Amazon is a search engine with a buy button, and that changes the entire calculus. The shopper who types a query into Amazon is not researching the way a Google searcher is; they are most of the way to a purchase, which is why on-platform paid search returns more than most ecommerce channels and why the auction keeps getting deeper. You win here on placement, intent match, and timing, not on who throws the most money at it.
Someone searching “best running shoes” on Amazon already has their wallet out. They are comparing a handful of products on one screen, reading reviews, and buying in the same session. That compressed intent is the reason US Amazon Sponsored Products returned a $5.08 ROAS in Q3 2025: paid shelf position sits inches from the checkout, so the click and the conversion are almost the same moment.
That is also why a generic “boost some products” approach leaves money on the table. The auction is large and accelerating (Amazon’s ad services revenue grew 22% in 2025 to $68.63 billion), event windows reshuffle the math rather than simply inflating it, and the brands that win are the ones disciplined about which terms they pay for and when. We build the campaign and the catch, and every number on this page carries a real source, listed at the bottom.
The case for doing this differently is not our opinion. It is what the data says, every figure sourced below.
The product search you most want to win starts on Amazon.
For ecommerce, the discovery moment has moved. In a PowerReviews survey of more than 8,000 US consumers, 50% of product searches start on Amazon, ahead of Google at 31.5%. That is a different animal from generic ecommerce SEO: the shopper is already on the shelf, comparing your product against the ones ranked around it, with the buy button one tap away.
This is why Amazon Ads is a search problem, not just a marketplace problem. The query is high-intent, the competitive set is the page itself, and the auction decides who the shopper sees first. We treat your Amazon placement as primary real estate, mapped to the exact terms your buyers use, because half of the demand for your category is being decided on a screen you can pay to win.
Half of US product searches start on Amazon. The shelf is the search results page, and the buy button is right there.
The product search starts on Amazon
On-platform intent is why the ROAS holds up.
The reason brands lean into Amazon paid search is the return at the bottom of the funnel. US Amazon Sponsored Products generated a $5.08 ROAS in Q3 2025, the kind of number that explains why this is the highest-intent ad channel in ecommerce: the ad sits at the shelf, so the click and the purchase happen in one session rather than across a multi-day consideration window.
That return is reachable at a sane entry price. Sponsored Products CPCs held near $1.06 in Q3 2025, meaning paid shelf position on Amazon costs roughly a dollar a click before peak-season competition bids it up. We do not chase that ROAS by simply spending more; we earn it by matching ads to high-intent terms, cutting the waste, and protecting margin per order, so the channel scales on real demand instead of auction inflation.
The return that defines the channel
At roughly $1.06 a click, paid shelf position is reachable before peak season bids it up.
Source: EMARKETER (ROAS, citing Pacvue and Helium 10); Skai Q3 2025 Digital Advertising Trends Report (CPC)This channel is scaling on demand, not on price.
There is a healthy version of a growing ad channel and an expensive one, and Amazon search is showing the healthy version. Sponsored Products ad spend rose 18% year over year in Q2 2025 with clicks up 19% and CPC down 1%. Read those three numbers together: the growth came from more shoppers clicking, not from the auction charging more per click. When spend rises because demand rose and the price per click held or fell, you are buying into a channel that is widening rather than getting squeezed.
The full-funnel side is moving fastest of all. Amazon DSP spend grew 33% year over year in Q2 2025, the strongest growth of any Amazon ad format, as the platform extends past search into display and connected TV. We use that to our advantage: capture the in-market shopper on Sponsored Products, then layer DSP to reach the audiences who have not searched yet, so the whole funnel is being worked instead of just the bottom of it.
Growth from clicks, not from rising CPC
Event windows reshuffle the auction, they don’t just inflate it.
The biggest myth about Amazon advertising is that peak season is simply more expensive. The demand spike is real: US shoppers spent a record $24.1 billion online during Prime Day 2025 (July 8-11), up 30.3% year over year, the most concentrated burst of buying intent in the calendar. But the auction during those windows does not just go up. During Prime Big Deal Days (October 7-8, 2025), Amazon Sponsored Products CPC fell to $1.80, described as the lowest in three years.
