Amazon drops out of Google Shopping

On 28 April this year, Amazon reportedly withdrew from Google Shopping. This is particularly interesting for two reasons.

Reason number 1
The first reason is currently based only on indications, but time will tell whether these assumptions prove to be correct. Some years ago, the EU ruled that it was anti-competitive for Google to display only visual adverts from its own price comparison system. These visual shopping ads are those that appear at the top of Google’s search results, such as these:

As a result, it was decided that Google must allow other price comparison services to bid for advertising space in Google Shopping. This created an opportunity for Amazon. As an advertiser on Google Shopping, Amazon has been able to collect valuable insights about users and their behaviour, bidding prices, and market trends.

Amazon already functions as a kind of shopping search engine for products – it is where many consumers go directly when they know exactly which products they require. Shopping is also where Google generates most of its revenue, making Amazon by far Google’s biggest competitor.

The data Amazon has gathered about user behaviour, market trends and bidding prices can now be used to improve its own PPC system, making it even more attractive to consumers. Smart move.

Reason number 2
It is also noteworthy that Amazon has withdrawn from Google Shopping because this will almost certainly result in a drop in advertising prices. Amazon is a giant company with virtually unlimited resources, and this has driven up the cost of Google Shopping adverts considerably. As a result, many smaller advertisers have been priced out, as it simply became too expensive.

If you are one of those who put Google Shopping on hold due to a limited budget, now is the time to take action. The conditions are unlikely to be better than they are right now. Exciting times.

Read more about how we can help you get started with Amazon marketing.

If you are interested, you can read more about Amazon in our blog posts:

What does it cost to sell on Amazon?
Amazon comes to Denmark – the pros and cons!