The digital advertising space is getting more competitive as Google and Amazon race to crack our selling and purchasing habits.
Amazon and Google are among the top four most valuable companies in the world, and have both been strategically moving their chess pieces in an effort to be the first, the best and the only solution to our problems.
We’re used to Google and Facebook fighting over our dollars, but the real competitor here to watch out for is Amazon.
Google’s push into retail
Google’s SERP (search engine results page) is made up of text and product ads (Google Shopping). Google shopping is a shopping search engine from Google that allows people to find products for sale from online retailers.
Only those who pay for PLA’s (product listing ads) are included in Google Shopping.
According to Adobe’s Digital Index, spend on Google Shopping has surpassed that of text ads in every market, especially when it comes to mobile ad spend where Google Shopping is far more profitable.
Due to the success of these shopping ads, Google added a “purchase on Google” option into the mix, allowing shoppers to complete a purchase without ever leaving the interface.
The Collision
As Google experiments with larger and more prominent placements for its product ads, we’ve seen quite a resemblance to the Amazon results page as you can see below.
https://searchengineland.com/giants-collide-googles-impending-showdown-amazon-294689
Google’s addition of a “buy button”, Shopping Actions and Google Express is definitely an attempted “checkmate” against Amazon.
But wait, there’s more.
Amazon and Google are also both fighting to own the logistics industry.
Amazon has leased 40 cargo planes and invested $1.5 billion in a cargo hub to keep them. Amazon had also invested in delivery technology with a fleet of drones and a doorbell that gives the delivery man access to your house to drop off your goods safely inside your home.
Google on the other hand owns Waymo, a self-driving tech company, making Google a strong player in the driverless car industry.
The competition to owning logistics continues and we’ll be keeping a close eye on this.
Why Should You Care?
According to a report from Adthena, who analysed 40 million ads in the U.S and UK, American retailers spend 76.4% of their search ad budgets on Google Shopping ads and generate 85.3% of their clicks there.
Google has been dominating advertising for the last ten years, however, research has now found that 55% of consumer product search queries start on Amazon, not on Google. The intent on Amazon is very clear; people go there to buy.
As with anything a good amount of trial and error goes a long way to work out which channel works best for your company.
Here are some tips for advertising on Google and Amazon.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on these two giants and what they’ll offer next.
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Tags: Amazon, google, Google shopping
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About Anika
Anika is our digital marketing creative and social media guru, with a passion for everything design and user experience optimisation. She's passionate about strategising new campaigns and utilising her knowledge of the psychology behind the consumer’s journey.
Outside the office she spends most of her time outdoors or trying to be the ultimate master chef.