Data is key when it comes to making smart business and marketing decisions. The same goes for brand development and growth on Amazon. Businesses must understand what customers desire and be able to equate that to sales opportunity. There are a number of software solutions to help with this, in addition to existing Seller Central reports. These reports look at product-level detail for traffic and sales demands, but they fall short when it comes to informing brands about customer behavior. For brands to be successful on Amazon, they need to understand who their customers are, how these customers locate, interact with, and make purchasing decisions about their particular products.
While Amazon collects and uses a wealth of data, they are known to share very little with sellers. More recently, Amazon has begun to realize that by sharing data they can help businesses reach their full potential on site. This, in turn, benefits Amazon customers and Amazon itself. Amazon is extending and expanding reports available to brands with a dashboard made specifically for them. These reports help brands understand customer behavior and the full shopping journey.
The Brand Analytics dashboard
The most up-to-date reports on consumer behavior for brands on Amazon sit in the Brand Analytics dashboard. This dashboard is only available to brand owners. To unlock a number of features and reports in this tool, brands must have a registered trademark and be enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry.
The Brand Analytics dashboard is located in Seller Central under “Business Reports.” For vendors, similar reports with consumer behavior info are located in Amazon Retail Analytics Premium (ARAP).
There are currently four available reports for sellers in the Brand Analytics dashboard. This will likely expand as Amazon continues to fine-tune and grow the dashboard options. However, the four existing options are valuable in providing information about:
- Amazon search terms
- Basket analysis
- Item comparisons and alternative purchases
- Demographics
Amazon search terms report
This report is ideal for providing insight into search volume and customer search data. It goes a step further than basic third-party software options by providing key Amazon-specific data. At an individual product level, brands can see the top 3 items for a particular search term. This report also shows the percentage of their click share and the conversion percentage for a certain time period.
With this information, brands can understand their top competitors and explore products that are dominating the search results for particular keywords. This data can also be crucial for creating or strengthening Amazon Ad campaigns. In addition, by checking to see if your products appear in these results for top-3 search terms, brands can verify if their product optimization is working.
On the downside, Amazon only provides three products per keyword, which limits the amount of research brands can do and act upon. With the vastness of Amazon selection, the limited extent of this visibility is not ideal. The report shows the rankings based on search frequency. Again, this is limiting for brands trying to understand their reach. However, there are a number of third-party keyword tools that estimate search volume and can fill in detail for search volume.
Market basket analysis report
This Brand Analytics report lets brands see what products are most frequently purchased alongside your products. The market basket report shows the top 3 items that are bought with a particular item. This can help brands understand what customers are looking for and what items might complement their own products or range.
This report may help you cross-sell your own brand’s products by highlighting any frequently bought items from your own range. Or, it can zero in on products from a competitor and show any gaps in your range. In this instance, brands might think about bundling or improving cross-selling. Perhaps there is an issue with a product causing it to be beat out by a competitor. This might be as simple as optimizing your product detail pages, it may highlight a pricing issue, or clarify a need in your brand portfolio.
Item comparison and alternative purchase behaviour report
This report provides insight into what other products customers may be comparing with your brand’s products. It could also show what customers end up purchasing instead of your ASINs. The reports in this section show the top 3 most compared items and the top 3 most purchased items as an alternative to your brand’s products.
Clearly, this look at your closest competition can be useful. By taking this data and investigating why your products are failing to convert as compared to the alternatives, a brand can learn a lot of valuable information. Perhaps you need to adjust your price point, optimize your listings for a more informed purchasing decisions, or monitor your reviews. Use these reports to make corrections and adjustments to your offerings.
Demographics report
This report provides demographic information to help you learn more about your customers. Available demographic information includes age, gender, household income, marital status and education. While you may have a target market, the findings can help you hone your strategy specifically on Amazon. All of this data can provide insight into the type of customer who is actually purchasing your products on Amazon.
Brands may need to adjust their marketing strategy based on this data, as they find out how to connect with the right customer. As an example, perhaps your product is a sports and fitness nutritional supplement. Maybe your imagery on the A+ page or external marketing or ads focuses on a male younger than 35. Through these reports, a brand may discover the people usually purchasing this product are actually females under 44. By looking at this data and adjusting the overall marketing strategy, brands can improve conversion. This information may also raise the question of why your product isn’t selling with your intended target market. Either way, the demographics report can help you narrow and improve your focus.
Update your strategy and grow your success
While not perfect, the Brand Analytics dashboard and the included reports provide additional insight and data into the Amazon customer and their purchasing habits. This can help brands make more informed and more strategic decisions. By understanding the landscape of Amazon (including your closest competition) and developing your marketing strategy, brands can accelerate sales and grow their business.
