I had the rare opportunity to spend a few minutes digesting the latest report from Hitwise: Amazon Analytics 2018 Report. I wasn’t shocked so much by the findings, as we at Anvil Media are vested in helping clients market via the online retail giant. The report did share valuable insights into Amazon’s investment strategy and the subsequent impact of Prime Day on the top 50 retailers. Below are a few of my observations.

1. Over the past year, Amazon dominated the top 50 E-retailers with 44% of traffic and 76% of transactions. It should be noted that Amazon’s traffic share was larger than the next 14 retailers combined.
2. In terms of overall traffic, Walmart and Apple are dwarfed by Amazon, yet they still have a strong presence relative to other retailers with nearly 15% of the remaining market share.
3. In terms of transactions, Amazon is more effective at generating conversions from visitor to purchase, turning 44% of traffic to 76% of transactions. Target moves to third place behind Walmart for transaction share, but with only 1.3% of transactions (vs. Walmart at 5.4%).
4. Not surprisingly, Amazon also owns conversion rates at 6.6% of transaction share (more than 6 times higher than Home Depot). Amazon’s conversion rate is 181% higher than the average. Shutterfly & Fandango are also above 4%, in second and third place respectively.
5. Major retailers are losing ground to Amazon, thanks to a growing audience of Amazon-only buyers (currently 47.3M Americans). Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Apple are the biggest losers in this category.
6. Prime Day outperforms Black Friday & Cyber Monday in transactions (over 2 days) and Prime Day shoppers are buying earlier (the day before Prime Day) than previous years. Not everybody loses with Amazon’s retail dominance. Other retailers benefit from piggybacking Prime Day with summer sales. Target a saw the largest increases in conversions & purchases, relative to Prime Day, beating out Amazon.

Understanding the complexities of Amazon can provide opportunities and hope for companies. While Amazon dominates as an E-retailer there is room for brands to be competitive on the site and generate significant income. Contact Anvil today for an Amazon Shopping Audit and Plan and learn how to grow your business using Amazon.

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