Welcome to our end-of-year Amazon roundup…
Well, here we are in December again and it’s safe to say that 2024 has been quite the year in the Amazon world!
From blockbuster sales events to squeezed margins and deleted Vendor accounts – and not forgetting a tsunami-sized wave of AI innovations – there’s been so much change afoot it’s been hard to keep track, even for those of us who live and breathe the marketplace.
So, to round off this 12-month rollercoaster, we’re dedicating our last mini-blog of the year to showcasing the things we think will be most important to Amazon brands as we move into 2025.
And, wherever relevant, we’ve popped in links to helpful stuff we’ve shared (or will be sharing) so you’re fully equipped with all the marketplace know-how you need to begin the New Year with a bang!
But first – kickstart your 2025 by joining us for our first webinar
We’ll let the Christmas sales dust settle for you before we run our first webinar of 2025 – but it’s one you definitely won’t want to miss!
Join us at 10am on Thursday January 30th, when we’ll be looking at “2024 in Review: Lessons learned and Strategies for a profitable 2025”.
In this hour-long session, our expert team will be reflecting on the past year and providing actionable insights to help your brand thrive – because this year’s trends have made one thing abundantly clear: success on Amazon belongs to those who plan proactively and adapt dynamically.
On with the round up!
1. Lessons from 2024 – The Mega Potential of Amazon Events
2024 saw Amazon’s major sales events – Prime Day, October Prime Deals Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday – break records yet again, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt just how critical they are in driving volume and revenue for brands.
Let’s take Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2024 as an example:
- Sales Growth: +54.82% YoY
- Orders Growth: +22.46% YoY
- Average Order Value: +26.42% YoY
Wow.
For Amazon brands, these figures demonstrate the crucial importance of being fully prepared – not just for the events themselves but for the extended shopping periods that surround them.
What Changed in 2024?
But 2024 has not exactly been a normal year, with the pattern of the Q4 sales window played around with like never before.
We saw:
- An early start, as October Prime Deals Days kicked off Q4 momentum and ongoing promotions drove increased traffic well ahead of Black Friday.
- An extended shopping window, as Black Friday/Cyber Monday stretched into December, offering opportunities to sustain sales beyond the traditional peak weekend.
- The greatest successes coming from data-driven campaigns, as brands that leveraged data most effectively – like tracking customer behaviour and demand trends – reaped the biggest rewards.
What does this mean for 2025?
Our expert take for the New Year? To maximise your brand’s sales success over these big events, you need to:
- Develop your strategies early (and that includes deciding whether discounting is for you), considering all the options – from direct deals to bundling and voucher promotions – to target as many different customer segments as you can.
- Strategise to boost your visibility, even if you’re not participating in the events directly, to leverage all that high-intent traffic.
- Always, always, always use your post-event data to refine your approach and carry momentum into the months that follow.
Resources to Revisit
Useful insights to get you thinking? Watch these on-demand:
- Amazon’s Peak Playbook: Translating Black Friday and Cyber Monday Wins Into Long-Term Gains
- Mastering Retail Readiness and Effective Advertising for Peak Season
Want our award-winning team’s commercial clarity, rigour and vision on your side for 2025? Let’s chat.
2. Our favourite new tools for Amazon Ads Supremacy
We shared our key takeaways from Amazon Ads Unboxed back in October – and now, having had the time to have digested what we learned a little more, here are our pick of the portfolio:
What was new for 2024?
Amazon rolled out a whole host of powerful advertising tools in 2024, all promoted with the potential to give brands greater control, efficiency and ROI across their ad campaigns.
Performance+
Amazon’s new automated ad creation tool, Performance+ is billed as enabling brands to set up campaigns in as little as four clicks – and Amazon has paired this feature with a bold promise: the potential to improve Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) by up to 51%.
Why we like it:
- It’s a time-saver. The streamlined setup is designed to help brands launch campaigns faster, freeing up your resources for other strategic planning.
- It optimises efficiently, using automation to manage bids and placements dynamically, and helping you achieve better cost efficiency with less manual effort.
But watch out for:
- Customisation options are limited – it’s a great tool for speed and efficiency, but you might find it less suitable for campaigns that call for highly tailored messaging or advanced creative strategies.
- Its success is heavily reliant on the quality of the data you put in – like all automated tools. Inaccurate or incomplete data can result in imperfect campaign performances.
The upgraded Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)
Updates to AMC have brought deeper insights and custom targeting, and its expansion to include Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands could be a game-changer for many.
We like the…
- Custom audiences – the ability to segment and retarget customers based on specific behaviours, such as cart abandoners, browsing history or purchase patterns? Perfect for crafting more highly personalised ads.
- Audience bid boosting – now we can adjust bids for custom audience segments, from new shoppers to those who’ve seen streaming TV ads. This helps increase engagement by effectively reaching target audiences and enhancing conversion potential.
- The new Ads Data Manager, which makes first-party data integration across Amazon’s advertising ecosystem easier than ever before, with simpler conversion attribution, audience targeting and campaign optimisation.
But watch out for:
- The complexity. Mastering AMC’s advanced features is a whole new learning curve and you might need dedicated expertise or expert training* to unlock their full potential.
