10 critical Amazon policies in 2018

There was no shortage of news for Amazon and how it affects seller in 2018 and beyond.

In 2018，Amazon had record-breaking in Black Friday and Cyber Monday，which bringing in big sales for the retail giant.

Here’s a recap of the top 10 policies that seller need to know.

1.Amazon rebrands Advertising Features in September.

Amazon’s advertising business is comprised of three main divisions: Amazon Media Group (AMG), Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), and Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP). Amazon merged the three units into a single division called “Amazon Advertising” in early September.

AMG sells display ads across its marketplace, hardware devices (like the Kindle and Fire TV), and other websites. AMS offers a pay-per-click performance marketing suite that lets vendors boost their sales with sponsored product placements, sponsored brand ads, product display ads, and custom Amazon Stores. Unlike AMG ads, AMS ads are only displayed for products sold on Amazon. Lastly, AAP is a programmatic advertising platform for AMS that offers self-serve and team-assisted marketing campaigns.

2.Amazon launches Amazon Attribution, a measurement solution for brands that sell on Amazon

Amazon Attribution is a new beta measurement solution that provides brands that sell on Amazon with sales impact analysis across media channels off Amazon.

For the first time, using Amazon Attribution, brands can measure the impact of display, search, and video channels based on how consumers discover, research, and buy their products on Amazon.

Amazon Attribution allows seller to:

Measure: Gain insight into advertising channel effectiveness through Amazon sales impact analysis

Optimize: On-demand attribution reporting allows for in-flight optimization

Plan: Review channel performance and relevant Amazon audience segment insights to help plan future marketing strategies that can maximize ROI

3.Amazon Sponsored Products New Product Targeting Features

With product targeting, it’s easier to reach shoppers as they browse detail pages and filter search results for specific products similar to yours.

What is changing for Sponsored Products Targeting?

Sponsored Products has expanded to include several new keyword and product targeting capabilities including:

Enhanced Auto Targeting, only available in auto SP campaigns

Product Attributes Targeting, only available in manual SP campaigns

Now there are 4 different default targeting options within auto campaigns including:

Loose Match / Close Match: This option allows your ad to be shown in the search results if your ad product closely or loosely matches searches results from shoppers.

Substitutes / Complements: This option shows your ad on the detail pages of products that are substitutes or complements of your ad products.

4.Amazon Breaks “Cyber Monday” Record – Again!

Amazon broke its own record on Cyber Monday, selling more products worldwide than any other day in its history.

5.Amazon Launches Born To Run Program

Due to the introduction of  latest program, “Born to Run” – select Vendors now have the opportunity to launch new products on Amazon at an accelerated rate rather than having to wait to ramp up sales & positive reviews.

6.Amazon activates Accelerator Program

Amazon is leveraging a new feature called the Amazon Accelerator Program to expand their “exclusive product offerings” and “help create more brands to be sold exclusively on the website”.

7.Video Available To Brand Registered Amazon Sellers

Now brand registered 3P sellers have the option to “Add Video” to their product detail pages.

Before this was only available in Beta for some 3P sellers or specific categories.

UPDATE: Please note, this video feature is out of beta but not necessarily available to all sellers yet. Please continue to check your account as this feature rolls out.

8.Prime Day Breaks Record

According to Amazon’s official press release, on Prime Day small and medium-sized businesses worldwide have exceeded more than $1 billion in sales on Amazon.

Unfortunately, due to a website glitch, the launch of Amazon Prime Day 2018 did not go as smoothly as planned.

9.Amazon is now the third biggest digital ad seller in the U.S.

According to a September eMarketer report,Amazon is now the third biggest digital ad seller in the U.S., outperforming both Oath and Microsoft to come in at No. 3 behind Google and Facebook. eMarketer predicts Amazon ad revenue will increase more than 50 percent per year through 2020.

10.Amazon review policy updates

In order to protect the integrity of the Amazon marketplace, Amazon has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards violations of customer reviews. Requesting product reviews should be a best practice for most sellers, because reviews are so important in the Amazon ecosystem.

What Are the Rules?

Any attempt to manipulate an Amazon product review is forbidden.

Don’t ask a reviewer to change or remove a product review.

Sellers shouldn’t divert negative reviews while positive reviews are sent to Amazon.

Creating a variation relationship between products as an attempt to manipulate reviews and boost an item’s rating is prohibited. If you send a physical request for a review in your product’s packaging, that request should not ask for a positive Amazon review or offer any type of incentive in exchange for an Amazon customer review.