Amazon is planning to rev up its advertising efforts in 2018.
According to a recent CNBC report, the eCommerce giant is exploring different outlets for advertising, including potential third-party partnerships, and expanded advertising programs through popular devices like their home assistant, Alexa.
When it comes to paid search and online ads, Amazon just doesn’t quite compete with the likes of Google and Facebook, who dominate the space. Amazon, on the other hand, is estimated to rank fifth overall when it comes to digital ad revenue, making up around two percent of the market share.
But following a successful holiday sales season, there may be one place Amazon is gaining traction – in online retail.
Research suggests that eCommerce could pose the biggest threat to Google’s overall search dominance. According to Forrester, brand discovery for consumers is 2.5 times more likely to happen through Amazon. And a recent comScore survey reports 35% of consumers saying the Amazon mobile app was “one they could not live without –” compared to 11% of those surveyed who said the same about Google’s search app.
Amazon accounted for nearly 44 percent of all eCommerce sales in the United States last year, according to a report from One Click Retail, shipping nearly 5 billion packages to consumers across the country. The holiday season rush was plentiful too, bringing in nearly 4 million new Amazon Prime subscribers and skyrocketing CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth past the $100 billion mark just as Black Friday rolled around.
Google still maintains a stronghold on the paid search domain, bringing in an estimated 78% of the U.S. paid search revenue, according to Forrester. Though the search giant continues to see growth, their overall share is down from 88% recorded in 2011 – and as consumer trends continue to shift towards mobile, new competition could begin to even the playing field over time.
As digital advertising continues to become a more competitive space (one Magna Global report forecasts a 13% growth to $237 billion in revenue this year) it’s no wonder Amazon is boosting their efforts. Though little is known about what their exact strategy will be, we’re sure they’ll continue to be making headlines this year.
