The Remazing News Package – LinkedIn Edition

Here are the most important Amazon and e-commerce news of the last month. Our evaluation of each update is marked in italics.

Updates: Amazon Marketplace

A few weeks ago, Amazon announced its intention to organize a second Prime event this year. Now, the official date has been set: on 10 and 11 October, the Prime Deal Days promise many discounted offers in several categories.

💬 In times of persistent consumer depression, deal events are needed to motivate consumers to buy. Prime Days can of course be used for this. However, it is questionable whether this will weaken Cyber Monday and Black Friday in the short term and whether too many of these events will weaken the effect in the long term.

In the Sponsored Display console, we discovered the new bid option "Cost Control". Depending on the selected bid optimization, the desired value is set and Amazon automatically sets bids based on this. The Cost Control metrics vary depending on the selected optimization (reach, visits, conversions) and allow better control over the desired results.

💬 It should be taken into account that by setting up the Cost Control function, manual editing of bids is no longer possible; insight into the amount of the bid is also affected. The function is currently still in beta and not visible in all accounts.

There are also innovations in the Advertising Console: Hourly reports can now be downloaded for sponsored product campaigns.

💬 This new update will help to know at what time of day a campaign performs best. We will definitely test this new feature and are curious to see how valid this data is.

In addition, there is now a new section in the Amazon Advertising Console called "Multi-country sponsored ads campaign manager". 

💬 So far we have only seen this function in the beta version in the Amazon Advertising Console , but in the future it could be particularly useful for reporting and converting currencies between countries, as it has already proven to be very useful in various other tools.

After first noticing the "Lowest price in the last 30 days" button for Prime Day on the Italian marketplace, we also spotted it on some product detail pages on the UK marketplace. 

💬 This button is part of the EU's Omnibus Directive, which requires retailers to inform consumers about the discounted price and the percentage discount of products. On the other hand, they must also provide information about the previous price at which the product was sold within the last 30 days.

The new update of the Helium 10 extension now displays the organic competitive share as a percentage for search terms on both product and brand levels. 

💬 This not only provides a good insight into the corresponding niche, but also shows which competitors should be targeted more closely. 

In addition to the main image, advertisers can now also consider the other gallery images in A/B testing in Vendor and Seller Central. 

💬 We have only discovered this function in the UK so far; it remains to be seen whether it will also be available for Vendors and Sellers in different countries in the near future.

News: Amazon

Amazon cancels planned fee for sellers

Only in August did Amazon inform merchants operating on its platform about the imminent introduction of the additional fee in the USA –  now the marketplace giant is withdrawing its plans.

• Amazon originally planned to introduce a 2% fee on top of the regular commission for Prime sellers in the US who ship their items themselves from 1 October.
• Now Amazon is cancelling these plans. The reason for this could be a pending antitrust suit with legal action by the Federal Trade Commission, which is looking at Amazon's efforts to force retailers to use its own logistics services.

💬 Amazon's cancellation of the 2% fee for independent shipping hints at legal caution amidst antitrust scrutiny, showcasing the ongoing challenge of balancing profitability and compliance.

New tools and a Sustainability Solutions Hub at Amazon

At the annual Accelerate conference, Amazon presented new tools for retailers and also wants to further relieve sellers in the delivery process with Supply Chain by Amazon.

• Amazon automates supply chain services with Supply Chain by Amazon in order to reduce logistical effort, optimize transport, reduce storage costs and simplify inventory management through automation. Sellers should thus be relieved and be able to focus on their products and customer satisfaction.
• At the Accelerate conference, Amazon will present new tools for retailers, including improved "Customer Sentiment Insights" to use customer feedback for targeted product development. In addition, the "Customer Loyalty Dashboard" sorts customer ratings according to loyalty and integrates them into advertising strategies.
• Also at the conference, Amazon will present the "Sustainability Solutions Hub", which enables retailers to monitor their sustainability efforts. Programmes such as "Climate Pledge Friendly", "Amazon Renewed" and "Ships in Product Packaging" are integrated. This hub will be available to merchants in different countries from the end of October.

💬 The initiatives presented show a clear focus on improving the vendor experience and promoting sustainability efforts.

Amazon Announces App Integration for Buy with Prime on Shopify Stores

• The "Buy with Prime" app is designed to enable Shopify merchants to offer Prime shopping to Prime members on their Shopify stores, providing fast, free delivery and easy returns through the Amazon delivery network.
• The integration is designed to make it easier for merchants to operate and use their existing Shopify settings; they will also retain control of customer data in the Shopify admin. Amazon Pay will be integrated with Shopify Payments.
• The app seems to represent a rather large advantage for merchants, as Amazon claims it increases shopper conversion rates by 25% on average.
• The app will initially be available by invitation to select Shopify merchants and will later be available to all US-based Shopify merchants. 

