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3 AMAZING EVENTS - 1 DAY in AUSTIN
DECEMBER 13

Austin, Texas is the place to be on December 13.

I am part of the team creating an unforgettable holiday experience for the e-commerce and internet marketing community benefiting a great cause.

It’s way more than just another networking party.

36 entertainers in a live interactive holiday experience

7 custom built installations (Santa’s workshop, Whoville, etc.)

Silent auction benefiting Watts of Love

White elephant gift exchange

Drinks and networking with 300+ e-com industry all-stars

Come dressed naughty or nice

Also featuring a live in-person presentation at 8:30pm from Hal Elrod, the author of The Miracle Morning, on “How to make 2024 your best year ever simply by changing how you start your day.”

If you are serious about e-commerce, you must be in Austin December 13.

DAYTIME:
Kayleigh Bendall’s high-level eClimb mastermind

EARLY DINNER:
Athena Severi’s elegant Titan holiday dinner (open to all)

EVENING:
Kevin, Amy, Chelsea and David’s Naughty & Nice Experience

STUMP BEZOS

Thomas Smith, in his 1885 guide “Successful Advertising” said it takes how many repeated exposures to build up customer awareness, interest and desire to purchase?

[ Answer at bottom of email ]

Girl Math on TikTok ?

? A lot of TikTok users are sharing how they justify their shopping habits by focusing on what they are saving rather than what they are spending. 

?? AMAZON MARKETING CLOUD is a GAME CHANGER

MAKE IT RAIN WITH AMC!

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) aggregates data from various sources within Amazon to gain insights into customer behavior. Use your own imagination and SQL ability to get next level custom analysis of your data.

If you don’t have technical ability, tools like XPN can help bridge the gap.

Brent Zahradink of AMZ Pathfinder recently spoke with Danny McMillan on Seller Sessions about the improvements Amazon has made to AMC.

Brent says it's a whole new playing field for Amazon sellers. Think of it as your behind-the-scenes strategist, giving you a panoramic view of customer behavior like never before.

This isn't about guessing games anymore; it's about data-driven, insightful strategies that can revolutionize how you connect with your audience.

Why is AMC a must-have tool in your arsenal?

Comprehensive Customer Journey Analysis: AMC goes beyond traditional advertising. It's like having a GPS for customer behavior, guiding you through the complex journey a customer takes. This isn't just about clicks and purchases; it's about understanding the story behind each decision.

Targeted Audience Building: With AMC, you can delve deep into your audience's mind. Imagine knowing who searched for your products but didn't buy or who wishlisted them for later. This level of targeting was once a dream, but with AMC, it's your new reality.

Exclusive Insights: AMC offers unique data, especially with 'new-to-brand' metrics for sponsored product ads. This means you can see which keywords are not just attracting clicks but driving actual, incremental sales.

Historical Data Advantage: Brent says the sooner you start with AMC, the better. It backfills 13 months of data, offering a rich historical perspective to inform your future strategies.

Free Accessibility: If your monthly spend on Amazon Sponsored Ads is over $10K, AMC is not just beneficial; it's essential. And the best part? It's free to use.

Click photo to listen to podcast

?? AFTER SUBMITTING an AMAZON REVIEW

Amazon using AI to authenticate customer reviews to weed out fakes

Prior to the publication of a customer review, Amazon deploys AI to scrutinize it for signs that may suggest the review is not genuine.

When there's a hint of review manipulation, Amazon adopts several measures. In cases where the review is conclusively deemed fraudulent, Amazon swiftly acts to either block or delete the review. They may revoke the review privileges of the customer, shut down accounts involved in such practices, and possibly engage in legal action against these entities.

In situations where a review raises suspicion but lacks conclusive evidence, Amazon’s team of expert investigators, trained in recognizing abusive patterns, conducts further examinations for more definitive signals before deciding on any action.

Throughout 2022, Amazon reported actively intercepting and blocking over 200 million reviews globally that were suspected to be inauthentic.

To combat the influx of potentially fake reviews, manipulated ratings, and fraudulent accounts, Amazon integrates cutting-edge AI technology. This includes the use of Machine Learning (ML) models that analyze various proprietary data points such as the seller's advertising spend, which could potentially lead to more reviews, as well as reports of abuse from customers, patterns of risky behavior, historical review data, and more.

