Amazon Product Ads, Shopzilla Increase Minimum CPCs
Today Shopzilla announced a new smart rate card going into effect which increases CPC rates in 5 subcategories and decreases them in 10 sub categories.
You may remember when Shopzilla rolled out new smart pricing in July of this year, this update is another adjustment to that new CPC system, where we’ve seen average CPCs as a whole stay pretty consistent with previous CPCs before the smart pricing system went into effect.
The message below was sent to all sellers this morning:
Dear Andrew,
On July 23, 2012 Shopzilla rolled out a Smart Pricing model designed to automatically align your billed CPC to the quality of traffic. Because Smart Pricing allows for rate flexibility, we will not have an overall holiday rate card increase.
Since the launch of Smart Pricing we have been pleased with the overall results but we believe we can do even better. This is a new program for us and a few modifications are needed. To ensure that all merchants receive a higher volume of better converting traffic we will be adjusting rates both higher and lower in 15 subcategories. 5 subcategories will be increasing and 10 subcategories will be decreasing.
Minimum CPC rates will be increasing in these 5 subcategories:
For the five subcategories above all products with active bids below the new minimums will automatically be adjusted on October 22, 2012. If you are currently bidding above the minimum you will need to adjust your bids to maintain your current rank in search results. If your current bid is above the new minimum rate it will not be changed. Please contact your Account Manager for assistance with changing your bids.
Minimum CPC rates will be decreasing in these 10 subcategories:
Bids for products in categories that are being lowered will not automatically be adjusted. You must login and adjust bids if you wish to bid at the new lower minimum. Please contact your Account Manager for assistance with changing your bids.
Higher sales and conversions during the holiday season mean your average billed CPC may increase but your cost of sale should improve or remain comparable. Shopzilla is committed to working with each account very closely to ensure performance is in line with your expectations and goals. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sellers on Amazon Product Ads were also greeted by a reminder in the merchant center on October 1st announcing the adjustment of minimum bids in 58 categories:
Make sure you keep a watchful eye on your spend and performance of your comparison shopping campaigns. CPCs for other engines will soon start increasing during November.
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