Amazon rolls out a package-insert marketing program for other retailers
Retailers who want to market directly to Amazon’s customer base now have a means: sending pre-printed ad inserts inside the approximately 3 million packages Amazon ships monthly throughout most of the year, outside of the November-December holiday shopping period. But the big retailer only accepts 20% of marketers who apply for the program.
“Amazon screens the marketers and 80% of them don’t get in, because it wants to concentrate on large retailers and manufacturers with well-known brands,” says John Hardy, director of global accounts for International Direct Response Inc., which administers the program for Amazon.
Amazon charges $100 per thousand pre-prints, with discounts available for large-volume orders. Interested marketers contact Berwyn, PA-based IDR, which is also available at www.idronline.com. IDR will pre-screen marketers, but Amazon must grant final approval for inclusion in the program, Hardy says.
The program, which launched in January, is already processing 2 million inserts per month, Hardy says. Amazon tested the concept with marketers for two years before entering a full-scale test in November.
The program does not provide for segmented marketing based on customer demographics, geographic area or type of product. “The demographics for Amazon customers are rich enough that major marketers don’t need to segment them,” Hardy says. But the program is not for highly specialized products that must reach a narrow customer base, he adds.
Back...
