What Is Amazon Marketing Cloud and Who Should Use It?

Amazon has become far more than just an online retailer. In recent years, it has transformed into a powerful advertising platform, offering brands advanced tools to reach, understand, and convert customers. One of its most data-driven innovations is the Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) — a sophisticated analytics environment designed to give advertisers deeper insights into how their campaigns perform across Amazon’s vast ecosystem.

As advertising on Amazon becomes increasingly competitive and complex, AMC is emerging as a vital tool for marketers who want to unlock precise data and optimise their strategies. But what exactly is Amazon Marketing Cloud, and is it suitable for every seller or brand?

Understanding Amazon Marketing Cloud

Amazon Marketing Cloud is a secure, privacy-compliant, cloud-based analytics solution that allows advertisers to run custom queries and analyse user-level data across Amazon’s advertising and retail channels. Unlike Amazon’s standard ad reports — which offer surface-level metrics such as impressions, clicks, and sales — AMC provides a far more granular view of customer behaviour, ad performance, and cross-channel journeys.

Built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), AMC functions as a clean room environment, meaning data is de-identified and protected, but still detailed enough to extract valuable insights. Marketers can use SQL-based queries to create customised reports and combine different datasets — such as impressions, conversions, time to purchase, or repeat behaviour — in ways that were previously not possible.

AMC goes beyond last-click attribution. It enables brands to understand the full customer journey, including how various ad formats, such as Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform), contribute to conversions, even across multiple touchpoints.

What Makes AMC Different From Regular Amazon Reports?

The main advantage of AMC is its flexibility and depth. While traditional Amazon dashboards show metrics in isolation, AMC enables advertisers to connect the dots between different campaigns and audiences.

For instance, a brand running both display ads and video campaigns through Amazon DSP can use AMC to assess how each contributes to sales, how long it takes shoppers to make a purchase, and whether there is overlap in the targeted audiences. This is crucial for eliminating budget waste and improving return on ad spend (ROAS).

Moreover, AMC lets brands analyse frequency, audience segmentation, lifetime value, and incrementality — insights that are not possible with Amazon’s regular ad tools. Many advanced advertisers now pair AMC with the support of an Amazon PPC Agency to extract actionable recommendations that drive results.

Who Has Access to Amazon Marketing Cloud?

Access to AMC is currently available to advertisers running campaigns through Amazon DSP, and those enrolled in the Amazon Ads Advanced Tools programme. It’s used mainly by large brands, agencies, and enterprise-level sellers due to its technical nature and the volume of data required to generate meaningful reports.

However, mid-sized brands working with registered Amazon agencies can also gain access indirectly, as many agencies are certified partners with permissions to operate AMC on behalf of their clients. This makes the tool more accessible than it may seem at first.

While it’s not currently open to all Amazon sellers, it’s becoming increasingly crucial for those running multi-channel, high-budget campaigns to consider either learning AMC or working with partners who can utilise it effectively.

Who Should Use Amazon Marketing Cloud?

AMC isn’t for everyone — at least not yet. If you're a small seller managing just a few Sponsored Product campaigns, the level of insight offered by AMC may exceed your needs. But for brands looking to scale and optimise complex campaigns across the entire Amazon Ads ecosystem, AMC is a game-changer.

Here’s who should seriously consider using it:

• Brands running Amazon DSP campaigns who want to track full-funnel performance and audience overlap

• Advertisers with large budgets who want to eliminate inefficiencies in ad targeting and attribution

• Agencies managing multiple client accounts, seeking to deliver performance reports with deeper insight

• Marketing teams investing in upper-funnel content, like video or display ads, and looking to track how they influence conversions down the line

In short, AMC is best suited for data-driven marketers who value precision over guesswork and actively manage a wide mix of ad types and audience segments.

Real-World Use Cases

Many brands are now using AMC to uncover insights that were previously unavailable. For example, a UK-based skincare brand used AMC to analyse the time between a customer’s first ad impression and their final purchase. The data revealed that their average conversion window was 10 days, prompting the team to extend their retargeting campaigns and see a 22% increase in sales.

Another retailer used AMC to identify overlapping audience segments being targeted by different campaigns. By adjusting their ad delivery to avoid duplication, they reduced ad spend waste and improved their campaign reach by over 30%.

These real-world cases show that AMC isn’t just a reporting tool — it’s a strategic weapon for brands that want to get more value from their ad budgets.

The Future of Advertising on Amazon

Amazon is clearly investing heavily in tools like AMC, signalling a future where data-driven decision-making will dominate ad strategy. As privacy regulations evolve and third-party cookies continue to decline, platforms like AMC provide a compliant, first-party data solution that helps advertisers stay ahead of the curve.

Amazon will likely continue to expand access to AMC, making it available to more advertisers and integrating it more deeply with other parts of its Ads Console. Those who learn how to leverage AMC now will be better positioned to succeed as competition and complexity in Amazon advertising increases.

Final Thoughts

Amazon Marketing Cloud represents a significant leap forward in how brands measure and optimise their ad performance. While it may seem complex, its potential to drive smarter, more profitable decisions is unmatched.