- It can be resource-intensive – building custom audiences and diving into detailed analytics take time, making this tool better suited for brands with resources to invest in its capabilities.
Want expert help to make the most of AMC? Speak to our award-winning Ads Team today
New B2B Bid Modifiers
In trials, the new B2B Bid Modifiers were really rather impressive, delivering a threefold increase in Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) and a 12% boost in sales…
Why we like it
- We’re always big fans of anything that helps us target with more precision. With these modifiers, B2B brands can segment their campaigns more effectively so that their ads reach the right decision-makers.
- A promise of higher returns? Yes please. A more targeted approach like this means B2B brands can allocate their budgets more effectively, driving higher revenue and improved RoAS.
- And B2B opportunities are always expanding. With more businesses relying on Amazon for procurement than ever before, this tool helps marketplace brands tap into a growing customer base.
Watch out for…
- They’re designed for B2B. While shown to be effective for brands targeting businesses, they might add no value if your audience is purely consumer-based.
- The cost of competition? As more B2B brands adopt this feature, the cost of bids for B2B keywords might increase – so keep a close eye on your spending, and make budget adjustments as needed.
Our expert tips to get the most out of these Amazon Ads tools?
- Start simple. Tools like Performance+ are ideal if you’re looking for an efficient and easy way to launch campaigns, but you need to constantly monitor and adjust performance as needed.
- Invest in expertise. When it comes to advanced features like AMC? It’s worth considering whether you need to work with an expert partner to leverage its full capabilities.
- Always evaluate the fit for you. Not every tool will suit every brand – always assess your business needs and audience before you commit resources to a new feature.
Our award-winning Amazon Ads experts are on hand to help you drive sales success, building high-performing strategies and delivering them at scale. Learn more today.
Useful Links
3. The Rise and Rise of AI
AI has really taken centre stage this year, reshaping almost every facet of the Amazon experience. From AI Shopping Guides and Amazon Lens to generative AI tools like Amazon Connect, the shift toward automation is undeniable… but what newness did 2024 bring?
For Customers
Tools like Rufus and AI Shopping Guides came to simplify decision-making by offering personalised recommendations and breaking down complex product features, while visual tools like Amazon Lens are designed to make it easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for.
For Brands
Generative AI has become a key player in operations and advertising this year. Amazon Connect, for example, is aimed at helping brands deliver a more proactive customer service experience, automate routine tasks and streamline agent workflows—all while reducing costs.
For more on these, including how you can make the most out of consumer-focused and brand-focused AI tools? Read this
For Advertising
We’ve touched on these above, but AI-powered features like Performance+ and AMC are here to help brands optimise campaigns more effectively than ever. Custom audience targeting, optimal frequency tools and multi-touch attribution promise to provide deeper insights into customer behaviour, which in turn will enable smarter ad spend.
And what does this mean in 2025?
There’s nothing optional about Amazon AI anymore – but to get the best results for your brand? You have to implement them effectively, feed the AI the best quality data you can and maintain human oversight at all times.
Our 3 non-negotiables for Amazon AI use:
- Data quality is absolutely crucial to avoid inaccurate or irrelevant results and poor performance.
- To maintain customer trust? Make sure to balance automation with personal touches – customers like human contact.
- It’s fundamental you stay agile at all times so your brand can adapt quickly to the rapid evolution of AI capabilities – and stay ahead of the competition.
4. If we were to share one lesson from 2024 right now?
It all comes down to data…
This year’s been one of challenges, with Amazon itself driving hard to increase its profitability and passing pressure onto Sellers and Vendors.
For many brands, this has meant tighter margins and called for a really heightened focus on efficiency and profitability – while at the same time, customer expectations have continued to evolve, with savvy shoppers looking not just for competitive pricing, but also value, convenience and relevance.
And faced with this kind of dual front – meeting customer needs while maintaining profitability?
Making data-driven decisions, based on the most accurate, real-time data and actionable insights gained from it, is more important than ever.
Key takeaways
Guide Every Aspect of Your Strategy with Data
From deciding when to activate a discount to pinpointing which of your products resonate most with your customers, put data at the heart of your decision-making process for 2025 and beyond.
Read now – our in-depth dive into the critical importance of accurate, real-time data
Equip your Team with the right tools and training
To turn insights into growth opportunities, your team needs access to the right tools – and the expertise to use them effectively.
Worthwhile investments? Technology that provides deeper insights, fostering a data-driven culture through training or specialist partnerships and automating where you can to reduce manual workloads and increase efficiency.
We’re covering building the perfect team for Amazon Excellence in our February webinar –
Be prepared to act quickly
The pace of change on Amazon is relentless – trends emerge and shift rapidly, and your brand needs to be agile enough to respond.
How? Monitor your performance daily, keeping an eye on key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer reviews. Regularly experiment with different pricing, ad copy and/or promotional strategies to see what works and use your data not only to react, but to predict.
By identifying emerging customer preferences or competitive threats early, you can pivot your strategy before others catch on.
Data’s more than a tool; it’s a competitive advantage – and that’s why our commercial clarity, rigour and vision matter!
To harness them for your Amazon brand in 2025, get in touch today.
