ESS: the secret platform that will make you change the way you manage display campaigns on Amazon

This article is for anyone that strives to learn more about Amazon Advertising. Mostly though, it is for vendors/sellers with internal capabilities, resources and skills to manage their own display campaigns. It is also for the advertising agencies that want to do more than Amazon PPC  / AMS. The below gives an insight into what is ESS and what are the advantages of using it [if any].

What is ESS?

ESS (Enterprise Self-Service) is a self-serve platform that you can use to manage display campaigns on Amazon. ESS includes most, if not all, of the features and solutions that the AMG team offers and manages on their side. The difference is that you are not booking the campaigns through an Amazon Account manager as you would do in the case of the more known AMG campaigns, but you book and manage campaigns by yourself. This is similar to the way you would be creating and managing AMS  / Amazon PPC campaigns.

What are the advantages of using ESS?

While not evident at a first glance due to its self-serve aspect, there are several advantages of using ESS. These might make you change your overall strategies when it comes to managing display campaigns on Amazon. Here they are:

• You get almost all of the features and solutions as the ones offered through AMG management: DSP /AAP, video, retargeting, etc.
  
  
• Updates and regular improvements – there is a dedicated team inside Amazon Advertising focusing on ESS specifically.
  
  
• No minimum budget required compared to AMG campaigns which require a minimum spend of 10,000 EUR/£/$ per month  – this is a huge advantage for someone that has a lower budget, but still wants to use display advertising.
  
  
• Saving on fees and costs – out of all the advantages of using ESS, I find this to be one of the most important ones and I will explain why. When booking the regular AMG campaigns, you are paying 25% of your budget to Amazon: 10% platform fee and 15% management fee. With ESS, you are only paying the 10% platform fee. There is no management fee, which means you are saving on overall costs and using more of your budget towards actually displaying your ads to people.  Read more about fees and costs with AMG in Costs to run display campaigns on Amazon: A look into AMG’s not so known fees to manage your campaigns
  
  
• Potentially better results – while this applies more to the vendors /sellers that have the internal resources and skills to manage campaigns, you can get better results via ESS. The reason is simple: ultimately, you are the one that understands the best your product and your brand, so managing the campaigns yourself might get you better results. If you don’t have the resources internally, but would still like to use ESS to avoid the 15% management fee, get in touch with us and we’ll manage them for you saving you both costs and getting you better results.
  
  

To note: ESS is not given to every vendor/seller, so it’s worth asking your Account Manager if they can give you access to it.

The disadvantage of using ESS is losing access to the Amazon team that was managing your campaigns. So, if you want to continue getting the help to manage your campaigns from Amazon, then ESS is not the solution for you.  If you feel that the above advantages outweigh the disadvantage, then go for it.