Congratulations, we’ve reached the end of the whirlwind that was 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect eCommerce (and life) around the globe, with fluctuating lock-downs, supply-chain concerns, and unprecedented issues, like a container ship blocking the entire Suez Canal. At eCommerce Nurse, we kept busy with the boom in online shopping and increased demand across many categories. This blog focuses on achievements and growth, plus Amazon developments, and a look forward to next year. We hope this blog finds you healthy and prosperous as we close out the year, and that you take away something interesting and useful to help your business in 2022.
Our 2021 work for clients
While we’re already planning for what's next, the end of the calendar year has us taking stock of our clients this year. Our Amazon-focused agency features a range of services, including account management for Amazon sellers and vendors, Amazon Advertising support, marketing, translations, strategic consulting, and more. In 2021, we completed more than 150 A+ Content detail pages for clients, and more than 900 listing optimisations. We built and refreshed a record number of Brand Stores and regularly churned out 20+ Amazon Posts each month for certain clients. We completed account management work and translations for clients in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. We also created a range of videos for several clients, expanding as Amazon allowed for more options and flexibility with videos.
Take a look at some of our client success stories, any time of the year, where we detail our projects, how we completed the work, and the results. For some of our marketing team’s favourite highlights in 2021:
This Brand Store and A+ Content for Yuppie Mommy, for Amazon US and Australia.
A tail-wagging Christmas Brand Store for Portland Pet Food Company.
Some beautiful A+ pages to showcase Shrieking Violet's unique jewellery.
A+ pages around the globe for Wildlife World and their critter-friendly products.
(Wildlife World A+ Content built by eCommerce Nurse.)
Vendor Society relaunch
Vendor Society originally launched in 2017, but it was overdue for a refresh. We’re proud to offer a destination just for Amazon vendors, which we relaunched in November 2021. The new Vendor Society by eCommerce Nurse is a place for vendors to network, share resources, and attend curated events by our expert team. We relaunched with three event types especially for vendors: Interviews, Webinars, and Virtual Roundtables. This content is available at no charge, and we encourage vendors to check out our range of upcoming events. Also, be sure to connect with us on LinkedIn and sign up for our newsletter to ensure you have access to the latest events.
Bringing Amazon Advertising in-house
We expanded our services to bring an integrated approach to our clients. After bringing paid media services in-house, we were pleased to announce that we were officially named an Amazon Advertising partner through the Amazon Partner Network. This is a valuable resource to find trusted agencies and tool providers. This distinction means eCommerce Nurse was approved by Amazon, to provide services such as advertising campaign management (Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display ads, and Amazon DSP, etc.), campaign reporting, detail page setup, inventory management, and more.
Our growing team
To support our endeavours, we added new team members at eCommerce Nurse. These included Karen Blake for HR and executive support, Saffron Wainman to support our marketing and content team, PPC Executive Nathan Gault, Designer Anna-Marie Hughes, Client Manager Owen Aderibigbe, Catalogue Executive Vanessa Hester, and Ashley Bowdler as Head of Client Services.
Our global team works on both eCommerce Nurse and Vendor Society and are well-positioned to support your needs as an Amazon seller or vendor.
Amazon updates in 2021
As our team works on Seller Central and Vendor Central all day, we are always on the lookout for new updates. This year we watched the Brand Registry become more important to sellers on Amazon. With registered trademarks unlocking all the features of the Brand Registry, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had a record backlog of 900,000 pending trademarks, thanks to the Amazon brand-focused effect.
Amazon Advertising updates focused on growing brand presence (with the launch of Amazon Posts, Brand Story, and more custom content for PPC campaigns). They also expanded video presence, though videos on Amazon detail page product images have still not launched in the UK or EU. More complex bidding adjustments and category targeting also expanded in 2021.
In an effort to crack down on fake reviews, Amazon suspended hundreds of Chinese sellers in April and May of 2021. These included huge players in the electronics category, such as Aukey and Mpow. This sent a strong message to Amazon sellers that illegal tactics and those going against Amazon’s terms of service won’t be tolerated. It also further emphasised that businesses should be focusing efforts and resources on brand-building.
Amazon launched two new marketplaces in 2021, bringing the total to 20 countries. Amazon Poland launched in March, and Amazon Egypt in September of this year.
This year also saw a rise in social media marketing. For a while in early 2021, #AmazonLeggings was trending on TikTok, virally pointing customers to ruched leggings that highlight specific assets. With the popularity of TikTok and other social media continually making gains, we expect to see more influencer marketing than ever before in the coming year.
On the Amazon Vendor Central side, we saw updates to the Subscribe and Save dashboard, more Frustration-Free Packaging incentives, and a new and improved Amazon Vine experience for vendors (after the discontinuation of the Early Reviewer Program on the seller side).
We provide weekly updates to Amazon news, tools, features, and tips on our blog. Some of our most popular posts this year include:
How to build an awesome A+ detail page on Amazon
Amazon Brand Registry benefits in 2021
Selling on Amazon? Know the Amazon fees for 2021
Should I use emojis in Amazon content?
Best of the Amazon Seller Forums 2021
You can also find us on our YouTube channel, where we regularly post interviews with our expert team on a variety of Amazon-focused topics.
Welcoming 2022
As 2021 draws to a close, we are eager to see what next year brings. We invite you to browse our services and sign up for our eCommerce Nurse email updates. We offer a range of services, from full account management and strategic consulting to listing optimisation, Amazon Ads support, and translation. Please contact us for more information.
Finally, from our team around the globe, we hope you have a wonderful end to Q4, virtually and in real life. We look forward to working with you in the new year!
