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Chris Moe and Jonathan Willbanks share facts, stats, and observations on Amazon during a sixty day period of COVID-19.

The last couple weeks have been slow on Amazon – flat to slightly down for most brands. In a move that’s probably related, Amazon has removed stocking limits, turned coupons on, and started accepting deals. This was faster than we expected and we suspect grocery will be entirely “ungated” soon.

What we have been seeing:

DEMAND – slower for May – flat to down across grocery. Most promo levers now active, some new ad formats

Sales have been flat to down (5-15%) for the first two weeks of May. This seems to span many grocery categories, including the formerly white-hot baking category. The trend is still up vs. Feb, but demand seems to be softening.

~5% of sales have shifted back to younger age groups (<45 years), as it was before COVID. 

Coupons are live again, and deals are being accepted. We mostly see deals available for early June, though a few brands have been able to do earlier. (Note: Vine is still inactive.)

Ship times estimates have continued a slow march back to 1-2 day speeds, although significant variation still exists. 

The window to accept Prime Day deals was extended to early June. We still think Prime Day will be at earliest in August or later (maybe even folded into Black Friday). 

New ad formats: enhanced sponsored brand ads display a second image, and sponsored brand campaigns can now target ASINs. We’re testing both as incremental levers. SC ads are now live in Amazon Advertising (formerly VC). 

A number of our clients had their items suppressed for using ‘flags’ on the main image that called out size or quantity. This affected Seller Central accounts only – Vendor was unaffected.

Insights shared include:

• Supply / logistics
• What grocery brands should do on Amazon
• Future outlook

Read the full article, Observations on Amazon amidst COVID-19 – 60 Days, on the Cartograph website.