💬 With the new app integration, Amazon has once again succeeded in placing its services outside its own platform. This is also in line with Shopify's holistic approach, which is to enable its merchants to sell everywhere and thus give them more opportunities. 

After reserve change: Amazon Grants Longer Transition Period

It was only in August that Amazon introduced a change in the payment modalities for merchants, according to which, payments would in the future only be made seven days after the delivery date.

• Previously, merchants could debit revenues either immediately or seven days after the date of sale. The change was made to bring the basic guidelines for reserves in line with international standards.
• After some displeasure, the changeover, originally scheduled for August 3, 2023, will now be postponed until January 31, 2024.
• Merchants who have already converted also have the option to rescind the conversion until January 31, 2024; Amazon will also inform affected merchants* in an email.

💬 The longer transition period will benefit smaller traders in particular and will allow them to better prepare for the changeover.

News: E-Commerce

Zalando wants to appeal to customers with a new story format


Inspired by social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram, Zalando is launching "Storys" as a new content format to encourage customers to buy.


• The aim of the format is to encourage customers to discover fashion and culture through visual content that is seamlessly connected to the shopping experience and is editorially created. Partnerships with brands will also be entered into.
• Five different story series will be updated weekly to highlight the latest and future fashion trends on different channels. These include the specially created "Content Hub", the Zalando website, doe app and social media.
• The format will initially launch in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, with plans to expand to other markets in the coming year.

💬 The introduction of "Storys" reflects the growing trend in e-commerce to use social media-like content to meet changing customer demands and use it to enhance the customer experience and shopping experience.

eBay launches new listing tool with AI 

The new tool will allow sellers to extract item information from images, making it easier for sellers to post items and for buyers to get more details.

• The new image-based tool allows sellers to use AI to automatically generate titles, descriptions, release dates, categories, prices and shipping costs. First-time sellers in particular receive valuable support in creating competitive offers.
• Previously, sellers could use the AI to enter a title and category, from which it generated a description. Positive customer feedback led to about 30% of US sellers trying out the AI-generated descriptions in the eBay app.
• eBay aims to make the entire selling and buying process more efficient and engaging. This includes using AI to improve listing and image quality through an improved background removal tool for sellers.

💬 eBay's new AI tool underlines its efforts to improve the user experience and optimise the sales process. This makes the company competitive with the other big players that also use AI.

TikTok: Launch of "TikTok Shop" in the US & million-dollar fine for data breach

TikTok launched its shopping feature, previously introduced in the UK, in the US on 12 September. The Chinese company was also fined millions for violations of European data protection law.

• "TikTok Shop" allows both creators and brands to offer and sell products in their videos. In the US, dedicated fulfilment centres are already being set up and there is an affiliate programme where creators receive commissions for selling products.
• To promote the new marketplace, TikTok plans to offer significant discounts during the holiday shopping season and Black Friday and Cyber Monday events. The platform creates a lucrative incentive, even for small businesses, by offering merchants to subsidise discounts of up to 50%.
• At the same time, TikTok was fined 345 million euros by the European Union for allegedly violating European data protection law, in particular the GDPR.
• A central accusation concerns the handling of data of minors and their age verification during registration. TikTok has already responded, but disagrees with the amount of the fine and criticises the Commission for referring to practices from three years ago.

💬 "TikTok Shop" recently tried to compete with a TikTok-like feed called "Inspire" but had only limited success. Whether these attempts are sufficient to become a competitor is something we are watching with bated breath.

Zalando Shuts Down Ratings

The online marketplace is removing product reviews from its platform and instead offering a survey on product information to assess support for purchase decisions.

• In Europe in particular, many customers rely on product reviews when making online purchasing decisions, with fake reviews being a particularly common problem that has even been addressed by the European Commission.
• In the context of the body measurement feature introduced in July, this could be a test of the impact on conversion rates.
• Whether this is a permanent decision is unclear so far.

💬 Zalando currently seems to be running some tests on the impact on conversion rates. Especially in various LinkedIn discussions, we notice the displeasure about the deletion of the feature, so we are curious to see what further developments will look like. Zalando itself states that the proliferation of fake reviews and the fact that only 3 % of customers submit reviews at all led to their deletion.

Remdash: Case Study, Share of Voice

5 national Amazon marketplaces, hundreds of products, and one tool to measure brand presence.

Learn how Kellogg’s used Remdash to increase its visibility on generic keywords by +240% and sales by  +331%.

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