For the next instalment of Croud’s five minutes with series, we sat down with our Director of Commercial Development, Adam Rose, to explore his journey at Croud to-date and his experience with Croud’s ecommerce channel.
Tell us about your journey with Croud so far?
I joined Croud at the start of 2012, which was obviously a very different era for the business. It’s crazy to think that when I joined it was just me and Jon Ditchburn (our Chief of Global Operations) in the Midlands. We didn’t have an office back then – we spent most of our time sleeping in our London office through the week (quite literally) – how times have changed! I was brought in as Head of Paid Search which was a position I held through to the end of 2018. Since then I’ve been involved in a number of different initiatives, supporting some of our emerging channels, in particular Croud’s ecommerce division.
So what does your current role at Croud entail?
A big part of my role is identifying emerging channels and building them into robust service offerings. An example of this is our Comparison Shopping Service which we launched a couple of years ago. My main focus now is on Amazon and e-commerce services, which is really starting to take off now, particularly with the appointment of Andy Siviter as our Director of Ecommerce.
Why do you think brands should consider advertising on Amazon?
More and more consumers are turning to Amazon with a staggering two-thirds of retail searches now beginning on Amazon. If consumers are searching for your brand in that space, then it makes sense to ensure you’re visible and represented in the right way for consumers.
What are the biggest challenges facing Amazon?
Amazon continues to be a bit of an unknown space for a lot of retailers, with many perceiving it as more suited to low budget products and are quite simply unaware of how to approach it. Amazon is also not very forthcoming with support at times and so new companies wishing to get started can often be put off, not knowing where to start or the best way to approach it in order to maximise return.
What do you think the solution for this will be?
Ensuring that you have a team of specialists you can call upon, who really know this space and can help advertisers to navigate the platform and demystify all the complexities of how it works. I believe we’ve developed precisely this with the team we’ve created at Croud. Our Amazon channel encompasses people who really get this space and have the first-hand experience of selling their own products on Amazon. There is nothing they don’t know, whether it’s advising on how to get set up, how to approach logistics & fulfilment or the best way to develop retail-ready content we can promote through advertising.
Where do you see Amazon advertising moving over the next decade?
I think brands will start to see Amazon as a key acquisition tool, alongside the usual digital channels like PPC, SEO, Paid Social, Affiliates & Display. I would expect to see the responsibility for managing this channel shift within organisations from, for example, the merchandising teams to the digital marketing teams – it’s a trend we’ve seen already with a number of companies. Businesses are also likely to use Amazon as a way to test the water in new markets given the ease (and speed) with which retailers can get set up and established in new markets.
So you are often commuting to London, but what persuades you to stay based in Shrewsbury?
I’m definitely settled in Shrewsbury, for now at least. With 3 children at home, I’m certainly a bit of a family man at heart. It’s great coming down though, spending time with teams and our clients who are based down here – you can get to enjoy the best of both worlds.
What is the one app or piece of technology that you cannot live without?
My mobile. It’s my calendar, alarm clock, everything really. Although I’ve recently invested in a new smartwatch for running which takes some beating!
And finally an interesting fact about yourself?
I was once called to be an expert witness in a trademark litigation case between Interflora and M&S. It went on for six years and culminated in a week-long trial where I spent several hours being cross-examined. Looking back it was a nerve-wracking but amazing experience, to see how the legal system works. Back in the day it was quite a landmark case for the industry, or so I’ll be telling my kids when they grow up!
To find out more about Croud and our ecommerce services, get in touch.
