Advertising+on+Amazon

**Advertising on Amazon**


Over the past few years, advertising on the internet has been by far the fastest growing segment of the advertising market. From 2006 to the second quarter in 2009, internet advertising has increased by 37.5 percent while the traditional media such as television, radio, magazines and especially newspapers have decreased by 30 percent (Sass 2009). The leading advertisers on the internet are those companies that do a lot of their business online (Hanson 2008). Even though advertising on the internet is important, and will become even more important in the coming years, it is still a comparatively little part of the advertising spending at about 2.5 to 5 percent of all advertising spending in the United States (Hanson 2008).
 * Overview of Internet Advertising**

Amazon was introduced in 1995 becoming the first [|online bookstore] (Lane 2008). In his article, John Authers states that “No company symbolized the dotcom boom better than Amazon.” This online selling concept became accepted quickly considering it was a new business and technology type. It was enhanced by all the attention to the web and its leadership (Lane 2008). According to Ralph Hanson in his Mass Communications textbook, Amazon (most notably) is a major alternative to both the chain and independent bookstores. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos began selling books online because he felt the Web was the only suitable way to offer the variety of books he wanted, “It turns out that you can’t have a big book catalog on paper; it’s totally impractical. There are more than 100,000 new books published every year…let Amazon.com be the first place where you can easily find and buy a million different books,” (Hanson 2008).
 * History of Amazon**

Some of the pros of internet advertising are that it is cheap, fast, and easily available interactive medium (Lane 2008). The internet also gives advertisers an arrangement of “interactive audio and video capabilities that can engage the consumer,” (Lane 2008). The internet “is among the most flexible media with an ability to change messages immediately in reaction to market and competitive conditions,” (Lane 2008).
 * Pros of Internet Advertising**

The cons of advertising on the internet are the amount of commercial and noncommercial websites that make it difficult for the consumers to figure out what is available to them or to have much time to spend on one individual site (Lane 2008). Also, with the rising popularity of the internet as a source of informal communication, some consumers are unwilling to use the internet for buying products and services (Lane 2008).
 * Cons of Internet Advertising**

Amazon.com has become one of these sources for advertising online. [|Plunkett] Research defines Amazon as, “an internet consumer-shopping site which offers millions of new, used, refurbished and collectible items” in a wide range of categories (Plunkett). With the Amazon Marketplace and Merchants programs it allows third parties to integrate their products on Amazon (Plunkett). Customers are also allowed to shop for products owned by those third parties using the features Amazon provides, it makes it easier on the consumer because they can “include multiple sellers in a single checkout process,” (Plunkett). Since Amazon has become credible, it would only make sense to put an advertisement on the site. Amazon offers a variety of advertising channels for benefit to the advertiser including online product ads, online display advertising, and [|Clickriver] ads (Amazon.com). Clickriver ads are ads that appear in front of customers who are already shopping for a product related to the service of the advertiser (ClickRiver.com). Clickriver specializes in helping guarantee the ad is placed so it is only seen by shoppers in the right locale. It also is convenient because the advertiser only “pays for the actual clicks – not just impressions,” (Clickriver.com). Customers can click on the advertiser’s website and buy directly from that site (Amazon.com). Although it is a good site to place your ad, there are many General Technical Guidelines to what type of ad a creator may place. Here are some guidelines: These are just a few of the guidelines listed on the site, there are many more guidelines and specifications for advertising on the [|Amazon] website.
 * Types of Advertising on Amazon**
 * · All Advertisements must be in-banner and not expand, either automatically or by mouse roll-over.
 * · All advertisements must not include pop-ups or pop-unders, nor may landing pages spawn pop-up or pop-under advertisements to a user.
 * · Amazon does not allow ads with flashing, excessive animation, “fake-winner” copy or fake functionality such as HTML Drop Downs or Search Forms.
 * · Ads must incorporate advertiser’s trademark. The messaging should not mislead the user (Amazon Services LLC).


 * Cost**
 * With product ads on Amazon, the seller can participate in the “cost-per-click” program that allows customers to see the products and price offerings by the advertiser.
 * The price of a click is usually about $0.10 to $0.30 per click.
 * Advertiser only pays for the actual clicks--not just impressions.

One of the biggest products advertised on Amazon is the [|Kindle]. Amazon is the official site of the Kindle, the wireless reading device that allows you to purchase and read a book, newspaper, magazine, or blog and read it wherever you go. All types of advertisements are found on Amazon.com. Some of obvious are books and electronics, but some of the others that are not as thought of are [|mp3 music], [|candy] from the decade you were born, [|shoes] and clothing, many types of accessories, and products for the many holidays and seasons. From Halloween costumes being advertised in October, to decorations for the fourth of July. Other types of advertising are credit cards, software for a computer and donations to the American Red Cross. Another feature of Amazon is when a consumer searches for something, Amazon “recommends” items that are similar to your search. If a shopper searches for a mystery genre, Amazon automatically gives another list of mystery books that the shopper might also like that is “similar” to the shoppers resent search. When it is time to go back to school for college students, Amazon is a cheaper option for buying textbooks. There are usually coupons or specials on textbooks from Amazon on the website or sent to the e-mails of previous shoppers.
 * Products on Amazon**



Advertising on the Amazon website is not as common and not as apparent as other websites advertising. Amazon mostly only advertises what they sell, with the exception of a few things here and there. It is a credible site that sells just about anything.

Amazon Services LLC,. (n.d.). //Advertise with Amazon//. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Advertising/b/?node=276241011
 * Works Cited**

Ante, S. (2009, September 28). At Amazon, marketing is for dummies. //Business Week//, (4148), Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1865232001&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=2319&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Authers, J. (2009, October 26). //Short view: amazon is ba-ack//. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1887202641&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1256694555&clientId=2319

Hanson, R.E. (2008). //Mass communication//. Washington DC: CQ Press.

Lane, W.R., King, K. W., & Russell, J.T. (2008). //Kleppner’s Advertising Procedure//. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Plunkett Research Online,. (n.d.). //Company profile - amazon.com inc//. Retrieved from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/ResearchCenter/Profiles/View.aspx?Industry=9&Company=AMAZON.COM+INC

Sass, E. (2009, September 8). Internet grows 37.5%, traditional media declines 30%, 2006-2009. //Media Daily News//, Retrieved from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=113045