Amazon

Amazon To Discontinue Sponsored Product Ads on the Right Rail

By Tinuiti Team

Oct 30 2017

Do you remember when Google discontinued their right side desktop ads? Well something very similar is now rolling out to Amazon.

According to our team of experts, Amazon Sponsored Products Ads (located on the right rail only) are, in fact, going away.

As shown in the image below, our team was only able to produce right rail placements in incognito mode, but soon right hand rail Sponsored Product ads will be a thing of the past.

Before:

After:

Note: Although Amazon will not be releasing an official announcement, we have confirmed the discontinuation of Sponsored Products right rail ads with our Amazon contacts.

About Amazon Sponsored Products

For those of you unfamiliar with the platform, Sponsored Products exists within the Amazon Marketplace and drives traffic to an Amazon detail page.

As an agency managing hundreds of sellers, we know that Amazon Sponsored Products is and will continue to be one of the most powerful tools for driving discoverability and incremental sales for Amazon sellers.

So, the big question is: What kind of an impact is the discontinuation of right rail Sponsored Product Ads going to have?

According to Pat Petriello, Head of Marketplace Strategy at CPC Strategy, “Amazon’s transition of Sponsored Product ads from the right rail into more native positions at the top of the Amazon SERP comes with a number of implications for consumers and advertisers alike.”

“For consumers, Sponsored Product advertisements will blend in more seamlessly with organic listings, which means it won’t be so obvious to determine which listings are paid placements and which are showing naturally.”

“It also makes the Amazon shopping experience more consistent across mobile and desktop, as right rail ads had previously only ever appeared on desktop.”

“For advertisers, this further amplifies the importance of Sponsored Product ads across all product searches, since these placements will now occupy even more space at the top of the SERP.”

“We expect click volume and click through rates to increase for these ads as they become less discernible from organic listings, meaning winning these auctions will be more important than ever.”

The discontinuation of Sponsored Products (right rail ads) will:

Allow SP advertisements to blend in more seamlessly with organic listings.
Make the Amazon shopping experience more consistent across mobile and desktop.
Give Sponsored Product ad placements the opportunity to occupy even more space at the top of the SERP.
Increase click volume and click through rates for these ads.

4 Ways Optimize Your Sponsored Products Strategy

We anticipate the “cost to play” will increase as more Amazon sellers flood the Marketplace increasing demand in the bidding auction.

In response, sellers will have to rely on sophisticated paid marketing campaigns and strategies to outsmart their competitors.

To help sellers better prepare for this shift, we’ve created a list of our top-notch Sponsored Products’ resources, so you can start optimizing your campaigns today.

1. Check out the Guide:

“The 2017 Amazon Sponsored Products Guide“

Designed for third party sellers and vendors using Sponsored Products, this guide is a deep dive into advanced marketing techniques every seller should be leveraging to maximize your conversion rate including:

Campaign structure
Data segmentation
Keyword harvesting
Refined product targeting

2. Register for the Webinar:

“5 Amazon Sponsored Product Mistakes Draining Your Profits“

On November 16, 2017 at 11am PST we will host an exclusive webinar featuring a former member of Amazon’s Seller Services team and Top 250 Amazon Seller, Chad Rubin, to demonstrate their proven methodologies for improving campaign performance.

Do you find yourself asking any of the following questions:

Are my campaigns performing at their optimal level?
Why are my Sponsored Product ads not converting?
My ACoS is cutting into my profit margins – How do I fix this?
Why aren’t my ad placements sending enough traffic to my listings?

We find these types of questions come up A LOT with Amazon Sellers trying to maximize the performance of their Sponsored Product investments.

Our webinars fill up fast, so don’t wait. Register today!

3. Schedule an Evaluation:

Amazon Sales Acceleration Program

Without the time, expertise, technology, and game plan to optimize their Marketplace performance, most Amazon sellers hit the proverbial “wall.” Our Amazon Sales Acceleration Program (ASAP) is designed to equip professional sellers & vendors with a Marketplace strategy focused on building a foundation that aims to ensure long-term vitality for their brand(s) on Amazon.

CPC Strategy also offers specific creative services for:

4. Demo Our New Tool:

CAPx Amazon Advertising Technology

Not looking for full service management? Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.

Check out our latest Sponsored Products’ advertising tool, designed to equip professional third-party sellers with the technology to implement ongoing Amazon Sponsored Products optimization and Marketplace sales growth.