Amazon Storefronts, also referred to as Amazon Stores, are used primarily as a branding tool.
The most difficult part of Amazon for sellers is having to compete with all the other products in search results and on listing pages. Amazon Storefronts resolve this problem, because they permit sellers to create a unique, brand-specific shopping experience, which helps to drive conversions and sales.
Amazon Storefronts permit brands to display all of their products in a single location, while further developing and marketing their brand story.
Sellers have more control over their messaging, giving them the ability to create a memorable, brand-specific shopping experience, far beyond what listing copy or A+ Content can provide. Instead of navigating thousands of online sellers, shoppers can interact on a more intimate "mom & pop shop" level through an Amazon store. Amazon allows any seller, agency, or vendor who manages a brand to create an Amazon Store as long as they have Brand Registry.
Benefits of an Amazon Storefront
- Build brand awareness
- Promote entire product catalog
- Highlight new products
- Increase the value of average order
- Increase effectiveness of Sponsored Brands Ads
Amazon's Store Insights
Amazon Storefronts also give sellers access to more comprehensive analytics through the Store Insights tool. Sellers can use the data from Amazon's Store Insights to optimize ad campaigns, analyze customer behavior, adapt their marketing strategy, and to execute changes that lead to more shopper conversions.
Sellers can discover metrics such as:
Visitors - the number of unique visitors in a selected date range.
Views - the number of views on your storefront.
Sales - the number of sales made in the past 14 days from store visitors.
Units Sold - the estimated number of units bought by visitors within 14 days of their last visit.
Attribution - allows sellers to gauge the Storefront's effectiveness compared to other forms of direct advertising. Attribution also permits sellers to determine what page of their store provides greater effectiveness for conversions.
These insights can be used to further refine the Storefront's design as well as the seller's overall branding and marketing strategies on Amazon.
How to Fully Leverage an Amazon Storefront
- Make the Store easy to browse. Products must be easy to scan, and sellers should focus on why their customers are there. Is it to find a solution to a problem? Is it to fulfill a desire for themselves or someone else? Sellers should keep these questions in mind so that their Storefronts lead shoppers to the ideal solution that they need.
- Place the most effective products front and center, so shoppers won't have to search hard for items commonly associated with the brand.
- Make best sellers noticeable to allow shoppers to easily locate products that other customers have rated well.
- Use content elements to show customer testimonials on how your product solved a problem for them.
- Don't neglect telling the brand story. Shoppers connect with a good story; sellers need to make sure that their brands are telling it.
- Follow the Amazon Storefront Formula: 15 Do’s & Don’ts’s.
How To Optimize Amazon Storefront for Mobile
Optimizing Amazon Stores for mobile devices is now a necessity for brands, as shoppers increasingly choose smartphones and other mobile devices to make purchases.
The most recent data reveals that 80% of shoppers are now using a mobile phone to browse products online, and 62% of shoppers have purchased something on their mobile in the last 6 months. Amazon makes up a significant considerable number of these sales.
In fact, two-thirds of Amazon Store visits are now mobile, according to Amazon. Sellers without mobile optimized Amazon Storefronts are leaving their brands vulnerable (losing traffic and sales) to competitors that have setup a mobile-centric shopping experience for their shoppers.
Sellers can unlock the door to a surge of new traffic and sales by focusing on...
Keyword Research – optimizing for mobile should start with performing comprehensive keyword research. Sellers should research the highest volume search terms, words and phrases and then incorporate them into their stores.
Product Descriptions – If possible, limit product descriptions to include only core information. This will prevent the shopper from having to scroll down the page.
Images - limit the number of product images to three on the header, so images don't appear cluttered on mobile.
Copy - the copy in the header should be less than 30 characters, allowing the size of the text to be increased to make it legible without overwhelming the header.
Content Order - make sure content appears in the right order. Because mobile screens are narrower and designed for faster scrolling, the order and layout of content is not exactly the same as on a desktop.
Call-to-Action Placement - choose an effective placement for the call-to-action button by considering how a visitor's eyes will flow while in the store. Consider the importance of above-the-fold elements, which are viewable before scrolling down. If the call-to-action button is placed at the bottom of a vertical tile, it is unlikely to appear above the fold, making it less visible to customers.
Smooth Checkout Experience - not every shopper is used to shopping on their phones so sellers need to do everything they can to make the entire process as clear and easy as possible.
Evaluate the Amazon Store on a Mobile Device
Assessing the Amazon Store on an actual mobile device (phone or tablet), is the best way to discover any errors that could affect the shoppers’ experience (e.g., oddly cropped images or font sizes that don't fit). Sellers should tap through pages and tiles to determine whether or not their Storefront is easy to navigate, and if the texts and graphics are easy to read.
Bonus Tip: If you don’t have a mobile device, or would live to test on a variety of devices, you can use free online tools like mobileReady to see how your Store will appear across different devices.
The Easiest Route To A Money Making Amazon Storefront
Amazon Brand Stores allow you to introduce your brand’s story to a wider audience, while giving your customers an immersive, user-friendly shopping experience that increases sales, repeat buyers, and builds loyalty.
Entourage’s Storefront Services can create a better shopping experience for your customers across mobile and desktop with a rich, customized, multi-media Amazon store. Click here to schedule a call for creating or revitalizing your customized Amazon Storefront.