Additionally, Large Language Models (LLMs) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques are employed to identify irregularities in this data that could indicate incentivized or counterfeit reviews, for example, those offered in exchange for gifts, free products, or other compensations.

Amazon also utilizes Deep Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to decipher complex patterns and connections, aiding in the identification and removal of networks of fraudulent actors.

Josh Meek, Senior Data Science Manager on Amazon’s Fraud Abuse and Prevention team, notes that superficial indicators in the complexity of distinguishing between genuine and fake reviews are not always reliable.

Rapid accumulation of reviews could be due to legitimate reasons such as effective advertising or the quality and pricing of the product. Conversely, poor grammar in a review does not necessarily imply it's fraudulent.

Read more about Amazon’s latest actions against fake review brokers, including several they got jailed in China, here.

? BLACK FRIDAY SALES UP 7.5%, CYBER MONDAY EXPECTED TO BE 20% BIGGER THAN BLACK FRIDAY

Online sales on Black Friday reached nearly $10 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics. Spending rose 7.5% compared to last year’s shopping holiday to reach a record $9.8?billion.

Black Friday hot sellers included electronics, toys, smart watches, TVs, gaming and games, Bluetooth headphones, smartphones, skin care products, cookware sets, and coffee makers.

Thanksgiving has become the de facto start of the holiday shopping season. People in the U.S. on Thursday spent $5.6 billion online, an increase of 5.5% over last year.

Adobe expected consumers to spend $4.8 billion?on Saturday; $5.2 billion?on Sunday, and $12 billion on Cyber Monday – which would be a 5.4% increase from last year.

According to data shared by BDSS Hawaii speaker Melissa Burdick of Pacvue, ROAS peaked at 6am PST on Black Friday, then generally decreased throughout the day. Ad spend peaked between 7-10am PST.

? HOLIDAY IMPACT OVERHYPED?

Does the holiday season's impact on retail get more attention than it deserves? Most assume retailers rake in a significant portion of their annual revenue during the last quarter of the year.

Indeed, they do, but the actual data offers a different perspective. In 2022, the holiday quarter represented 26.8% of annual sales, according to the US Census Bureau, which is only slightly higher than the 25% you'd expect if sales were evenly distributed throughout the year.

However, this impact varies greatly among different retail sectors. For discretionary retailers — those selling non-essential items, typically seen as gifts — the final quarter is crucial, accounting for up to 40% of their yearly sales, as reported by McKinsey.

This period is particularly critical for department stores, clothing retailers, and toy stores. For example, GameStop saw 37% of its annual revenue generated in the last three months of 2022.

On the other hand, certain retailers find the fourth quarter less impactful. Bookstores, for instance, only attribute 27.4% of their sales to this period, suggesting a consistent interest in reading year-round. Similarly, grocery stores saw 26.3% of their annual sales in the fourth quarter.

Amazon's financial forecast for the fourth quarter is $160 billion to $167 billion, a growth of 7% to 12% compared to 2022.

That equates to roughly 30% of Amazon’s annual sales coming in Q4. To prepare for the bump, they are hiring more seasonal workers than ever.

? SHOPIFY’S COOL BFCM REALTIME SALES DATA

Shopify has a really cool interactive page showing aggregated sales per minute from all their merchants over the BFCM period.

You can get a sense of how 43+ million shoppers around the world are buying, or zero in like I did Sunday on my hometown, Austin, Texas (see image below) where buyers were snatching up $10,418 of goods per minute.

A ticker on the bottom shows you trends by category. When I looked, vehicle parts and accessories are down 28%, but scarves and shawls were up 100%.

Click here to check your local city.

? LISTINGS to INFOGRAPHICS in ONE CLICK

Amazon itself says infographics can improve the conversion on a listing by 20%.

Ecomtent’s newest product launch uses the latest AI to enable you to generate optimized Christmas-themed infographics in one click – just in time for the holidays.

The cutting-edge AI takes the key details and images from your product listings, and displays them in an optimized format for conversion.

Want to be featured in this section? Use your referral link in this email to refer at least 10 active subscribers to get “Shouted-Out” free.

? Cheers to hoping you have a great Cyber Monday today.

See you on Thursday …

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
purchase culminates at the 20th exposure