Amazon has
quietly expanded the ability for some brands to target advertisements to other brands in its Amazon Business marketplace.
Trevor George, founder at the agency Blue Wheel Media, which manages
more than 50 accounts, discovered the ability for one of its brands in the education and science space to buy and target ads in Amazon Business.
Robert W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian
estimates Amazon’s B2B volume will exceed $25 billion by 2021, surpassing the core B2C segment.
“We believe Amazon B2B over the very long-term has the potential to surpass the size
of the core B2C segment, and remains an under-appreciated opportunity by many investors,” he wrote in a research note published in 2018.
Accessibility to the ad platform is free, but the
ads are sold based on the cost per click.
The opportunity came without direction from Amazon on how to use the option, George said. It’s not unusual for Amazon to omit directions on how
to use a feature during the test phase, whereas Google usually posts some sort of direction in a blog.
“This is going to be big for brands that want to tap into Amazon's B2B
marketplace,” George said. “Even if you don’t think your products will be big for B2B, many customers use the B2B platform because of the benefits Amazon gives those who
use the B2B.”
Ads from the consumer marketplace can appear in the business marketplace, but this is the first time an advertiser can specifically choose to show their product on the
Amazon business marketplace, he said.
George said that previously a company selling staples could not advertise to the business looking to purchase office supplies in bulk. Now brands
that sell products a business is likely to buy can target ads to those who have registered on the business marketplace.
George said it might make sense for brands selling through Seller
Central to duplicate all campaigns and run them in both the consumer marketplace and the business marketplace.
In September 2018, Amazon Business said that in the U.S. it serves nearly
80% of the 100 largest enrollment education organizations, 55 of the Fortune 100 companies, more than half of the 100 biggest hospital systems and more than 40% of the 100 most populous local
governments.
Search Marketing Daily reached out to Amazon and will update the article with additional information.