In It To Win It

This report is a collaboration by Bobsled, an Acadia company, and Analytic Index

Amazon's native advertising solution Sponsored Ads is an obvious growth engine for many brands seeking to increase market share or retain existing market share.

But many brands wonder to what extent Amazon is 'pay to play'. If they suddenly turned the ads off, what would happen? If they want to grow market share, is it necessary to adjust ad spend accordingly?

In partnership with marketplace analytics solution Analytic Index, we analyzed hundreds of brands in major selling categories, to establish the relationship between ad spend and sales outcomes.

We also spoke with digital leaders from companies like LEGO, Ghirardelli, Hain Celestial, and Jelmar, to answer their biggest questions on this topic, including:

  • What is the relationship between Sponsored ads and organic ranking on Amazon?
  • How much "real estate" is taken up by sponsored placements in various categories?
  • Which product categories are more 'pay to play' than others?
  • How much is enough with ad spend? What is the point of diminishing returns?
  • Does the requirement for ad investment change along the brand and product maturity curve? ( new brands versus a mature brand)
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About the Research

This research report is a collaboration between Bobsled, an Acadia company, and Analytic Index, an ecommerce analytics provider for brand manufacturers.

The quantitative research is based on over 4 billion data points collected during Q2, 2022. The primary analysis was based on 21,063 categories within Amazon’s 21 main product departments. 349,832 keywords were tracked across over 11 million items.

Analytic Index used its proprietary method of tracking Amazon best seller ranking and sponsored ad spend across these brands.

The resulting analysis is a unique perspective on the interplay between ad spend and organic sales performance.

This 12-page research report includes a framework to understand whether your brand needs more or less advertising investment relative to peers, the “Sponsorship Lift Matrix”

  1. What percentage of search results are organic versus sponsored, by category
  2. The point of diminishing returns for advertising
  3. Is an “always on” strategy worth it?