This year’s Online Holiday Shopping season is positioned to have its most successful year yet. E-marketer projects an overall ecommerce growth of 35.8% this holiday season! Now, marks the time for brands to do these (3) things:

• Ensure their supply chain is ready
• Refresh their Content
• Feature seasonally relevant products

Refreshing content for the Holidays is a smart way to keep consumers engaged with your brand.

Amazon has recently launched an update to Brand Stores, called ‘Versions’ which gives brands the ability to design multiple versions of their store with scheduling capabilities for future events, such as new product launches, holiday and other seasonal events. Once the campaign or season has ended, your old store will be reverted back without having to redo or reupload the old version.

The ability to have your new store version submitted and approved well in advance of an event is huge! It allows brands to better plan and react with more time as well as being nimble and reactive to market shifts. It removes the worry and stress for timely approval, being hung up in the review process and mitigates risk of unexpected issues.

Stores are a great mid-funnel tactic to engage with shoppers in a customized and interactive way, where you can showcase your portfolio. Use sponsored brand ads to highlight new products, target new shoppers or reengage with existing shoppers. To help shoppers discover brands selection on Amazon, brands can link to their Stores from their social accounts and other paid and earned media channels with a unique URL.

During Q3, Amazon focused updates with their Sponsored Brands offering. Sponsored Brands can feature store pages in the creative. Highlight different product subcategories and customize headline image and CTA. Note, these are available to registered brand owners for Sellers & Vendors. Placements are still available right below search; however, now there are placements directly on the detail pages, lower on page.

The Velocity Commerce Group team continues to see an increase in overall ROAS as well as during key timeframes such as Amazon Prime Day and the weeks after. It’s a great tool to drive loyalty and AOV. It can be used as an awareness driving tactic for new to brand shoppers as well. Ad impressions tend to be higher during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, due increased shopping interest. This gives brands an opportunity to showcase their brand and products as customers start to research, consider, and purchase.

Amazon’s continued focus of new capabilities and improvements to stores and ad units driving to stores, speaks to their attention that the stores experience offers for brands and their consumers.

To learn more about Velocity Commerce Group and how we can help you identify the opportunities on Amazon, please reach out to us on LinkedIn, or on our website. Let’s talk!