Advertisers Exercise Caution as Amazon’s Prime Day Sales Event Begins
As Amazon’s highly anticipated two-day Prime Day sales event kicks off, advertisers are taking extra precautions to ensure the success of their campaigns. This comes after a series of glitches on Amazon’s ad platform, which have cost advertisers significant amounts of money.
In recent months, advertisers have experienced frustration with Amazon due to misreported spending figures. This has led to issues such as blowing through daily ad budgets too quickly or missing out on sales opportunities. The problem tends to arise during periods of heavy traffic, such as Black Friday.
Last year, a glitch in Amazon’s advertising tool resulted in advertisers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. While some received partial credits for the lost funds months later, others were left uncompensated. A similar glitch occurred this past June, underreporting advertising expenditure.
In response to these challenges, ad agencies specializing in Amazon-focused campaigns are preparing for potential contingencies. Todd Bowman, VP of services at Momentum Commerce, stated that they are “preparing for anything to happen so we can catch it quickly and make adjustments as needed.”
To keep track of ad spend during Prime Day, agencies like Momentum Commerce and Envision Horizons have developed tools that take screenshots of Amazon’s ad console. These screenshots provide evidence of spending and ad runtime, which can be used to address any reporting errors after the event concludes.
Meanwhile, some advertisers are opting to rely less on Amazon’s ad console data altogether. Destaney Wishon, CEO and co-founder of BetterAMS, explained that her company is using data from another Amazon product called Amazon Marketing Stream. This data is pushed to Amazon Web Services’ accounts hourly, providing a more reliable alternative for assessing campaign success.
In light of the glitches, Wishon advises brands to set locked budgets ahead of time to avoid overspending. Additionally, she suggests increasing ad spend after Prime Day when customers are still searching for deals and Amazon’s ad prices decrease.
These ad platform challenges come at a time when Amazon is aggressively expanding its ad business, aiming to surpass its nearly $40 billion revenue. The company is actively developing new ad products beyond search formats to attract larger advertising budgets.
As advertisers navigate the Prime Day sales event, their cautious approach reflects the importance of accurate reporting and budget management. With the potential for glitches, these measures aim to safeguard advertisers’ investments and ensure a successful outcome.