Consumer search activity on Amazon US in June 2023 dropped by an estimated 3% year-over-year (YoY), continuing a slow downward trend observed in several 2022 analyses by Momentum Commerce. Despite the overall decline, a number of categories still demonstrated YoY search volume increases based on our estimates, and total Amazon GMV actually grew across categories with the sharpest search decreases.

Biggest Takeaways for Brands

• Beauty & Personal Care posted an 11.1% YoY search volume increase – the largest of any top-level category
  • This follows similar double-digit YoY increases for the category observed in both October and December 2022
  • Amazon is clearly a place consumers are flocking in response to ongoing social media trends centered around this category, with products representing  “affordable luxuries” in the face of inflation and other economic pressures 
• Video Games and Grocery & Gourmet Foods exhibited the next-highest search volume increases
  • The increases represent the first time either category has outpaced Amazon as a whole since Momentum Commerce began doing these analyses
  • The release of Diablo IV on June 6 likely had an impact on the YoY Video Game figure, as no comparable AAA game releases occurred in June 2022
• As seen in the screenshot below from Momentum Commerce’s Velocity platform, Grocery & Gourmet Foods’ ascendance reflects a slow increase for the category both on a search volume and GMV perspective over the past year.

• YoY Amazon search volume decreases were steepest across the Sports & Outdoors and Toys & Games categories
  • Despite the search volume decreases, June 2023 GMV in the Sports & Outdoors category on Amazon reached levels near November 2022 – thanks in part to a higher average price
  • Toys & Games also demonstrated higher YoY GMV outside of the search volume decrease, although at levels well off holiday-season highs

Methodology

Data included in this analysis is based off of search volume estimates across the top 1,000,000 search terms on Amazon during both June 2022 and June 2023. Search terms were categorized based on the top-level category associated with the majority of products appearing on the corresponding search results pages.