[ BDSN ] 📈 Amazon caught ranking its products higher

📈 AMAZON CAUGHT RANKING its PRODUCTS HIGHER

News that Amazon's search results have become less biased towards its own products is being received with cautious optimism from sellers.

Research by Joel Waldfogel, a University of Minnesota economist. indicates a notable shift in Amazon's ranking algorithm, which previously favored the company's products significantly more than those of other sellers.

He analyzed eight million Amazon search listings across 22 Amazon marketplaces in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, between late June 2023 and March 2024.

This change, likely influenced by regulatory pressures from both the European Union and the United States, could mean a more level playing field for 3P sellers and brands on Amazon’s platform.

Amazon insists it provides fair search results. But the data shows something mysteriously happened to Amazon's search listings around October last year, just after the company was officially designated a gatekeeper under the DMA.

Waldfogel used a set of generic search terms (e.g. mouse pad, shoes, etc.) entered into Amazon's search box and assessed the order (rank) in which product listings appeared on the search results page.

First, he found that based on criteria like star ratings, prices, and other product characteristics, Amazon gave its own products search ranks that were, on average, 24 positions better than expected during the sample period.

After the EU's designation of Amazon as a 'gatekeeper' platform, the rank of Amazon products in Amazon search results changed substantially: the Amazon rank differential fell from a 30, to a 20 rank advantage, while other brands' search ranks did not change.

Hmm.

🎤 MAKE FACES TALK & SING from STILL IMAGES

Microsoft has taken a major leap in AI content generation and previewed a new tool called VASA-1.

When you give it a still image of a person’s face and a speech audio file, it can turn it into a video, complete with lip movements synchronized with the audio as well as a spectrum of emotions, facial nuances and natural head motions that contribute to the perception of authenticity and liveliness.

Microsoft shared multiple examples showcasing how a single headshot of a person could be converted into a video of the same person talking or singing, like the Mona Lisa rapping and moving her head with expression.

It could be a valuable tool to animate still images for advertising purposes, but it could also be used to create deep fakes.

A Microsoft rep says “We have no plans to release an online demo, API, product, additional implementation details, or any related offerings until we are certain that the technology will be used responsibly.”

Check out these 10 absolutely amazing examples

⬇️ HOW to DOWNLOAD CATEGORY LISTING REPORT

The category listing report is the blueprint of your Amazon Listing.

It’s active in some accounts, in others it’s hidden by default and you have to open a ticket with Seller Support to enable it.

Look under ACCOUNT SETTINGS → REPORTS - > INVENTORY REPORTS

It is a powerful tool that should not be overlooked. It is one of the keys to optimized listings, increased sales, and long-term Amazon success.

It helps you …

• Spot missing info: Identify listings with incomplete details or missing keywords.

• Fix compliance issues: Avoid costly errors by uncovering non-compliant elements in your listings.

• Streamline inventory management: Easily pinpoint products with inconsistent data or missing information.

• Catch errors before it is too late: The report acts like a hawk-eyed editor, highlighting discrepancies in product attributes, variations, and images across your listings.

• Get a complete product overview: Gain a comprehensive view of all your listings within a category.‍

Here’s a step-by-by step guide

🍕 SCARF YOUR WAY to BETTER CONVERSIONS

Is your target audiences not being motivated to buy your products or services? Are you befuddled seeing people losing interest in your brand?

The answer lies in understanding their motivations. David Rock's SCARF model is one such method that will help you understand what pulls people to act favorably, and what pushes them away.

It is an easy way to remember the five major domains across which people assess stimuli as "good" or "bad," rewards or threats.

SCARF stands for:

• Status: Will this increase or decrease my status? 

• Certainty: Is buying this safe?

• Autonomy: Do I have control once I purchase? 

• Relatedness: Are other people using it?

• Fairness: Will they cheat or deceive me?

Answer ALL of these questions in your listing and marketing, and watch your conversions go up.

📽️ YOU GOTTA SEE THIS from MDS INSPIRE

1. Oliver Brocato's Journey: Started with small ventures like selling fidget spinners, moved to social media management, and then to dropshipping and private labeling before co-founding Tabs Chocolate.

2. Product Development: Tabs Chocolate was designed to be inherently viral, using sex-themed marketing to create a shared luxury experience, leveraging ingredients that enhance sexual health.

3. Marketing Strategy: Utilized organic TikTok strategies by collaborating with micro-influencers and creators, avoiding paid advertisements, and focusing on content that would naturally gain traction on social media.

4. Scaling Up: Transitioned from individual viral campaigns to a broad-based strategy using multiple TikTok accounts managed by different creators to target various niches and demographics.

5. Creator Compensation and Management: Implemented a hybrid model of compensation for creators, combining a retainer with revenue share, and emphasized daily engagement and community building.

6. Content Repurposing and Expansion: Leveraged successful content across multiple platforms, never paying for UGC content again due to the abundance generated organically.

LAST TWO BDSN NEWSLETTERS …
April 18 → 🕵🏻 Amazon the Spy: Inside a Covert Operation
April 15 → ↗️ Average PPC Conversion Rates

KEVIN’S LATEST AM/PM PODCAST:

💻 FREE AI for E-COMMERCE WEBINAR MAY 1

If you are an e-commerce seller, you cannot afford to miss this FREE webinar.

It’s called the AI E-commerce Success Summit and it's hosted by Marketing Misfits Norm Farrar & Kevin King.

If you don’t master using AI now in your e-commerce business, you are at a major risk of being left behind.

18 cutting-edge AI experts have been carefully curated by Norm & Kevin to share tactical and actionable strategies, each in six minutes or less, that can have a profound impact on your e-commerce business.

A few of the topics:

• Maximize Amazon Storefront Impact - Quickly boost sales.

• Profitable AI Ads in Minutes - Create ads that convert with AI hacks.

• Build Your AI Bot Fast - 10x your content creation speed.

• AI-Powered Social Posts - Engage more customers, stand out online.

• Effective AI Facebook Ads - Tailor and perfect your ad copy.

• Craft Winning Customer Hooks - Trigger action with AI-crafted hooks.

• AI-Transformed Videos - Make professional videos effortlessly.

• Predictable Facebook Engagement - Achieve 25%+ response rates.

• AI Automation Tools - Build your own with AI and low-code.

• Seize Your AI Opportunity - Fill the gap in AI expertise demand.
  

😜 A little help for our non-USA seller friends …

✌🏼 With today’s Parting Shot in mind, last week I paid for my first ever big ticket mastermind ($30K per year) to hang around smarter people than me.

See you again on Thursday …

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
3.5 billion