We’ve just turned the corner into a new year and a new decade, which means it’s time to arm ourselves with all the latest information to be the best sellers on Amazon as possible. A combination of research and predictions, FeedbackExpress has these top six things you can expect from Amazon in 2020.
1. Sellers Will Have More Amazon Data at Their Fingertips Than Ever Before
Amazon is really generous in giving its sellers plenty of data to become successful, and 2020 will only see more of that.
In your Seller Central account, you can expect to see Brand Analytics (available to brand-registered sellers only), Voice of the Customer, Brand Health and more. You’ll have plenty of published data on basket analysis, search terms and demographics to really help you get ahead.
2. Speaking of Help for Brands, Get Ready for New Brand Services
One of the toughest problems plaguing Amazon merchants is rogue sellers who counterfeit their way to profits off the backs of honest users. It’s been something Amazon’s struggled with for a long time, but there’s more help on the way for sellers.
Along with protecting yourself with Amazon’s Brand Registry program, make sure to take advantage of these two new initiatives, too.
- Amazon IP Accelerator: This brand service is a network of vetted IP legal firms to help you with trademark filings.
- Amazon Project Zero: This initiative is specifically aimed at reducing counterfeiting on Amazon, giving you a many-pronged tool to remove counterfeit listings without having to deal with the red tape of seller support.
3. Could Amazon Be Heading to Africa?
It seems like Amazon’s opening up in a new market all the time, with Africa still being an empty hole right now. But could that change in 2020?
Quite possibly.
Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year, with an estimated 2/3 of the world’s population buying something. With such huge numbers, there are plenty of purchases made by Africans, too.
Although Amazon (and Alibaba) are currently not in Africa, two facsimiles — Jumia and Shoprite — are. Jumia, especially, has been nicknamed the Amazon of Africa, with strong sales since its 2012 inception.
It seems like it’s only a matter of time before Amazon sits up and takes notice and wants to get a piece of the pie, too. But instead of opening up shop and competing directly with Jumia and Shoprite, it’s more likely they’ll buy one or the other and piggyback on their history and sales instead.
4. Video Marketers Will Have Even More Options
Video is emerging as one of the top marketing tools, helping drive high attention and strong sales. It’s no wonder that Amazon wants to put their weight behind it to help their sellers help Amazon make more profits.
To get there, Amazon is introducing more available platform features for video marketing, such as being able to upload a video and place it at the tops of product pages.
Another is Amazon Live Creator, which allows brands to live stream content to customers in the marketplace, on the app and the seller’s store. If customers have missed the live stream, they can still browse recorded content and watch it later.
Finally, Sponsored Brand ads are getting video support, with this feature being available to both Amazon and non-Amazon sellers
5. Will Singles Day Be a New Amazon Shopping Holiday?
Singles Day is like the anti-Valentine’s Day, aimed at shoppers treating themselves on 11 November instead of a partner on 14 February. Right now, it’s only a popular shopping holiday in China, but it’s reasonable to expect it could be making its way to Amazon as well.
Singles Day is a huge event in China, with Alibaba pulling in $38 billion in sales last year. That’s more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, with Alibaba tying its record from the previous year at only 16.5 hours into Singles Day.
The shopping holiday isn’t limited to China either, as both Spain and the United Arab Emirates (both of whom have an Amazon presence) flirted with Singles Day promotions, so much so that Singles Day attention was greater than that for Black Friday.
If Singles Day doesn’t appear on Amazon on 11 November, the likeliest culprit would be a direct conflict with Veteran’s Day, which commemorates fallen soldiers.
Final Thoughts
With so many exciting changes and theoretical possibilities coming to Amazon in 2020, the challenge will be to master the new while still leveraging the current.
Luckily, FeedbackExpress is always here to help by quietly running in the background, giving you time to focus on other areas of work. Because feedback is so crucial to a strong presence on Amazon, as well as leveraging that into new and higher sales, it only works if you use it.
When you sign up now, you’ll get started with a 14 day free trial so you can hit the ground running for the next shopping holiday: Valentine’s Day.
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