Should you utilize Google Ads to drive traffic to Amazon Product Listings?

There has been a lot of buzz about this topic recently among eCommerce Marketing Professionals.

Recently a company introduced software they claim can track Google Keyword Conversions for Amazon Purchases, & partnered with a well known Amazon software company to run a test.

There objective was not to show the benefits of directing Google Ads to Amazon as opposed to a DTC website, but rather to show the benefits of Google Ads directing to Amazon over Amazon PPC.

Here are some of my thoughts regarding the results.

1) They showed that the Google Campaign produced an ROI of 45% vs Amazon PPC of 60%+ . Frankly, for 95% of products, neither of these campaigns would be profitable.

So at best, the results show that Google Ads can do better than a badly run Amazon Campaign, but not to the point where it is profitable.

2) If you look into the report, they added 2 new product variations to the subject listing at the same time they ran the Google Ads. This should have objectively disqualified the study of having any practical use.

(This report was posted on both companies website, only one of them disclosed the fact that new variations were added at the same time)

3) The product they chose achieved top of search results on Google with just an $.88 bid, that is much lower than average (niche product), with most products the cost would be much higher.

4) A thorough study should show sales tracking over a 12 month period to account for seasonality and anomalies, their presentation showed limited screenshots and data over a 4 month period.

The fact is that there are number of advantages in directing Google Ads to a DTC website as opposed to directing to Amazon

1) With DTC, you increase profitability when customers purchase additional products, increasing average order value.

2) The chance of having repeat customers is significantly higher on DTC than on Amazon.

3) The return rate is lower on DTC

4) You can build an e-mail list for further marketing on DTC.

While I believe there are limited cases where you can justify having Google Ads directed to Amazon ( for example, to generate momentum for a stagnant listing), I am skeptical as to whether doing so as a general practice can be profitable.

I am even more skeptical that it is good practice to direct Google Ads to Amazon as opposed to a DTC website.