SEO and Paid Media
The launch of Amazon in Sweden - are you ready?
07/02/20
If the rumours are true, then we are about to see Amazon (finally) launch in Sweden and the effects will be significant… Last year, Amazon had a global revenue of $280 billion, and around one hundred and fifty million ‘members’ paying to subscribe to Amazon Prime. According to MKSE, Swedish shoppers generated just under 200m SEK of Amazon sales last year by ordering from the Amazon UK and Amazon Germany sites. It’s clear Swedish consumers are used to buying online and many of them have been buying from Amazon already. So what do Swedish marketers and brand leaders need to be thinking about when it comes to the forthcoming Amazon launch? And what are the steps you need to take to become ‘retail ready?’
1. Defining a strategic approach
Amazon is more than just a site, it’s an entire ecosystem. You need to have a proper strategy in place before launching into it. There are sales by Amazon and sales by third parties. These can be Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) or fulfilled by the seller themselves. Then there are product listings, store pages, ‘buy boxes’, reviews, ratings, and SEO and paid ads to sort out too…having a robust Amazon strategy will help you define all of these areas and quickly ensure that you are retail ready.
2. Amazon optimisation
There are a whole range of things that need to be optimised for Amazon success. In the same way that SEO is an important part of success with Google, the same approach needs to be taken with Amazon. The following are just some of the things that need to be considered:
- Titles and descriptions
- Bullet points
- Images, photos and ‘enhanced content’
- Rating and reviews
- And more!
3. Amazon ads
Amazon also offer a range of paid advertising options too. Vendors, sellers and agencies are able to access the paid advertising offerings and Sponsored Ads (sponsored brands + sponsored products) are similar to Google ads, whilst the Amazon DSP offers programmatic advertising driven by Amazon data. As with other platforms, ‘relevance’ is important on Amazon, but this is enhanced with Amazon data which means that there are extra things to take account of such as whether something is ‘in stock’, star ratings, reviews and competition too. So, performance marketing skills are helpful, but ad buyers need to understand the additional nuances of Amazon to really realise success.
4. Amazon Alexa voice
Voice continues to be an important area for Amazon and brands have the opportunity to create ‘skills’ that Amazon Alexa users can utilize. These range from the opportunity to control smart lights or play music tracks through to the opportunity to add items to shopping lists or even add items to orders. Amazon’s Alexa voice device is connected directly to Amazon and means that voice can become a mechanic for ecommerce and sales, so brands need to ensure that they are optimized and available in response to Alexa voice commands too.
These are all key areas to consider when starting out with Amazon, but it’s important to keep other routes to market open too. Amazon dominates the market in the USA, UK and Germany, and some commentators have claimed that the ‘relationship of dependence’ that can ultimately develop is not always healthy for sellers, advertisers and brands. It’s important to be ready for the imminent launch of Amazon in Sweden (and there are undoubtedly advantages to being an early adopter), but it’s also important to remember that Sweden already has a healthy ecommerce area with big retailers selling online and pure players such as CDON, Boozt and Lyko operating well too. The ideal approach to selling online in Sweden will include a blend of own site, retail sites and pure play ecomm players like Amazon and CDON too.
Our paid advertising, SEO and content production teams at Nordic Morning have extensive experience working with Amazon and are ready to help create strategies and activate campaigns for Amazon and other ecommerce sites.
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