- The launch of Partner Opportunities provides partners with a scalable way to see recommendations for all the advertisers they manage with a single call or via the user interface (UI). Previously, partners could only get recommendations through the Ads Console UI (which required them to log into individual advertising accounts) or email. It’s noted that new recommendation types are being released regularly as Amazon gets more feedback from its users. The biggest benefit for Partners is the ability to access these insights across a full book of clients whereas in the past you would need to log into each account individually. Additional Details for Partners:
Sponsored Display Forecasting for Impressions
- Sponsored Display has launched a new API in the Amazon Ads API to help forecast impressions. Impression forecasting is available for Sponsored Display campaigns with contextual targeting and Amazon audiences. Forecasting helps advertisers understand the impact of their choices during campaign creation. Now advertisers can get the minimum and maximum range of available impressions inventory for a set of selected advertised products, optimization type, targeting, and bid values.
Walmart Introducing the Review Accelerator Program (RAP)
- The Review Accelerator Program encourages customers to share their feedback after purchasing an item on Walmart.com. When a customer purchases a product that is participating in the program, they will be asked to write a true, accurate, and honest review in exchange for a digital reward that can be used toward their next purchase on Walmart.com. Marketplace sellers will be charged a $10 service fee per each review and will only be charged for a maximum of five incentivized reviews per participating item. Regardless of the rating, all customer reviews will be posted on the item page and can be identified with an Incentivized Review badge.
- Net sales increased 9% to $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $137.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021. Excluding the $5.0 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased by 12% compared with the fourth quarter of 2021.
- North American segment sales increased 13% year-over-year to $93.4 billion or increased 14% excluding changes in foreign exchange rates.
- International segment sales decreased 8% year-over-year to $34.5 billion or increased 5% excluding changes in foreign exchange rates.
- AWS segment sales increased 20% year-over-year to $21.4 billion.
- Operating income decreased to $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021. Fourth quarter 2022 operating income includes approximately $2.7 billion of charges for changes in estimates related to self-insurance liabilities, impairments of property and equipment and operating leases, and estimated severance costs. These charges primarily impacted the North American segment.
- North American segment operating loss was $0.2 billion, compared with an operating loss of $0.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- The international segment operating loss was $2.2 billion, compared with an operating loss of $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- AWS segment operating income was $5.2 billion, compared with an operating income of $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- Net income decreased to $0.3 billion in the fourth quarter, or $0.03 per diluted share, compared with $14.3 billion, or $1.39 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2021. All share and per share information for comparable prior year periods throughout this release have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the 20-for-1 stock split effected on May 27, 2022.
- Fourth quarter 2022 net income includes a pre-tax valuation loss of $2.3 billion included in non-operating income (expense) from the common stock investment in Rivian Automotive, Inc., compared to a pre-tax valuation gain of $11.8 billion from the investment in fourth quarter 2021.
- Subscription Services grew 17% year over year on a quarterly basis.
- Final Thoughts: Amazon is still very profitable under AWS, subscription services, and advertising compared to other business vertices. Revenue from Amazon Sellers grew by 24%. However, Amazon’s net sales grew only 2%. Fee sellers are paying growing 20x faster than net sales growth. This will be a trend that slows down. Amazon has eclipsed Netflix as the top streaming service provider which helps with advancements in advertising. When comparing advertising results with other platforms, Amazon is doing very well. Google, Meta, and YouTube are all down in terms of YoY revenue (2% Google Search, 8% YouTube, 4% Meta). Amazon still maintains dominance in Net Revenue Share