Amid all-time high inflation, this year’s much-anticipated annual Prime Day event still proved to be the biggest event ever. Amazon reported that customers purchased more than 300 million items during the 2-day event, mentioning that some of the bestselling items were products from the beauty category, Apple Watches, diapers, and kitchen and household items.

In this post, we’ve gathered some insights around Search and DSP advertising from Prime Day 2022, as well as some key tips and tricks for future planning and preparation. These takeaways are based on some preliminary data from a cohort of Pacvue advertisers and what our team of expert practitioners saw during the event.

Search Takeaways

Amazon Sponsored Ads, also known as Search, include Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. These pay-per-click (PPC) ad types are very competitive during tentpole events like Prime Day, as these ads often drive direct conversions and, therefore, sales. They can be especially important for brands that are not running deals during Prime Day but still want to win the top of the search engine results page (SERP) on Amazon to take advantage of heightened traffic during the event.

• Based on first-party data from Pacvue, ad spend on Amazon sponsored ads during Prime Day was 252% higher than the prior week’s average daily spend. This reflects a 36% growth in Prime Day ad spend year-over-year.
• Most of the increased ad spend came from Sponsored Products, up 281% week-over-week on the first day of Prime Day and up 258% on the second day. Sponsored Products ad spend increased 48% on both Prime Days year-over-year.
• The second day of Prime Day saw higher CPCs than the first day. Sponsored Products CPC on the second day was $2.08, compared to $1.90 on the first day, reflecting a 75% week-over-week increase. Sponsored Brands CPC on the second day was $2.05, compared to $1.87 on the first day, reflecting a 26% week-over-week increase.

DSP Takeaways

Amazon DSP is a type of display advertising that enables brands to target customers both on and off Amazon. Amazon DSP helps brands target top-of-funnel shoppers that may not be aware of specific products or deals.

• Based on a cohort of Pacvue advertisers actively leveraging Amazon DSP, we found that average CPM increased 36% during Prime Day, compared to the two days prior. For some advertisers, CPM increased by more than 75% above normal levels.
• Anecdotally, we're seeing more and more brands lean into DSP advertising to maintain a competitive edge.
• The high traffic volume of Prime Day helped to bolster brand awareness with new customers. A cohort of Pacvue advertisers achieved a 357% increase in total new-to-brand purchases during Prime Day, when compared to the lead-in period. Amazon DSP can be one important way to drive incrementality and growth.

Other Takeaways from the Event

As brands now shift to prepping for Q4, Prime Day is a useful indicator of consumer behavior and Amazon performance.

• CPG categories, including household essentials, were major players during Prime Day this year, even though the event typically skews towards electronics and other big-ticket items. This year, 9 of the top 60 deals on the Prime Day Deals page were CPG grocery and essential items. The Health & Household category saw a 192% increase in ad spend and 46% increase in CPC week-over-week, according to Pacvue first-party data. In contrast, last year ad spend in the Health & Household category increased only 82% on Prime Day week-over-week, and CPC was up 25%.
• The difference in the Grocery category was even more pronounced. This year, ad spend in Grocery increased 107% on Prime Day week-over-week and average CPC increased 41%. In 2021, the category's ad spend increased 42% and CPC increased a mere 9% week-over-week.
• Back to School had a huge spotlight during Prime Day, both in terms of the on-site experience and online advertising around Prime Day. However, most of the items running deals around Back to School were in the home and kitchen category, which mirrors the trends that consumers were shopping for necessities and everyday products.
• For the first time ever, Prime Day deals were available off Amazon, via the Amazon "Buy with Prime" initiative.
• While there has been some uncertainty about the future of Amazon's private label business, private label products certainly had front-and-center stage during Prime Day. 14 of the top 60 deals on the Prime Day Deals page are Amazon private label products.

Tips and Tricks from Prime Day 2022

The following takeaways are comprised of five use cases of key tips and tricks advertisers should keep in mind when preparing for future tentpole events on Amazon.

1. Leverage Dayparting for a Strong ROI: Although there is high traffic on both days of Prime Day, there are peaks and valleys when the most traffic occurs. This is a great opportunity to use Pacvue Dayparting as it allows you to control when and where you spend the most budget to ensure strong ROI.
2. Target New-to-Brand Customers for Incremental Gains: Making sure to target New-to-Brand customers in some cases is even more beneficial than retargeting ads, especially in cases where incrementality is important as you create a new target pool for future DSP ads.
3. Automate with Rules to Ensure Strong ROAS: Knowing where to drive advertising dollars during Prime Day is essential to making sure you have stronger ROAS. With the Pacvue Rule Library you can create rules to ensure that even when you’re sleeping, Pacvue is increasing bids and budgets for strong performing campaigns and decreasing where performance is low.
4. Leverage Auditing Tools to Ensure Retail Readiness: Conversion rate is crucial when CPC and CPM are at an all-time high. The Pacvue Auditing tool allows you to make sure all your PDP pages are optimized and retail ready to capitalize on the high traffic during Prime Day. This saves you hours of manual work.
5. Gain Competitive Advantage with a Full DSP Strategy: To maintain a competitive advantage, most brands are not only investing in DSP ads but also are maintaining an “always-on” strategy, moving away from the past where DSP ads were seasonal and used as an added bonus to Search ads.

Use these key insights, takeaways, and tips to build out your future strategies for success during Q4 and other tentpole events on the Amazon in the coming months. Contact us today to learn more about the Pacvue Platform and how our team of experts can help scale your brand on Amazon and across dozens of retailers.