If you are an Amazon seller, you might be familiar with the Amazon Marketplace Web Service (MWS) API, which allows you to automate various aspects of your business such as inventory management, order fulfillment, reports, and more. However, you might not be aware that Amazon has recently launched a new API called the Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API), which offers several advantages over the MWS API and opens up new possibilities for growth and optimization.
In this article, we will explore what the Amazon SP-API is, how it differs from the MWS API, and how you can use it to access valuable insights and tools such as Amazon Brand Analytics.
What is the Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API)
The Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API) is a modernized suite of RESTful APIs that enables sellers, vendors, and developers to leverage data and functionality provided by Amazon. The SP-API covers the same functionality as the MWS API but with some key improvements and additions. Some of the benefits of the SP-API are:
– It uses JSON instead of XML for data exchange, which makes it easier to parse and manipulate.
– It supports OAuth 2.0 for authentication and authorization, which simplifies the process of obtaining credentials and managing access rights.
– It provides a consistent and unified interface across different regions and marketplaces, which reduces complexity and errors.
– It offers new features and capabilities that are not available in the MWS API, such as notifications, feeds, solicitation, authorization service, sales analytics, and more.
How does the SP-API differ from the MWS API
The SP-API is designed to replace the MWS API over time, but both APIs will coexist for the foreseeable future. If you are already using the MWS API, you can continue to do so without any changes. However, if you want to take advantage of the new features and benefits of the SP-API, you will need to migrate your existing applications or create new ones using the SP-API.
The migration process involves several steps, such as:
- Registering as a developer in the Amazon Developer Console and creating an app for the SP-API.
- Obtaining OAuth 2.0 credentials and authorizing your app to access your seller account or other sellers’ accounts.
- Updating your code to use the SP-API endpoints, parameters, headers, and data formats.
- Testing your app in sandbox mode before deploying it to production.
How can you use the SP-API to access Amazon Brand Analytics
One of the most exciting features of the SP-API is that it allows you to access Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA), which is a powerful tool that provides insights into customer behavior and preferences on Amazon. ABA is available to sellers who are enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and have a registered trademark for their brand.
With ABA, you can access various reports and metrics that can help you optimize your product listings, improve your advertising campaigns, identify new opportunities, and increase your sales. Some of the reports and metrics that ABA offers are:
– Search frequency rank: This report shows you how often customers searched for certain keywords on Amazon in a given time period and how those keywords ranked in terms of popularity. You can use this report to discover high-demand keywords for your products and optimize your titles, descriptions, and backend keywords accordingly.
– Market basket analysis: This report shows you what other products customers bought together with your products in a given time period. You can use this report to identify complementary or substitute products for cross-selling or upselling opportunities.
– Item comparison and alternate purchase behavior: This report shows you what other products customers viewed or purchased instead of your products in a given time period. You can use this report to analyze your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and improve your product differentiation and pricing strategy.
– Demographics: This report shows you the age, gender, income level, education level, and marital status of customers who bought your products in a given time period. You can use this report to understand your target audience better and tailor your marketing messages accordingly.
To access ABA using the SP-API, you need to use the sales analytics API section, which provides endpoints for retrieving ABA reports and metrics. You can also use the notifications API section to subscribe to ABA events and receive updates when new data is available.
Conclusion
The Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API) is a new API that offers several advantages over the MWS API and opens up new possibilities for growth and optimization. By using the SP-API, you can access valuable insights and tools such as Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA), which can help you optimize your product listings, improve your advertising campaigns, identify new opportunities, and increase your sales.