Many retailers have mostly avoided putting ads on their websites and mobile apps because of the fear of annoying their customers or parrying them from actually buying stuff. That’s now starting to change thanks to Amazon.
In only a few decades, Amazon has turned itself into the third largest online advertising platform in the US, After the industry’s leaders Google and Facebook.
These advertisements will provide shoppers with more useful info to make their purchases and introduce them to new products they didn’t know about before. These officials said they’re carrying a slow and steady approach to adding more ads to avoid turning customers off.
However, in a worst-case scenario, retail web pages will load slowly because of the advertisements, and clients will get annoyed by local search results filled with sites that are sponsored and display banner ads. Some have griped this already happened at Amazon, together with sponsored listings clogging the top of pages and crowding out organic search results. Additionally, retailers will have to be careful not to discuss too much of their clients’ data, or they may gain a reputation like Facebook’s.
“It is such an easy cash, I’m sure advertisers are willing to pay a good deal because you have got customers right where you need them,” said eMarketer analyst Andrew Lipsman. “But they will need to be attuned to how much this is damaging the consumer experience since in the future they do not want to turn those customers away.”
The online retailer now takes up 8.8% of the $129 billion digital ad market in the US, making it the third biggest ad platform after Google (37.2%) and Facebook (22.1%), according to eMarketer.
Other popular internet destinations, including food delivery sites like GrubHub and ride services like Uber, are expected to join the crowd. More physical stores will come on board, too, taking advantage of their colossal visitor traffic, Forrester analyst Sucharita Kodali wrote in a December report titled Retailers: You’re The Next Media Moguls.
“It is the narrative of the internet, right?” Lipsman said of more ads coming to more sites. “It’s what always happens in the end.