A new Account Health Rating presents a single metric that shows how well sellers are complying with Amazon rules.
An Amazon image depicts the Account Health Rating. (Courtesy photo)
Amazon is making improvements to a tool that helps third-party sellers stay aware of whether they are up to date on complying with account policies that the company sets out.
For the two million sellers on its marketplace, Amazon will now provide a metric that’s designed to provide an overall picture of where sellers stand, as opposed to only providing a list of violations. Known as the Account Health Rating, it will appear as a score of 1-1000.
Along with simplifying the presentation for sellers, it will also be an enforcement mechanism. Amazon said this number will be the “determining factor for account suspension based on accumulated policy violations.”
The rating will additionally detail whether the account is “Healthy,” “At-Risk,” or “Unhealthy.”
Alongside the number, sellers will be able to see the severity of any violations they’ve incurred, and prioritize the most important issues for correction. Amazon said it is also adding support team resources to respond to queries over the phone, or via email.
Some of Amazon's seller policies include requirements to provide accurate information, and prohibitions on things like influencing reviews or ratings and maintaining more than one account without a legitimate business need.
“We’re excited to help sellers better understand exactly where their account health stands, prioritize potential issues, and ensure that their account status remains healthy so they can focus on selling amazing products and growing their businesses,” wrote Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon VP of worldwide selling partner services, in an announcement. “This is one of many new offerings we are rolling out to improve sellers’ overall experience.”
Amazon plans to roll out the Account Health Rating in the US and Canada beginning in August, with additional countries gaining access in 2023.
In all, Amazon said it provides more than 150 tools and services to third-party sellers.
The company is also in the early stages of rolling out Amazon Seller Wallet, a tool for converting funds from Amazon to their bank account.
"This early stage solution gives sellers an easy, hassle-free way to hold, view, and transfer Amazon store proceeds directly to their bank account on their schedule—all within Seller Central," which is Amazon's hub for managing accounts, Max Bardon, VP of Amazon Worldwide Payments, wrote.
Now available to a select group of sellers, Amazon said it is planning to collect feedback, make improvements and expand the scope of the tool to other uses, such as third-party payments and foreign exchange rate tools.
It has been a time of flux for third-party sellers lately. Amazon has been increasing various fees for Fulfillment by Amazon, the logistics service used by many sellers. Most notably, it added a first-of-its-kind fuel surcharge to account for inflation in April. The same month, it introduced Buy with Prime, a service that will allow sellers to embed Prime checkout and the delivery guarantees that come with it on websites beyond Amazon.com. On the recently-completed Prime Day, Amazon said the growth of third-party seller sales outpaced Amazon’s, adding that customers spent over $3 billion on more than 100 million items from small businesses included in a program called the Support Small Businesses to Win Big sweepstakes.. Nevertheless, sellers have said they face the same challenges with supply chain snarls and overstocked inventory as Amazon and other retailers.The quick commerce marketplace is partnering with Rokt to expand beyond CPG advertising.
(Photo via Gopuff)
In some ways, retail media campaigns function like promotions in a brick-and-mortar store.
With retail media, brands can reach customers with advertising on the websites where shopping is taking place. This proximity to the point of sale provides an opportunity for brands who are already selling within a marketplace to take advantage of opportunities to elevate their position in search results, and stand out from a crowd of listings. This is the same goal that many brands have when they purchase highly-trafficked space in a store. But instead of checkout aisle and endcap placements, there are now sponsored products in search results.
But that’s not the end of the story.
The fact that retail media is internet-based and powered by first-party data collected at the purchase level is poised to open up new opportunities to reach consumers that go beyond today’s norms.
One such example is the introduction of non-endemic advertising. This allows brands that aren’t directly selling a product within a marketplace to purchase ad space.
Why would a brand want to advertise in a place where they can’t make a direct sale? The thinking goes like this: The marketplaces have the audience, and the data on them that allows for precise targeting. They can be places to learn about a new product, just as much as they can be a place to buy.
One early example of the recognition of the opportunity in non-endemic advertising arrived this month. The quick delivery marketplace Gopuff partnered with ecommerce technology company Rokt to enable brands outside the CPG category to advertise on Gopuff’s app.
Under the hood, the companies are combining machine learning technology from Rokt that is designed to present relevant offers to customers with a Gopuff audience that is made up of Gen Zers and millennials, engaged and curious about trying new brands.
The partnership will enable advertisers to target customer segments by demographic and location. Customers will also receive offers to try new brands, such as Hulu, AdoreMe and Noom.
What sets this advertising approach apart will be the consumer categories where it is focused. Typically, ads on Gopuff are focused around the convenience store items already available on the app. Now, shoppers will see other kinds of products in the mix, and they will click through to checkout pages that are outside Gopuff if they are interested in buying. This also has the potential to change how advertisers approach media spend. It means everyone from a sporting goods brand to a car company can now consider Gopuff as they plan. They must also consider how these channels work together as a whole.
"We are thrilled to partner with Gopuff and enhance its ad business, helping it move beyond the CPG category," said Elizabeth Buchanan, CCO of Rokt, in a statement. "By delivering relevant offers to Gopuff users, Rokt will help Gopuff Ads' brand partners across all categories create more meaningful customer connections and drive incremental sales."
The partnership underscores how retail media networks have three key building blocks for digital advertising: They’re a destination that people visit with an intent to shop, they have the audience that brands want to reach and they have data that can help to reach the right consumers.
It points to how ecommerce marketplaces can not only become the new store, but also emerge as ad networks like Facebook and Google before them. It’s a big reason why retail media networks have exploded over the last year, and why growth is forecast to continue to accelerate.
