Episode Number:

79

June 29, 2026

In this episode of The eCom Growth Show, Danan Coleman interviews Kyle Slunick, founder of PPC Adviser and Ad Acorn, to explore what it really takes to grow with Amazon Ads today. With more than $250 million in managed ad spend across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok, and Target, Kyle breaks down the biggest advertising mistakes sellers make, why relevancy matters more than big bids, and how brands can use Amazon’s data ecosystem to build smarter, more profitable campaigns.

For eCommerce brands trying to scale on Amazon, this conversation is a reminder that ads are no longer just about launching campaigns and increasing budgets. Growth now depends on strategy, product readiness, data interpretation, and the ability to adapt as Amazon’s advertising landscape becomes more competitive.

Meet Kyle Slunick: Building the Future of Retail Media

Kyle Slunick is a two-time founder, ad tech builder, and eCommerce growth strategist who has managed more than $250 million in advertising spend across major retail and social commerce platforms. After starting his career inside Amazon-focused agencies, Kyle went on to launch PPC Adviser, a growth-focused Amazon advertising agency, and Ad Acorn, a new advertising and analytics platform designed to help brands make better decisions with their data.

Along the way, he has led teams of 30+, served on multiple product advisory boards, spoken at industry events, and continues to explore how AI can improve advertising performance.

The Biggest Amazon Ads Mistake? Advertising Before You’re Ready

Many sellers assume advertising is the solution to poor sales. Kyle argues the opposite.

  • Optimized product listings must come first.
  • Strong SEO foundations are critical.
  • Products need clear competitive differentiation.
  • Listings should already be converting organically before major ad spend.

When sellers launch ads too early, Amazon sends traffic that doesn’t convert, which can actually hurt product relevancy and organic ranking.

Key Insight: Ads amplify what already exists. If the listing isn't ready, advertising simply accelerates the problem.

Why Relevancy Controls Your Advertising Costs

One of the most misunderstood concepts in Amazon advertising is relevancy. Kyle explains:

  • Amazon rewards highly relevant products with lower CPCs (cost-per-click).
  • Irrelevant targeting forces advertisers to pay significantly more.
  • Higher bids cannot compensate for poor product relevance.
  • Conversion performance directly impacts advertising efficiency.

Many new advertisers assume they must outbid everyone else. In reality, a highly relevant product often wins clicks at a fraction of the cost.

Takeaway: Better listings frequently outperform bigger budgets.

Amazon Marketing Cloud Is the Most Underused Tool on Amazon

When asked about the most underutilized feature inside Amazon Ads, Kyle didn’t hesitate:

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC).

AMC provides access to customer journey data that most sellers never analyze. Brands can discover:

  • What shoppers searched before purchasing.
  • Which ads influenced conversions.
  • How often customers interacted before buying.
  • Lifetime value (LTV) trends.
  • Audience behavior patterns.

This data allows brands to create highly targeted audiences and build smarter advertising strategies.

Big Opportunity: Most sellers are sitting on valuable customer insights they never use.

The Real Problem: Sellers Focus on the Wrong Metrics

Many advertisers become obsessed with individual metrics:

  • ACoS
  • TACoS
  • ROAS
  • Impression share
  • Share of voice

Kyle believes the bigger question should be: “What business goal are we trying to achieve?”

Different products require different advertising priorities depending on their stage of growth.

Launch Stage

  • Build relevancy.
  • Generate initial traffic.
  • Discover converting keywords.

Growth Stage

  • Scale profitable traffic.
  • Increase market share.
  • Balance growth and profitability.

Mature Stage

  • Reduce unnecessary spend.
  • Maximize efficiency.
  • Protect rankings.
Strategic Lesson: The right metric depends on the stage of the product lifecycle.

Amazon Advertising Has Become a Strategy Game

Years ago, launching Amazon ads was relatively simple. Today, increasing competition requires a more sophisticated approach.

Kyle recommends building advertising strategies around:

  • Individual product goals.
  • Product maturity.
  • Competitive positioning.
  • Customer intent.
  • Profitability targets.

Success now comes from adapting strategy as products evolve.

Core Idea: Winning brands continuously adjust instead of running the same campaigns forever.

Your Advertising Data Is Telling You What to Fix

One of Kyle’s strongest recommendations was surprisingly simple:

Pay attention to the data.

Advertising reports often reveal exactly where problems exist.

Examples include:

  • Low click-through rate → Improve the main image.
  • Low conversion rate → Improve listing quality or targeting.
  • Weak customer retention → Review audience fit.
  • Poor profitability → Adjust keyword strategy.

Amazon provides a significant amount of actionable information through:

  • Brand Analytics.
  • Amazon Marketing Cloud.
  • Search term reports.
  • Path-to-purchase insights.
Action Step: Use advertising data to improve the listing, not just the campaign.

How Beginners Should Learn Amazon Ads

For sellers looking to build their advertising knowledge, Kyle recommends starting with:

  • Amazon Seller University.
  • Amazon Ads certifications.
  • YouTube tutorials.
  • LinkedIn content from experienced operators.
  • Hands-on experimentation.

His advice is straightforward:

Be curious. Test frequently. Learn what the data is actually telling you.

AI Is Coming Fast to Amazon Advertising

As someone actively building software, Kyle is particularly excited about the future of AI in advertising.

While AI still struggles with some of Amazon’s marketplace nuances, he believes the technology is moving quickly toward more advanced optimization capabilities.

Areas where AI may create major advantages include:

  • Data analysis.
  • Audience creation.
  • Performance forecasting.
  • Campaign optimization.
  • Trend identification.
Forward-Looking Insight: AI won't replace strategy, but it will dramatically improve decision-making speed.

Kyle’s Amazon Hot Take

Kyle believes Amazon’s long-term strategy may eventually extend beyond its marketplace.

His prediction:

Amazon could potentially allow brands to connect external websites directly into the Amazon ecosystem through fulfillment and advertising integrations.

If that happens, Amazon would gain access to significantly more customer data while extending its influence beyond Amazon.com itself.

Whether that prediction becomes reality remains to be seen, but Kyle believes Amazon’s appetite for data and control makes it a possibility worth watching.

The Bigger Trend: Diversification Matters

Both Kyle and Danan agree on one major theme:

Brands should not rely exclusively on Amazon.

As marketplace fees continue increasing and competition grows, sellers are exploring:

  • Shopify
  • TikTok Shop
  • Walmart Marketplace
  • Direct-to-consumer channels

Amazon remains an essential channel, but building additional revenue streams creates stability and long-term leverage.

Connect with Kyle Slunick

Final Thoughts

Growing with Amazon Ads isn’t about spending more money. It’s about understanding how Amazon evaluates relevance, using customer data to make smarter decisions, and aligning advertising goals with the stage of your product’s growth.

As Kyle explains, the brands that win are the ones that treat advertising as a strategic growth engine rather than a traffic source. With tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud, advanced analytics, and emerging AI capabilities, sellers have more information than ever before, it simply comes down to knowing how to use it.

Stay tuned for more episodes of The eCom Growth Show, where eCommerce operators learn how to leverage marketplace data, sharpen their advertising strategy, and build brands that grow profitably both on and beyond Amazon.