AMAZON TAKES ON GOOGLE

Amazon isn't just the everything store, it's the everything company. It deals with more than just shipping out massive amounts of products — it sells tablets and phones, cloud computing services, books, and now it's diving in to advertising. ​While the company already offers up ads as part of an affiliate program called Amazon Associates, its new advertising platform is said to take on the likes of the ubiquitous, all-powerful Google AdWords. (Video via Google) ​Amazon's ad platform is called Amazon CPM Ads — at least for now. Multiple reports say the final service will be called Amazon Sponsored Links. CPM stands for "cost per thousand impressions,"which is ad-speak for how much you'll get paid for every thousand views of an advertisement. ​TechCrunch reports the service will include ads from Amazon itself "as well as other 'high-quality' advertisers." The outlet says Amazon appears to be testing the service right now, as only some of the company's affiliates have been invited to give it a try. It seems if anything can take on the likes of advertising incumbent Google, it's Amazon. ​ As an analyst quoted in The Wall Street Journal reminds us, Amazon certainly knows a thing or two about people's purchases. "Amazon could use the data it has about buying behavior to help make these ads much more effective. Marketers would love to have another viable option." And Fortune says this would really be a one-two punch to Google's bottom line, because "Amazon is one of Google's largest ad buyers." Amazon would be building up its own advertising platform, all the while undermining its largest competitor.