Are you juggling domestic and international advertising on Amazon?
Managing paid ads across multiple Amazon marketplaces and languages poses both challenges and opportunities for online businesses.
From unlocking new markets with better ROAS to navigating language and cultural barriers, this article dives into building profitable Amazon advertising on a global scale, such as:
Last Updated on May 31, 2024 by Zeljko Drazovic
[FREE download: Guide to Amazon Advertising]
Amazon is the leading digital retailer and one of the most frequently visited web properties.
According to Statista, in 2023, Amazon claimed the top spot among online US retailers, capturing 37.6% of the market.
The same source claims that the digital ad spend on ecommerce platforms is expected to exceed $38 billion by the end of 2024. Amazon is also a key player among those channels.
Even though such statistics and studies predominantly cover the US market context, Amazon’s dominance extends far beyond the US market.
Amazon’s global reach, coupled with fierce competition among sellers, has fueled the growth of Amazon Advertising.
In 2018, Amazon launched Amazon Advertising (formerly AMS or Amazon Marketing Services). The service works similarly to pay-per-click ads on Google: sellers only pay when shoppers click on ads (regardless of whether or not the item sells).
More and more sellers are choosing Amazon Advertising as a tool to improve product visibility and sales conversion rates.
Amazon’s advertising ecosystem is further growing as well, through products such as Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) that allows sellers to programmatically buy display and video ads at scale and target audiences on Amazon.com, Fire TV Sticks, IMDb.com, Kindles, Freedive, apps, third-party sites, apps and platforms.
These trends and statistics carry several implications for selling on Amazon:
With the rise of competitiveness on the platform, more budget needs to be allocated to advertising to maintain visibility. That leads to increased advertising costs. However, even though advertisers on Amazon were paying more for each click on their ads, they were still able to generate a comparable return on their advertising investment.
It’s also worth paying close attention to building an advertising strategy around a properly localized ecommerce calendar to maximize advertising ROI. Planning advertising strategies and budgets accordingly can help capitalize on certain global and local events while managing expenses – such as the increased competition and consumer activity driving up CPCs in July and October, which can be directly linked to Amazon’s Prime sales events.
Some products can sell relatively quickly on Amazon with no excessive ad spend. But some cases require more advertising effort. It often concerns – and surprises – those who sell both domestically and internationally.
We asked Sergei Lapitzki, an Amazon Ads expert, about his take on the international context of advertising on marketplaces. Lapitzki has been deeply involved in the Amazon landscape for the past decade, with a background encompassing both seller and agency roles, which he now brings into our digital advertising at Webinterpret.
As he further explains, e.g., “knowing where higher competition demands higher quality earned and owned media content, understanding consumer motivations: how people choose and buy products, etc. Understanding these variables helps tailor ad campaigns for optimal performance and sustainable growth across diverse markets.”
Forget the common “the more, the better” approach. An optimal multi-country Amazon Advertising strategy requires a flexible plan and strategic fund allocation to maximize ROAS.
Selling internationally on marketplaces can help unlock full sales potential and mitigate risks when the unexpected occurs.
Amazon Advertising can further enhance it and open up many opportunities for those willing to juggle different markets. One way to maximize ROI from advertising is minimizing cost per click, which may be possible in less competitive markets.
Advertising internationally gives a chance to explore new markets and find profitable opportunities. The ultimate goal is to investigate which markets have lower competition and thus offer better ROAS. Why?
When, over time, paid marketing campaigns reach a plateau in a given market, acquisition costs can significantly go up without adequate return on investment. It means little room for growth. Further increasing CPCs to grow traffic can decrease campaign clicks, sales, and overall profitability.
In such cases, exploring less competitive markets with lower CPCs can help increase profitability and unlock huge sales potential. It’s also how conversion rates can go instantly up.
These are often foreign markets where local online sellers can’t offer specific products or meet the local demand. A good example is Italy, where car parts must be imported from abroad.
One of the most significant worldwide opportunities for marketplace sellers is the possibility of satisfying an unmet demand for certain products from a foreign market.
A successful global marketplace expansion strategy is about more than just sales. Sometimes, launching into new markets requires investing in brand awareness first.
Building a solid brand presence in a new environment is a complex process. Advertising can be one of its steps.
There are many different types of ads on Amazon, and each can serve a different purpose depending on the market you’re targeting. Amazon Sponsored Brand Campaign is one interesting format for building brand awareness.
These campaigns operate on a pay-per-click pricing model, utilizing an auction-based system. They allow you to target three types of keywords:
Most importantly, they are tailor-made to enhance shopper consideration through brand visibility across markets.
We asked Bronwen Hunter, Webinterpret’s Product Marketing Specialist, to further explain how brand awareness can serve as a strong foundation for cross-border trade, as she specializes in building product-related content that enables ecommerce sellers to achieve their best results. In her experience:
“Brand recognition is fundamental for international marketplace sellers as it establishes trust, credibility, and customer loyalty within a dynamic ecommerce landscape. Not only does recognition attract new customers, but it fosters retention and empowers brands to market their products with premium pricing. A well-recognized brand can set itself apart from its competitors and strengthen its relationship with its audience, facilitating more visibility amidst a crowded marketplace.”
Advertising internationally on Amazon unlocks a world of opportunity but is not without challenges.
The Amazon platform and algorithm are constantly updated, which – coupled with the dynamic nature of international marketplaces – demands a flexible approach from those who want to succeed in cross-border trade. Navigating cultural nuances and language barriers adds another layer of complexity.
International Amazon sellers should recognize the importance of investing in the right Amazon Advertising strategy to reach their target audience effectively.
