As shopping online continues to grow, it is important for Ecommerce brands to stay on top of trends and ensure their products stand out from their competitors. According to Oberlo, there will be roughly 1.92 billion global digital buyers in 2019. Digital shopping has grown exponentially over the years and as digital experiences and automation become the norm, we can expect this number to continue to grow in the future. Ecommerce sales are also expected to account for roughly 14% of total retail sales in 2019.

If you already have an optimized ecommerce site for your products you’re already ahead of the game! But if you want to take further advantage of the mass amount of people who are continuing to shop online, check out some of the ecommerce ad options that are outlined below.

Google Shopping

Google shopping ads continue to dominate in the ecommerce paid media space. In case you are unfamiliar with these ads, Google Shopping ads or Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are promoted product SKUs that show in the search results page. The PLAs include a visual of the item, price and can include reviews and special promotions. Unlike traditional paid search ads, these ads are triggered based on keyword searches, PLAs are optimized based on information in your product feed and match that with a searcher’s intent.

Below are some tips on optimizing your product feed for PLAs:

1. Organize Content according to Google’s best practices
   1. Centralize product information
   2. Create a process to keep content updated
2. Optimize Product Titles to Make them Search Friendly
3. Use keywords in titles & descriptions
4. Utilize categories – the more detail you provide, the more visibility you will get Ex: Women’s Clothing > Shoes > Sneakers vs. Women’s Clothing > Shoes > Sneakers > Running Shoes > Nike Running Shoes – Black
5. Utilize Product Extensions
6. Use Merchant Promotions
7. Leverage Custom Labels
8. Write detailed descriptions
9. Use high quality product images

Bing Shopping Ads

Like Google Shopping Ads, Bing also offers a shopping ad format which also includes an image of your product, pricing details and reviews. To start Shopping Ads for Bing, you first need to create a Microsoft Merchant Center and upload a catalog of your products including images and other product info. To keep things simple, there is also an option of importing your shopping campaigns from Google into Bing.

Benefits to Using Shopping Ads on Google & Bing

1. These ad formats generally have a higher CTR due to their visual appeal and placement
2. Shopping ads generally bring in higher quality traffic since consumers are already searching for a product to buy
3. Campaign management is relatively simple
4. Larger ad presence on the search results page

While shopping ads on Google & Bing may dominate the paid ad space, there are several other platforms that are also working towards offering ecommerce ad solutions.

Amazon Ads

Amazon also offers a variety of ways for their sellers to advertise their products.

Amazon Sponsored Products: like PLAs but within Amazon. These ads sponsored product SKUs and are targeted based on keywords.

Sponsored Brands: these ads are more display in nature but appear at the top of a search results page and highlight multiple product SKUs along with the brand’s logo.

Stores: you can also create your own store experience in Amazon and drive ads to your store to further immerse someone in your brand.

Display Ads: these ads can show on and off amazon including other websites and apps

Amazon also offers customized ad experiences and their own DSP platform to buy ads programmatically.

Facebook Dynamic Product Ads

Facebook Dynamic Ads show the exact products a consumer was browsing through on your site when they are consuming content on Facebook and other affiliated properties. These ads are a great way to remarket to consumers that are already interested in your product. These ads are fairly low maintenance once you create your product catalog in Facebook.

If you have any questions on how to amplify your ecommerce strategy through paid media, reach out to Anvil today!