Q4 2022 Amazon Benchmark Report – Europe

Let data from 2022 inform your 2023 plans

2022 has come to an end and we are ready for a fresh start in 2023. With our final Perpetua Amazon Benchmark Report for Europe of 2022, we dive into the data, and bring you trends and actionable insights from Q4.

The last three months of the year in Europe are always dominated by the holiday season, and this can be the year-defining quarter for many Amazon businesses. In Q4 2022, Amazon introduced an additional major shopping event, with a Prime Day Early Access Sale (PEAS) on the 11th and 12th of October. This was followed by Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) at the end of November, and the usual December shopping period, making a busy quarter even busier.

When looking at quarterly growth rates for Q4 2022, consider not only these holiday, but that Amazon Prime Day took place the previous quarter, so volumes were already high in Q3. With our benchmark reports, you have all the latest data from Amazon's marketplaces in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, so you can understand market trends, see how the competitive landscape is developing, and plan your activities for the upcoming quarters.

Highlights from our Q4 Amazon Benchmark Report for Europe include:

• Consumer buying behavior had major impacts on performance metrics across all PPC advertising types (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display) this quarter. Consumers seemed to be operating in “browsing mode”, perhaps directly linked to the multitude of peak shopping events, such as Prime Early Access Sale, Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) and the holiday gifting season. Was the amount of events too exhaustive this year for European consumers??

• Q4 saw typical trends emerge in the run-up to the Christmas period, such as incredible sales performance increases in Toys and Games (as Santa prepared to deliver all his gifts no doubt!). Other performance indicator increases such as CVR and AOV in particular categories, including Author Central Departments, may also be indicative of what consumers were interested in during the gifting season. The third most profitable category this quarter was Electronics, leaning into promotions run by many advertisers during peak events such as BFCM in this department.

• Q4 usually sees the largest average order values (AOV) for the Amazon DSP across all quarters of the year, but, for the first time ever in 2022, AOV dropped from Q3 to Q4. Shopping holidays and events such as the Prime Early Access Sale, as well as the influx of stock following the opening of the Far East, will undoubtedly have contributed to this shift.