Amazon’s digital retailer dominance allows sellers to access a large, engaged customer base. However, it also means that sellers with an international presence (or ambition) should optimize their strategies to cater to different markets, which include other languages and cultural preferences.
Once again, we asked Sergei Lapitzki for his expert take on the subject:
Why? Lapitzki explains: “To align with local consumer behavior, encompassing how people search for and choose products. Adapting language, imagery, and messaging to resonate with specific cultural preferences and linguistic nuances enhances engagement and conversion rates, ultimately driving higher returns on advertising investment.”
Unlocking the true potential of international ads on Amazon will require tailoring the advertising message for international audiences. It can be done on a few levels:
Cultural differences can influence customer preferences, perceptions, and buying behaviors.
Applying cultural awareness is obvious when it comes to e.g. customer service, but is often omitted when it comes to advertising. But it shouldn’t. After all, what resonates in one market might be a complete failure in another.
Investing in advertising that aligns with specific cultural mindsets and values can ultimately drive higher engagement and conversion rates.
Advertising in foreign markets requires translation. However, culture is also a factor influencing communication.
The process of adapting translation to a specific culture or region is called localization.
Correctly localizing ad copy is not just about overcoming the language barrier but also about knowing how to use language in a certain culture. E.g., the common usage of different phrasings, the tone and style, or the level of detail needed to gain trust from a particular target audience.
Localization complexity also lies in ensuring that ads are 100% localized for each target market, including product description, currency, size conversion, etc.
The quality of your advertising localization will directly affect your ad performance. Automated translations that don’t consider the cross-border trade context can often decrease the conversion rate.
Sizes and dimensions are crucial product attributes, especially when selling clothes and accessories. However, metric systems and sizes are nuanced around the world: size 8 in the UK may be size 4 in the USA, but size 36 in Germany, and some brands might also mark it as S size.
This is why sizes must also be localized.
Unfortunately, standard automated translation tools often don’t even pick up the size from the context of a listing. It can then negatively impact ad searchability and relevance.
Only proper ecommerce-optimized translation tools should be trusted to localize international sizes automatically.
Pro tip: remember to acknowledge unique cultural peculiarities in the case of countries that speak the same language. English itself is not a uniform language but has several varieties, i.e., American, British or Australian, etc. There are vocabulary and spelling differences among them that can dramatically affect the relevance of keywords used in your ads.
Amazon is a fast-growing market where new changes and updates rolling out regularly. The platform regularly adds capabilities or changes how some of its functions work. Some, like the recent Rufus AI launch, may affect sellers and their strategies more than they expect.
As a result, it can be challenging to always stay 100% up to date.
Our advice?
As Lapitzki further explains: “This involves staying abreast of market trends, leveraging data analytics to refine targeting and campaign optimization, and maintaining flexibility to adjust strategies based on performance metrics and evolving market dynamics. Embracing agility and a willingness to experiment is essential for sustained competitiveness and market relevance in the global ecommerce landscape”.
Adaptability is essential in the context of global shifts, too. For example, when events such as the recession affect the global ecommerce market.
[Ready to sell more on Amazon in 2024?]
Advertising your product to everyone everywhere will be a waste of your time and money.
Instead, you must understand your goals, your target audience, and what you want to achieve with your strategy.
The right approach is to think of an advertising plan in a conscious and data-driven way. Use this checklist to create a winning strategy that will help you navigate the complexities of multi-country advertising on Amazon:
E.g., is the objective of your campaign to drive sales or improve brand awareness for a particular market? Amazon allows you to align targets with goals; e.g., your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) can be a success metric if you’re set on driving more sales. Impressions, in turn, can be a success metric if you want to boost brand awareness.
The most popular products have the most significant potential for sales conversions when combined with competitive prices. However, those might differ across different markets with different product saturation and demand.
Before you launch your advertising campaigns, evaluate the retail readiness of your product listings. Include accurate and descriptive titles, valuable and relevant product information, and high-quality images. Most importantly, ensure your Amazon listings and ads are fully localized for each target market.
Stay consistent but also flexible in your advertising strategy. Adaptability is vital in handling multiple markets and adjusting campaign performance across them. Review your ads regularly. Otherwise, they may become ineffective over time. Try out different ad types, experiment with keywords, target demographics, and content. Allocate the rest of the budget where the sweet spot lies.
Conquering new markets can be much easier with the help of Amazon advertising. But can managing multi-country Amazon advertising campaigns ever be easy?
By understanding the challenges and opportunities of advertising across multiple countries, you can develop a successful strategy that caters to specific audiences and maximizes your return on investment.
But even if your current campaign performs well, it might become ineffective over time for many reasons. The global situation is dynamic and has proven many times to be unpredictable. Marketplace trends are constantly shifting. Paid ads can be affected by it, too.
The key to success in managing a multi-country Amazon Advertising strategy lies in maintaining a flexible and adaptive approach.
What if you’re struggling to keep up with changes?
Then, it might be worth considering partnering with a trusted marketplace accelerator that will ensure your advertising strategy is integrated with your global expansion strategy and 100% up-to-date.
Webinterpret is part of the official Amazon Ads Partner Network community, and our Marketplace Brand Expansion solution helps Amazon brands maximize their sales in different international markets. With access to comprehensive data and vast ecommerce knowledge, we can help merchants tap into their actual sales potential to achieve the best possible ROAS.
We also acknowledge the pivotal role that brand recognition plays in global expansion. Our platform allows brands to maintain their distinct identity across global markets, reinforcing brand recognition amongst a new international audience.
Webinterpret enables online retailers and marketplace sellers on eBay and Amazon to instantly expand worldwide and boost their online sales.
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