While the eCommerce industry is constantly changing, requiring advertisers to adapt, perhaps no disruption has been as great as COVID-19. The spread of COVID-19 has seen an increase in online sales and a slowing down of supply chains around the globe, which has changed the ecommerce landscape for online sellers on Amazon and Walmart.
Pacvue’s Matt McGrory and Riku Laitasalo joined for a recent webinar to discuss Amazon & Walmart Advertising Strategies During COVID-19.
One of the things that brands may encounter is out-of-stock items for in-demand products or for products affected by production or supply chain disruption. By staying flexible and implementing proactive advertising strategies, you can overcome supply chain-related bottlenecks and generate profits during these times.
Check out the video and the tips below for Amazon and Walmart advertising strategies for out-of-stock items you can use right now, whether you are currently experiencing inventory shortages or if you anticipate issues from long-term supply chain constraints. With more than 23.4 million first-time online grocery customers in the US during March 2020, these tips can help you respond to the latest consumer buying trends.
Direct Sponsored Brand Advertising Towards Brand Store
Responding to out-of-stock items is one of the many reasons your brand store is an attractive landing page option for eCommerce advertising and why we recommend Sponsored Brand ads. While your ad units continue to run regardless of availability of product, you may not want to send them directly to a product page that features an out-of-stock item.
Using your brand store instead gives you the option to highlight in-stock products, educate new customers about your brand, and craft a strong experience for the shopper. Amazon has recently added the ability to change brand store creative mid-flight to give you more control over your messaging.
Build Up Your Second Tier ASINs
If your highest selling products, or hero SKUs, are out-of-stock, this is a good opportunity to shift a portion of your advertising budget to your tail ASINs. You also have the ability to highlight second tier products in your Sponsored Brand creative.
Legacy distribution may already show up high organically and can take a short decrease in advertising spend without hurting its organic results significantly. On the same note, your second tier ASINs can unlock new organic growth for a massive impact with even a short-term reallocating of advertising spend.
Targeting Ad Spend
Dealing with out-of-stock items requires you to have better control over how your ad send is allocated. Aim to optimize your programmatic bidding rules, prioritize campaigns that offer a good balance of sales volume and return on ad spend, and leverage automation to drive ad performance.
Your advertising should also aim to optimize your order value and lifetime customer value. Focus on promoting items on Amazon with high Subscribe & Save rates to increase repeat purchase likelihood. Focus on higher count or pack size variants of promoted items to increase average order value.
