Amazon is no longer just a shop; it’s an ecosystem of services. From AWS and Clean Rooms to Prime Video advertising. Understanding the full ‘Flywheel’ allows brands to leverage data far beyond simple product transactions.
Beyond the Buy Box: Understanding the Amazon Flywheel
To call Amazon a “retailer” is like calling the iPhone a “phone.” It is technically true, but it misses the point entirely. Amazon is a data company that happens to sell cardboard boxes.
The Ads Ecosystem Amazon Advertising is now the third-largest ad platform in the world, eating into Google and Meta’s share. Why? Because it has purchase data. Google knows what you search for; Facebook knows who you are; Amazon knows what you buy.
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) The real revolution is happening in the Amazon Marketing Cloud. For the first time, we can map the customer journey across devices. We can see how a Prime Video ad viewed on a Tuesday led to a search on mobile on Wednesday and a purchase on desktop on Friday.
The Takeaway Brands that view Amazon only as a sales channel are optimizing for the wrong metric. It is a branding channel. It is a data acquisition channel. When you invest in Amazon, you aren’t just paying for a sale; you are buying visibility in the world’s largest product search engine.