On March 24, Amazon announced through a Seller Central notification that it will be merging self-service advertising platforms for sellers and vendors onto one platform. Amazon advertising management for 3rd Party (3P) accounts will move from Seller Central to the existing Amazon advertising console, currently exclusive to vendors (1P). 3P store management will also be transitioned to the advertising console. This change will be rolled out over the “next few months,” as written in Amazon’s blog post detailing the announcement.
This seems to be part of Amazon’s on-going effort to sync up advertising experiences for 1P and 3P brands. In the past, sellers (brands who use Amazon’s platform to sell direct to consumer) and vendors (brands who sell directly to Amazon Retail) have had very different advertising capabilities.
Campaign ad groups were available only to sellers, while Amazon Sponsored Display ads were available only to vendors. Recently, Amazon has been opening up these restrictions and expanding its offerings. Now sellers and vendors have the same advertising and reporting options. The major difference left between the two is the self-service interface look and feel.
The Amazon Advertising console, previously called Amazon Marketing Services or “AMS,” is currently only offered to vendors. Its unique features include a notification system and a modern, user-friendly appearance. Sellers can only advertise through Seller Central, which is the same portal used to manage ecommerce and view organic account performance.
After the merge is complete, 3P accounts will use the same interface and have access to the same features that 1P accounts enjoy in the advertising console. Amazon Store management and design will move to the advertising console for 3P accounts, in addition to advertising reporting.
The goal of this transition is to improve both user experience and to separate organic ecommerce management from advertising. Amazon’s recent blog post about the transition references user feedback and acknowledges that the advertising console’s interface provides “easier navigation.” It also states that “all advertising management” will move out of Seller Central, indicating the separation of advertising management and ecommerce operations.
Amazon continues to expand its advertising offerings, and frequently introduces new ad formats and betas to help brands reach customers. This expansion of the advertising console further demonstrates that advertising is top of mind for Amazon.
Seller login credentials will remain the same once advertising management is moved to the advertising console. All account settings and data will remain intact. Amazon did not announce if brands with both 1P and 3P accounts will have the option to combine their account data into one login.
Read Amazon’s full announcement here.
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