Amazon shares its holiday shopping insights

Personalization has become the big buzzword in 2023 in the digital shopping space as consumers increasingly expect retailers to customize the products sold to them.

According to a McKinsey report, using personalization can reduce customer acquisition costs by 50 percent, increase revenue by 5 to 15 percent, and increase marketing ROI by 10 to 30 percent. Moreover, a McKinsey study found that 71 percent of consumers expect companies to provide personalized and tailored interactions, and 76 percent of consumers express feelings of frustration when this does not happen.

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To ensure a successful Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, Amazon leveraged personalization technology tools to help the e-commerce giant improve customer experience during the holiday shopping season.

“Our vision is that over time, we will create a completely personalized transaction event just for you as an Amazon customer or Prime member,” said Carmen Nestares, vice president of US Prime and marketing technology at Amazon. “We consider it a unique shopping experience that is tailored and selected for you, where all offers offered to you are precisely tailored to your specific shopping needs, interests and inspirations.

The company reported that from Prime Day 2022 to Prime Day 2023, it saw a 75 percent year-over-year increase in product purchases thanks to personalized recommendations. Amazon has extended its holiday shopping event to 11 days to include more deals on more days.

Nestares said Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday were the most personalized shopping event for Amazon customers to date. The top-performing personalized collections are: ‘Deals related to your wishlist’, ‘Over 4-star offers for you’, ‘Holiday gift offers for you in (category, e.g. Fashion, Home, Beauty)’ and ‘ Offers inspired by your latest views.”

While personalization was a major focus for retailers last year, it is part of Amazon Shopping’s DNA in 2021, Nestares said. The company first introduced a personalized offers category for customers, with lists of featured offers on the home page that are unique to each shopper.

“We want to meet the needs of customers who shop early and have offers for those who wait later – that’s why we’ll be rolling out new deals every day until December 24, helping customers save on a wide selection of products with fast delivery that will meet all your holiday needs throughout season,” Nestares told WWD.

Amazon’s best-selling categories include electronics, toys, beauty, fashion, fitness and home. The most important brands that can be found on the e-commerce platform in the “new and noteworthy” section include: BareMinerals, Coach and Hydro Flask.

During Prime Day 2023, the e-commerce platform increased the number of personalized recommendations from last year by more than 2.5 times, which in turn resulted in four times greater consumer engagement. In 2021, Amazon only had one personalized feature offer, while the company currently offers over 40 features.

New improvements to Amazon’s Personalized Recommendations include access to a “deals” feed in the “continue shopping” section with personalized deal recommendations pulled directly from consumers’ browsing history. Shoppers can also find deals on previous purchases using the “buy again” feature and at the top of the “buy again” section in the Amazon Shopping app, where customers can access the “deals” feed.

“We are introducing a new lists feature to help customers find deals on items they have previously saved to their lists,” Nestares said. “Previously saved items will now be automatically grouped into the appropriate product categories, and all saved contract items will be visible in one list.”

Nestares explained that Amazon’s recommendation algorithm is based on many factors, such as what products shoppers are browsing, previous purchases and additions to their lists. Consumers can also manage their recommendations by editing their browser history and excluding purchases that are irrelevant to their future recommendations.

“Amazon is investing in our long-term customer service strategy to provide Amazon customers with a personalized shopping experience,” Nestares said. “Our overall goal is to make the shopping experience as easy as possible for customers by finding deals that interest them based on their browsing history, likes, lists and past purchases, as well as discovering deals on new products they may be interested in.”

Amazon, which has more than 200 million paid Prime members and counting globally, will continue to use personalization tools to offer all its customers the best deals not only during the holiday season, but all year round.

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