Merchant ads of the future favor ecommerce platforms where users are in active mindset of shopping. It is better to show a mother diapers from your Amazon-native estore, when she is browsing diapers, than on Facebook when she is posting baby photos, or on Google when she is searching how to use diapers effectively.
Amazon merchant ad conversion rate will be higher, ahead of whatever Facebook and Google offer. For merchants, Amazon ads will send dollars faster to bank accounts, Facebook will give likes on profiles, and Google will send traffic to websites; Amazon wins.Amazon wins because most merchants do not even bother having physical stores anymore in America; the stores are in Amazon.com and the fulfillments are handled by Amazon. Those merchants’ jobs are simply to get people to buy – from them! Jumia and Konga must learn lessons here.
Largely, depending on your priorities – I will vote for more money to bank accounts – I see a huge opportunity for Jumia and Konga as they deepen their platforms. Yes, the ecommerce companies can anchor something that will unlock local merchant advertising in countries they operate.
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Simply, active shopping ads within ecommerce platforms look promising. Because merchants are big advertisers, there is disintermediation coming to that category in Facebook and Google businesses.
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