That is the whole point: event windows reshuffle the math rather than uniformly inflating it, and the brands that prepare capture outsized return. Amazon Sponsored Products sales jumped 37% during Thanksgiving 2024, a reminder of how sharply the channel rewards advertisers who lean in at the right moment. We build a peak calendar around your inventory and margin: when to push, when to defend share, and when a falling CPC means it is cheaper to win the shelf than it looks.
$24.1 billion in one Prime Day, and CPCs hitting a three-year low during Big Deal Days. Peak season rewards the prepared, not the loudest.
The spike is in demand, not always in price
During Prime Big Deal Days, Sponsored Products CPC fell to $1.80, the lowest in three years.
Source: Adobe Analytics (via MediaPost) for Prime Day spend; Skai Q3 2025 report for Thanksgiving and Big Deal DaysThe shelf gets more contested every year.
The competitive pressure on Amazon is structural and rising. Amazon’s ad services revenue grew 22% in 2025 to reach $68.63 billion, up from $56.22 billion in 2024, and EMARKETER forecasts Amazon’s worldwide ad revenue to grow another 18.6% in 2026 to $81.41 billion. That is the size and trajectory of the auction your products compete inside, and it is still accelerating.
A deepening auction is not a reason to retreat; it is the reason to be disciplined. As more brands bid, sloppy campaigns get punished faster and well-run ones widen the gap. We focus the budget on the terms and dayparts that convert for your catalog, prune what does not, and report on contribution per order, not vanity ROAS, so your spend keeps earning its place as the shelf gets more crowded.
The auction keeps getting deeper
The ad gets the click; the reviews close the sale.
Winning the placement is only half the job. Once a shopper lands on your product, the decision turns on social proof, and that proof is now treated like a personal recommendation. In BrightLocal’s 2024 survey, 50% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family, up four points from the year before. An ad that drives traffic to a thin or neglected review profile pays to send shoppers to a listing that cannot close.
Responding matters as much as collecting. BrightLocal found 88% of consumers would use a business that replies to all of its reviews, versus 47% for one that does not respond at all. We treat reviews and reputation as part of the ad program, not a separate afterthought, because the cheapest conversion lift on Amazon is often the listing itself: the rating, the volume, and the responsiveness that turn the click you paid for into an order.
Replying to reviews moves the sale
US Amazon sponsored product ads generated a $5.08 ROAS in Q3 2025, found Pacvue and Helium 10.
EMARKETER
During Thanksgiving, Amazon Sponsored products saw a 37% jump in sales.
Tinuiti, Q4 2024 Digital Ads Benchmark Report
Sponsored Products CPCs held steady around $1.06.
Skai, Q3 2025 Digital Advertising Trends Report
Ready to win the shelf where the buying happens?
Tell us your catalog, your margins, and where you are losing the shelf, and we’ll show you which terms are worth winning, how the peak calendar should run, and where DSP earns its place above search. Senior people, transparent pricing, and reporting on contribution per order instead of vanity ROAS.
Frequently asked
Why advertise on Amazon instead of just running Google Ads?
How much does it cost to advertise on Amazon?
Is Amazon advertising getting too expensive and competitive?
Does it pay to advertise harder during Prime Day and the holidays?
What is Amazon DSP, and do we need it?
Do reviews really affect how well our Amazon ads perform?
Every figure on this page comes from a primary platform, an independent study, or a named industry source. No competing-agency stats, no made-up numbers.
- PowerReviews survey (8,153 US consumers, March 2023), via Search Engine Land
- EMARKETER: Amazon retail media ROAS and 2026 ad-revenue forecast
- Skai Q3 2025 Digital Advertising Trends Report (CPC, Big Deal Days)
- Tinuiti Q2 2025 Digital Ads Benchmark Report (spend, clicks, CPC, DSP)
- Tinuiti Q4 2024 Digital Ads Benchmark Report, via Karooya (Thanksgiving sales)
- Adobe Analytics, via MediaPost: record Prime Day 2025 online spend
- Marketplace Pulse: Amazon advertising services sales
- BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2024
