to inform your strategy for the upcoming Prime Day 2022?
• Reevaluate your inventory strategy. It can take three weeks to make up for the impact of a low inventory of out-of-stock products. Add two to three weeks to your own business supply chain could help you ward off supply chain problems 
• Implement “Supply Chain Aware” advertising. Create an advertising strategy that is supply chain “aware” by using advertising and deals to solve supply chain logistic challenges like using ads to direct consumers to in-stock products and promote early holiday deals to spend less on PPC and lessen the holiday-delivery rush.

Using these strategies together helps ensure shoppers find your brand’s in-stock products and receive gifts on time, leaving you with happier reviews and a higher organic ranking and success potential for winning the buy box.

3. Experimentation with Advertising Types & Channels

Ads are an integral part of any business strategy and remain crucial to the profitability and brand awareness of brands and sellers in the future. Those who take advantage of Amazon’s advertising business, now the third-largest digital advertising platform in the U.S. behind Google and Meta (formerly Facebook), will have the upper hand.

Amazon has a scaling ad business, with 89% of all retail media ad spend currently commanded by Amazon, and competition is still expanding, evidenced by rising CPCs. In 2021, CPCs rose 56% YoY while ad spend rose 49%, and ACoS rose 20%.

When you consider both the higher competition and rising CPCs, is it worth it to advertise on Amazon? Brands say yes, with 74% of brands finding success on Amazon advertising.

How to Experiment with Advertising Types and Channels?

Video and audio are the latest opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers. The way consumers view content has changed irrevocably where the preference is now content that is interactive, entertains, and informs.

Experiment with varying types of advertising and channels. Sticking with one ad type will leave you with missed opportunities to stand out. It’s time to drive greater returns or spend less on paid.

Here are a few strategies to experiment with advertising types and channels:

1. Explore a mix of ad formats and ad types at each funnel stage
2. Try video and audio ads for both on and off-platform reach
3. Use Amazon’s tools like AMC and Amazon Attribution for deeper learning about your channel effectiveness and consumer paths
4. Leverage your technology and expertise 

Further Reading: A Guide to Advertising on Amazon in 2022

4. Maximize Tent-Pole Events and Holidays Early

Holidays are still the time brands see the highest returns. The return of Prime Day to summer has been a massive success, with total online retail sales in the U.S. exceeding $11 billion during Amazon Prime Day alone, and 47% of brands saw an increase in sales. 

Last year’s June Prime Day beat the most recent Cyber Monday ($10.7 billion) in sales, showing how integral the sales event can be for brands’ strategies and the importance of planning for the holidays. 

How to Maximize Success for Amazon Prime Day 2022

Plan early for Prime Day. While we have already shared these Amazon Prime Day 2022 dates on a previous blog, it warrants repeating. There are a variety of deadlines that you need to work towards, even if we don’t yet know when Amazon Prime Day will be. 

What You Can Do Before Big Tent-Pole Events like Prime Day or Holiday?

We recommend experimenting with your ads before big holidays like Prime Day, so you have time to optimize. 

Here are a few things you can do to prepare:

1. Evaluate your catalog, advertising efforts, actuals to forecast, competitors, SOV, consumers
2. Experiment with new formats, creative approaches, and content 
3. Get “Seasonally” retail-ready
4. Think of Prime Day as a Three-Phased Event (lead-in, 48 hours, lead-out) and evolve your strategy

But you shouldn’t be waiting for the holidays to optimize your advertising, as 43% of brands consistently advertise throughout the year. 

Further Reading: When is Prime Day 2022? We Make Our Prediction