Envision Horizons

Insights from this week's edition of The Weekly Horizon... 🔹 Amazon's seller-friendly 2025 fee structure: No increases in US referral/FBA fees and some fee reductions announced 🔹 Major retailer performance gap: Walmart showing strength in online sales while Target loses market share to competitors 🔹 Retail media growth: Criteo projects $50B market by 2027, indicating significant advertising opportunity expansion 🔹 Amazon payment policy change: New "deferred transaction" system causing up to 30% discrepancies in seller payment reports 🔹 Amazon testing new A/B testing for product videos with 4x larger display space than sponsored brand videos

We're thrilled to announce that Envision Horizons and Kopari Beauty are finalists for the Glossy Beauty Awards in the Best E-commerce Experience category! Stay tuned for the winners announcement on December 3rd! #GlossyAwards #EcommerceExcellence #AmazonAgency #BeautyIndustry #KopariBeauty

Our CEO Laura Meyer recently spoke at #FounderMadeLA and shared insights from 10+ years of watching Amazon's beauty sector transform. From small brands dominating the space, to beauty giants like Estée Lauder and L'Oréal becoming major players, the entire ecosystem has evolved. Success on Amazon now demands a complete strategy reset. 3 Critical Success Factors for Beauty Brands in 2024: 1️⃣ Launch with Intent: Success on Amazon requires an intentional strategy. Laura recommends a full product catalog launch, as brands only get one chance at a first impression. 2️⃣ Data-Driven Decisions: Smart brands are using Amazon's search data not just for listing optimization but to inform their entire product development roadmap through 2025-2026. 3️⃣ Innovation First: There's significant first-mover advantage on Amazon's advertising platform, making it crucial for brands to stay nimble and be first in line to test new features and ad placements. With Amazon projected to become the largest beauty retailer in just two years, brands need a clear, intentional strategy. This isn't just another sales channel - it's becoming the future of beauty retail. #AmazonBeauty #ECommerce #BeautyIndustry #DigitalRetail #BusinessStrategy

#Amazon made several significant moves this week, launching a mobile-exclusive #AmazonHaul store to compete with #Temu and #Shein, while also announcing the shutdown of #Freevee with its content moving to #PrimeVideo under a "Watch for Free" label. The company continues to expand its advertising and shopping capabilities, with increased adoption of its #DSP platform among larger advertisers and the launch of a new interactive #FASTChannel that allows viewers to purchase products featured in real-time streaming content. Meanwhile, the retail landscape continues to evolve, with traditional retailers struggling due to poor customer experiences and #Walmart emerging as the preferred launch platform for creator brands, showing a significant shift away from #DTC strategies.

Top of Search isn't always the answer on Amazon. In fact, in a recent test, we found Rest of Search placements delivering identical conversion rates (15.6%) at less than half the CPC ($0.64 vs $1.54), leading to a 152% ROAS improvement. The secret? Understanding how customers actually shop. For broad terms like "mixer" shoppers scroll and compare. For specific searches like "KitchenAid 5.5 quart mixer", they know what they want. Stop overpaying for premium positions, not all keywords deserve the same placement strategy. #amazonads #ecommerce #amazonadvertising

The Weekly Horizon Summary: 🔹 #Amazon demonstrated strong momentum in Q3 2024 with advertising revenue reaching $14.3B and significant expansion into media and creator content 🔹 Envision Horizons’ new research challenges conventional wisdom by showing Rest of Search ad placements delivering 152% better ROAS than Top of Search positions at half the cost. 🔹 The 2024 holiday season is projected to hit $1.19 trillion in global sales, with retailers adapting through strategic discounting and extended promotional periods 🔹 Amazon launches its new Virtual Holiday Shop with mixed reviews on features and functionality. 🔹 The #eCommerce landscape continues to evolve with leading retailers pulling ahead through three key innovations: third-party marketplaces, social commerce strategies, and GenAI technologies 🔹 The #RetailMedia ecosystem grapples with measuring incremental ROI across digital and physical channels.

I’m excited to share that I’ll be speaking on a panel at FounderMade's Executive Summit next week, discussing beauty on Amazon. If you’ll be in the LA area next week, I’d love to connect. I’m hosting a dinner one evening—if you’re interested in joining, please send me a message for details. #Foundermade #ExecutiveSummit #Amazon

The demand for creative assets from agencies and brands is at an all-time high, with the challenge of scaling these efforts growing even more pressing. Brands need stunning social content, optimized product detail pages, eye-catching ads, and more. A hot topic at my agency—and likely at many organizations—is whether AI has truly advanced to the point where it can produce high-quality content that doesn’t look AI-generated. To address this, Envision Horizons tested 10 different AI tools and compiled our findings on the best options and how to achieve optimal results. Key insights from our report include: -The unexpected leader for e-commerce product photos -Comparative analysis across price points and use cases -A framework for writing high-performing prompts -Strategic recommendations tailored to your business needs Let me know your thoughts below on the evolution of AI and creative and where you have found success!

Happy Halloween! This week’s Amazon news roundup covers major developments including our free report on the top AI Image Generators for eCommerce selling, Amazon’s deal with Spotter, 2024 Streaming TV data, Amazon Halloween insights, and more… 

We're looking forward to all the amazing events on the agenda, join Laura Meyer for some exciting fireside chats on Amazon success! Send us a DM if you're interested in connecting in LA / Santa Monica.