Amazon expands product targeting to Canadian advertisers

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This week, Amazon Advertising introduced its product targeting option for Sponsored Display ads to Canadian advertisers, the second country to get this option after it was rolled out in beta for the US in April.

Sponsored Display ads, previously called Product Display ads until November 2019, let brands reach customers via placements on product detail and other pages across Amazon and, for some advertisers, its third-party network. They can also be purchased on a CPC basis. Product targeting was then introduced for Sponsored Display in April this year for US sellers — an option that allows advertisers to target particular products as a consumer shops rather than target audiences based on their interests.

Product targeting can be particularly valuable to brands in two ways:

• Brands can promote complementary goods during a related purchase on Amazon: For example, an ad for a brand’s socks could be promoted as a shopper as they are purchasing the same brand’s shoes, prompting an additional purchase as they complete checkout.

• Brands can promote a product as a consumer views a competitor’s offering,  highlighting differences or promotional opportunities: A shopper actively exploring one brand’s products could be targeted with offerings that highlight a competitor’s own offerings. Furthermore, because Sponsored Display Ads can now support with deals and saving badges, a brand could also highlight a savings opportunity during that comparison. 

For Amazon, improving its Sponsored Display offering will help the ecommerce giant build a more all-encompassing suite of ad products as Canadian ecommerce sales see significant growth. Of the markets we cover, Canada is the ninth largest retail ecommerce market, and we expect total retail ecommerce sales to reach CA$52.04 billion ($39.22 billion) this year, a 20.7% growth from 2019, mainly due to the pandemic.

“The bulk of Amazon’s ad revenues come from bottom-of-funnel search ad products, including Sponsored Product ads,” said Nicole Perrin, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “We’ve seen data showing strong growth in top-of-funnel formats as well, through Amazon DSP. Bringing more options to the mid-funnel Sponsored Display offering continues to round out its suite of products for advertisers.”

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