NEW YORK: Almost two-thirds (63%) of brands in North America who currently advertise on Amazon are planning to increase their budgets dedicated to the e-commerce platform over the next 12 months.

That is a significantly higher proportion than the number of brand marketers who intend to increase their spend on Google (54%), Facebook (53%), Bing (27%) and Twitter (23%), according to a new survey of 250 B2C marketers based in North America.

The research, co-produced by ClickZ Intelligence and digital marketing agency Catalyst, a division of Group M, also revealed that just 15% of marketers believe they use Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) to its full potential, while only 17% say they have a fully defined AMS strategy.

According to the study, the huge reach of Amazon makes it an increasingly attractive platform for advertisers, with AMS paid search products gaining traction with brands and agencies who are benefiting from impressive return on advertising spend.

Elsewhere, the survey also found that just 15% of businesses in North America have developed voice-enabled skills on Amazon’s Alexa device, although a quarter (23%) plan to do so later this year.

“Today, it’s not enough to simply spend more with Amazon. With multi-factored opportunities for product promotion, brand investment needs to be expertly managed for maximum return,” said Kerry Curran, Managing Partner of Marketing Integration at Catalyst.

“In this Age of Amazon, brands must be strategic, savvy, and internally integrated to maximise sales,” she added.

Separately, ClickZ also conducted an online survey of 1,600 US consumers about their purchase behaviour with Amazon across eight categories.

According to the findings, two-thirds (66%) said they had bought clothing from Amazon over the past year, while 64% bought personal care items and another 63%) bought home décor items.

However, only 43% of consumers had bought grocery products from Amazon, although the report predicted that this segment is likely to grow following the company’s recent acquisition of Whole Foods.

Sourced from Catalyst, ClickZ Intelligence; additional content by WARC staff