Amazon Introduces Streamlined Seller-Fulfilled Returns for Large Items

Welcome to "Hunter's Insights," your source for the latest Amazon updates and industry news. In this edition, we explore essential changes and developments to help you stay informed and competitive in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape:

👥 Amazon Ads Launches Custom Audience and Bid Adjustment Feature

📦 Amazon Introduces Streamlined Seller-Fulfilled Returns for Large Items

📈 Enhance Your Amazon DSP Campaigns with Optimal Frequency Tool

📢 Amazon Introduces New Full-Funnel Solution for U.S. Product Launches

🚫 New Amazon Bundling Restrictions: Key Impacts for Sellers and Brands

🛒 Amazon’s New Attribution Update Tracks Full Customer Journey in Ads

📄 Amazon Ads Introduces Mandatory Consent Updates for Third-Party Data Providers

👥 Amazon Ads Launches Custom Audience and Bid Adjustment Feature

Amazon Ads has recently introduced a powerful new feature that allows advertisers to create and target custom audiences with adjustable bids. This enhancement provides advertisers with the flexibility to tailor their marketing strategies more precisely, focusing on specific audience segments, which can potentially boost product visibility and sales.

A standout aspect of this feature is the custom audience creation. Advertisers can now define distinct audience segments, such as new customers or streaming TV ad viewers, using data from Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). This level of customization enables brands to engage with users who are more likely to be interested in their products.

Furthermore, advertisers can adjust bids based on these specific audience groups, enhancing the potential for conversions. This feature is available across Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns, allowing advertisers to monitor performance through a new field in the AMC sponsored ads traffic table. The integration of this feature into existing sponsored ads ensures that businesses can effectively manage their campaigns while optimizing their ad spend.

📦 Amazon Introduces Streamlined Seller-Fulfilled Returns for Large Items

Starting November 4, 2024, Amazon will simplify the return process for seller-fulfilled large and heavy items by introducing UPS prepaid return labels. This update is designed to automate returns for items weighing over 90 lbs but less than 150 lbs, or those exceeding 96 inches in length or 130 inches in combined length and girth.

With the new system, customers requesting returns for these bulky items will automatically receive a UPS-tracked prepaid return label. This change will reduce the time sellers spend managing returns and help prevent A-to-Z Guarantee claims, which can be a significant pain point. If the return is due to a customer error, sellers can still deduct shipping costs from the refund, ensuring fairness in the process.

This update is a positive step for sellers dealing with bulky products, offering a more efficient and streamlined returns process. Staying informed about these new terms and UPS shipping criteria will be essential for maximizing the benefits of the new system.

📈 Enhance Your Amazon DSP Campaigns with Optimal Frequency Tool

Amazon has introduced a new feature in Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) called "Optimal Frequency." This tool is designed to help sellers enhance the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. It features a user-friendly, code-free point-and-click interface, making it easy for sellers without technical expertise to manage ad frequency across multiple campaigns.

The "Optimal Frequency" tool allows sellers to create custom audience segments based on ad impressions and set frequency caps for their Amazon DSP campaigns. Additionally, it offers visual tools, such as automated charts and intuitive data outputs, enabling users to monitor and adjust campaign performance effortlessly. Importantly, no SQL knowledge is required, making it more accessible for those focused on growing their businesses.

Available globally across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, "Optimal Frequency" helps sellers better target their audiences and maximize the impact of their ads. By simplifying frequency management, this tool empowers sellers to optimize their ad strategies, ultimately improving performance and boosting sales.

📢 Amazon Introduces New Full-Funnel Solution for U.S. Product Launches

Amazon has introduced a new full-funnel advertising solution designed to assist brands in launching new products in the U.S. market. This solution focuses on the first 90 days of a product launch and offers brands a managed service that includes data-driven media plans and creative visuals. By employing a multi-channel approach, the tool utilizes both Amazon’s first-party (1P) and third-party (3P) inventory across audio, video, device, and display channels to ensure maximum visibility.

One key advantage of this solution is its ability to leverage Amazon’s unique retail data and advanced measurement tools, such as Amazon Marketing Cloud. This allows brands to modernize their sales funnel and optimize campaigns for quicker results. The campaigns are strategically organized over 30, 60, and 90 days, ensuring that a product’s newness is consistently highlighted across multiple touchpoints.

This service is available to brands with products launched within the last 12 months and can be accessed through Amazon DSP as a managed service. It aims to help brands navigate the common challenges of launching new products that lack a sales history or customer reviews, providing a comprehensive, data-driven approach to capturing consumer attention and fostering early success.

🚫 New Amazon Bundling Restrictions: Key Impacts for Sellers and Brands

As of October 14, 2024, Amazon has updated its bundling policy for consumables. Under the new policy, all bundles must be created and offered by the original manufacturer. Sellers are no longer allowed to mix brands or create unbranded bundles under their own private labels. For example, a bundle that combines products from different manufacturers, such as a Frito-Lay snack pack with a non-Frito-Lay item, is no longer permitted.

This change primarily affects resellers who have been bundling products from multiple brands. Sellers who have accumulated such bundles will need to begin liquidating their inventory before Amazon enforces this policy in late Q4 2024. Non-compliance may lead to listing suppression, and Amazon has stated that it will provide a 30-day notice before taking action on listings that do not adhere to the new guidelines.

While this policy limits sellers' flexibility in creating custom bundles, it benefits Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands by ensuring that only brand-approved bundles are sold. This shift allows brands to maintain better control over their product representation and pricing strategies, thus protecting brand integrity and enhancing the customer experience.

🛒 Amazon’s New Attribution Update Tracks Full Customer Journey in Ads

Amazon is preparing to launch a significant update to its Attribution platform, which will allow sellers to measure ad performance throughout the entire customer conversion funnel. Previously, tracking ads—especially those focused on raising awareness—using last-click attribution models often resulted in inaccurate performance assessments. This led to top-of-funnel ads appearing less effective than bottom-of-funnel ads, which drove more immediate purchases.

With this update, sellers will be able to track the customer journey from initial awareness to final conversion, allocating sales revenue based on the impact of each type of ad along the funnel. This enhancement will provide a clearer understanding of how different ad campaigns contribute to overall sales, enabling better allocation of advertising budgets.

This new feature will assist sellers in accurately measuring and optimizing the performance of their campaigns, ensuring that each stage of the customer journey receives proper credit. By implementing this change, Amazon is offering a more comprehensive and precise tool for advertisers to assess the true value of their efforts across the funnel.

📄 Amazon Ads Introduces Mandatory Consent Updates for Third-Party Data Providers

Amazon Ads has introduced updates to its third-party data provider consent policies that will significantly impact publishers, advertisers, and vendors. Beginning November 1, 2024, third parties will be permitted to share country codes and consent strings, which will become mandatory by February 7, 2025. The updated policy requires country codes to follow the ISO 3166 format to indicate where consent was granted. Additionally, consent strings will be necessary for data from the EEA and the UK.

These changes will affect several platforms, including Amazon DSP, Events Manager, and Single Front Door. For instance, country codes will now be mandatory fields in the Amazon DSP Hashed Audience Upload Tool, and Events Manager will feature enhanced integration options. Compliance with these requirements is essential for continued data processing and acceptance.

As Amazon prioritizes data privacy, advertisers and third-party providers must adapt to these changes before the February 2025 deadline to prevent disruptions in their campaigns.

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