Prepping Your Amazon Strategy to Win All 2024

Embarking on a new year offers a fresh canvas for Amazon sellers to refine their tactics, overcome challenges, and ultimately, chart a course for success. From analyzing market trends and optimizing your online presence to embracing innovative technologies and fostering customer loyalty, there are many easy ways to prepare your brand for Amazon success all 2024.

Let's dive into the essential elements of prepping your annual Amazon strategy to ensure a year of triumph and Straight Up Growth!
 

Reflecting on the Past Year: Key Learnings and Insights

As Amazon’s e-commerce platform continues to change, with updates to the a9 algorithm, the addition of a second Prime Day called ‘Fall Prime’, and new AI and cloud-based marketing and customer engagement tools through DSP or Amazon Marketing Cloud. As a brand owner, these changes can be a lot to manage while focusing on your own growth. 

Reviewing annual performance is the best initial step before identifying this year’s goals for your brand. Here’s some milestones and metrics to keep in mind while reviewing your 2023 numbers: 
 

1. Overall Sales Performance: Analyze overall sales figures, including revenue, units sold, and average order value (AOV). Identify top-performing products and assess the performance of any new product launches.
2. Profitability Analysis: Calculate your profit margins by considering all costs, including product costs, shipping, Amazon fees, and advertising expenses. Evaluate the profitability of individual products and product categories.
3. Inventory Management: Review your inventory levels and turnover rates to avoid stockouts or excess inventory. Assess how well you managed inventory to meet demand during peak seasons.
4. Advertising Campaigns: Analyze ad performance, including click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS).Identify successful and underperforming campaigns and adjust future strategies accordingly.
5. Customer Reviews and Feedback: Monitoring customer reviews, feedback, and return rates can help gauge product satisfaction. Address any negative feedback promptly and consider incorporating positive feedback into your bullet points and Amazon A+ content.
6. Amazon Policy Compliance: Ensure compliance with Amazon's Prime and FBA policies and guidelines to avoid account issues. Continue to stay updated on any changes in Amazon's policies and adjust your practices accordingly.

Setting Clear Objectives for 2024: Goals and Milestones

Whether it's aiming for a specific revenue target, expanding product lines, or enhancing customer satisfaction, articulating well-defined objectives fosters a sense of purpose and accountability. These objectives serve as benchmarks against which sellers can measure their progress, identify areas for improvement, and celebrate achievements. 

Addressing any company-wide goals into channel specific goals for Amazon is key. These include any product expansion or new marketing channels. Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with each goal. These metrics could include sales targets, customer acquisition rates, conversion rates, and more.
 

Optimizing Your Amazon Listings & Content 

With new features within Amazon’s Marketing Cloud and DSP, Sellers now have more opportunities to create specific marketing channels and re-target existing customers. Staying on the pulse of new opportunities from Amazon can help keep your brand ahead of competition! 

All Amazon listings should be reviewed regularly to ensure any product verbiage and images are up to date. Amazon is frequently creating new image slots and templates within your Amazon storefront to advertise your products similarly to DTC. 
 

Competitor Analysis: Identifying Strengths and Opportunities

As part of your annual review and SWOT analysis, keep external factors including your main competitors in mind. Reviewing their Amazon listings, website, and marketing campaigns can help hint at any weaknesses and potential opportunities for growth.

Here’s some tips for assessing your competitor’s performance: 

• Analyze competitor product reviews to identify common customer complaints or issues. Look for any patterns within negative feedback related to quality, customer service, or specific product features. Address these concerns in your listing!
• Monitor your competitors' pricing strategies, including when they do seasonal promotions or sales. Creating a competing offering or campaign could drive some traffic to your page. 
• Track competitors' stock levels and product availability. Frequent stock-outs or prolonged unavailability can signal weaknesses in their supply chain or inventory management. Push your competing product when theirs is out of stock!
• Conduct keyword research to understand how well competitors are optimizing their product listings. Identify gaps in their keyword strategy and leverage these insights to enhance your own product visibility.

Innovative Marketing Strategies for Maximum Impact

After you’ve set your strategy, it’s time to prepare the marketing campaigns to drive traffic to those new products and promotions! Beginning any marketing campaign 2-3 weeks before a sales promotion is key to ensure potential customers have viewed your product enough times to convert. 

Keeping in mind any increased seasonal traffic, including Amazon’s promotional days like Summer & Fall Prime, Black Friday, & Cyber Monday. Updating your captions and bullet points to include any seasonal notes can also be helpful in increasing conversions. 
 

Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations: Strengthening Alliances

Many brands don’t conquer this strategy alone, they utilize their network of partners to win throughout the year. 
Here’s some strategic partners all the best Amazon brands have: 

• Data + Tech Partners: Tech stack for tracking your Amazon performance, including advertising, supply chain, and compliance metrics 
• Content Partner: Creating images and bullet points for Amazon listings, storefront, and any advertising/marketing campaigns
• Amazon Partner: Many key brands will use an Amazon agency to take care of all tracking, advertising, and reporting done by one team in one place. 

To learn more about the services of the leading Amazon Advertising agency, read about Straight Up Growth’s services.