[ BDSN ] 🌎 Amazon releases more info on Cosmo AI

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🌌 AMAZON RELEASES MORE INFO on COSMO

On May 10 Amazon released more info on COSMO, a framework that uses large language models (LLMs) to generate a commonsense knowledge graph from customer interaction data.

This knowledge graph encodes relationships between products and the human contexts in which they are used, such as their functions, audiences, and locations.

COSMO involves a recursive procedure where an LLM generates hypotheses about the commonsense implications of query-purchase and co-purchase data. These hypotheses are then filtered using human annotation and machine learning models.

Impact on search and Amazon sellers:

So, what does this mean for you? Essentially, COSMO helps Amazon's recommendation engine understand the relationships between products and the human contexts in which they're used. This includes things like a product's functions, target audiences, and usage locations.

For example, if a customer searches for "shoes for pregnant women," COSMO will help the recommendation engine figure out that pregnant women might be looking for slip-resistant shoes. Pretty cool, right?

Here's how you can optimize your listings to take advantage of this new technology:

1. Focus on product information: Make sure your product listings include detailed information about your product's functions, target audiences, and usage contexts. This will help COSMO better understand your product and recommend it to the right customers.

2. Keyword research: Do some research to find keywords that align with the commonsense relationships COSMO identifies. Including these keywords in your product listings will increase the chances of your products showing up in relevant search results.

3. Double-check your categories: Accurate product categorization is key for COSMO to generate meaningful commonsense relationships. So, make sure your products are in the right categories within the Amazon product graph.

4. Think about customer needs: When creating your product listings, put yourself in your customers' shoes. What problems are they trying to solve? What contexts might they use your product in? Addressing these points in your listings will help COSMO make the right connections.

By following these tips and leveraging COSMO's commonsense knowledge graph, you can improve your products' visibility in Amazon's search results and get them in front of the right customers.

🧑🏾‍💼 TIKTOK OUTREACH is a NUMBERS GAME

Earnest, which tracks credit-and-debit-card transactions, says 27% of TikTok shoppers come back to make another purchase within five months of their first buy.

TikTok says that 50% of ad impact is realized in the first two seconds. But the first six seconds capture 90% of cumulative impact on ad recall, and 80% of awareness.

TikTok Shop outperforms other e-commerce platforms, including Temu, Shein, and Etsy, as well as fellow social-commerce channels Whatnot, Flip, and Instagram Checkout. It also performs better than Walmart.

Amazon is the only e-commerce platform that beats TikTok Shop in Earnest's dataset, which looked at customer-retention data between January 2022 and February 2024. Amazon sees around 36% of shoppers return within five months of their first purchase.

About one in 10 US households have made a TikTok Shop purchase since September, when the platform rolled out in the US, per Earnest's analysis.

A few months ago, you could reach out to a hundred or so TikTok affiliates and creators and usually hear back from 3 to 10% of them willing to promote your product.

Not any more. Things have changed.

According to Josh Coleman, a Helium 10 Elite Member and TikTok Shop master, most of the top affiliates are now using agencies to handle all their in bound inquiries.

He says it has become difficult to reach affiliates and creators directly to pitch them on promoting your product.

Data from Paul Harvey of TikTok speciality agency Rankster backs this up.

Take a look at his results from recently reaching out to 70,000 TikTok Shop affiliates:

He says TikTok affiliates get 40-50 messages per day on average and they simply are overwhelmed. But he says you should keep trying, as you never know when you will hit the mother load.

🤝 AMAZON CREATOR CONNECTION BETTER?

With the intense competition now for TikTok creators, you may instead want to consider using Amazon’s Creator Connections.

Laura Meyer, the founder of Envision Horizons, recently used Creator Connections to turn a $5,000 creator commission investment into an astounding $108,770 in revenue for a beauty brand. That’s a 2075% ROI!

She says with Prime Day on the horizon, you should consider leveraging Creator Connections to drive growth and bolster sales.

She does warn it takes the right strategy. Creator Connections campaigns can yield mixed results. One of the keys to success is identifying the perfect product synergy within the Creator Connections program.

📱 INSTAGRAM BEATS TIKTOK for USER ACQUISITION

In a global survey conducted by app marketing solution Zoomd in February and March 2024, marketers expressed a strong preference for Instagram over TikTok when it came to video-based user acquisition.

A whopping 79% of respondents allocated at least three-quarters of their user acquisition budget to Instagram, while TikTok received 25% at most.

Plus, according to a post by Liran Hirschkorn a few days ago, Amazon has finally cracked the code on social attribution, and the implications are huge.

Consumers can now connect their Amazon and Instagram/Facebook accounts, allowing them to checkout directly on social.

Until now, getting attribution from social media sites when sending traffic to Amazon was a pipe dream. Without proper attribution, scaling your ad spend effectively was like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded.

Liran says thinking strategically about your social media presence and how it can drive sales on Amazon. If you're not already experimenting with social ads that direct to Amazon, now is the time to start.

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⚖️ FRAUD RAMPANT AMONGST INFLUENCERS

Influencer marketing has grown rapidly, from $1.6 billion in 2016 to an estimated $24 billion by the end of 2024. However, the industry faces significant issues with unethical practices and limited regulation.

Issues for sellers/brands who use influencers:

1. Fraud and misrepresentation: Fake influencers purchase followers or manipulate metrics to inflate their engagement and charge brands more. This costs businesses about 15% of their ad spend, over $1.3 billion in 2019.

2. Unreliability: Unlike traditional celebrity endorsements, influencers often work independently. This means brands' investments may be wasted if influencers don't deliver predictable results or behave inappropriately.

3. Misleading promotions: Influencers have tricked audiences into buying products with overly positive reviews despite quality issues with the products they're paid to promote.

4. Lack of disclosure: The FTC provides only basic disclosure guidelines. Some major celebrities like Kim Kardashian ($1.25M fine) and Chiara Ferragni ($1M fine) have been penalized for not properly disclosing paid partnerships. But most instances go unregulated.

5. Inconsistency for influencers: Fake talent agencies have scammed wannabe influencers, especially in Asia.

While influencer marketing offers perceived authenticity vs anonymous ads, the lack of standards and oversight leave brands vulnerable to fraud, damaged reputations, and wasted investments. More regulatory guardrails are needed in this rapidly growing industry.

💊  WILD WEST of SUPPLEMENTS getting TAMED

Amazon is the No. 1 retailer of supplements ahead of heavyweight brick-and-mortar chains like Walmart and Target. It raked in $12.6 billion in total vitamin, minerals and supplements (VMS) sales for the 12 months ending in August 2023, a 14.6% increase over 2022, according to data from SPINS/ClearCut Analytics.

Protein and meal replacements, which includes collagen and plant- and animal-based proteins, was the top VMS subcategory in terms of dollar sales on Amazon for the 12 months ending in August, with sales of nearly $1.6 billion.

Following protein and meal replacements is prebiotics and probiotics, which achieved dollar sales of $775.8 million on Amazon during the same period, and growth of 26% compared to the year prior.

Now, Amazon is cracking down on products that aren’t independently vetted, a move insiders say could be a game-changer for the industry.

As of last month, Amazon now requires dietary supplements sold in its U.S. store to be verified by a third-party testing, inspection and certification organization.

Amazon has approved three laboratories that brands can work with: Eurofins, UL and NSF International. Brands can still use an accredited in-house lab to vet their products, but sellers will need to submit the findings to Eurofins, UL or NSF International to get the green light from Amazon.

LAST TWO BDSN NEWSLETTERS …
May 9 → 🤜 New fees a punch in gut to sellers
May 6 → 🏧 Ranking works different than you think

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