Substitutes and complements are the two targeting groups in an Amazon Sponsored Products auto campaign that place your ad on other products' pages rather than in search results. Substitutes are products a shopper might buy instead of yours, such as a rival steel bottle. Complements are products bought alongside yours, such as a bottle brush. Together with close match and loose match they make up the four auto targeting groups.
An auto campaign splits its targets into searches and product pages. Close match and loose match handle searches. Substitutes and complements handle product pages: Amazon looks at what shoppers view and buy together and decides which detail pages are similar to your product (substitutes) and which are typically bought with it (complements). Your ad then appears in the sponsored product carousels on those pages, competing with the page's own product for the shopper.
Worked example: a ₹899 insulated bottle runs substitutes at ₹7 and complements at ₹3. Substitutes takes 120 clicks in a week for ₹840 and returns 9 orders, an ACoS of ₹840 / ₹8,091 = 10.4%, because shoppers comparing bottles were open to a switch. Complements takes 90 clicks for ₹270 and returns 1 order, an ACoS of 30%: shoppers buying a bottle brush already own a bottle.
The search term report lists product-page targets as ASINs rather than words, which is how you tell which group a row came from. Economics textbooks use the same two words for goods that replace or accompany each other; Amazon borrowed the idea.
Substitutes is the auto campaign's version of competitor targeting. It shows you which rival ASINs your product wins clicks and orders from, without you having to research them. A substitute ASIN with a good ACoS is a candidate for a manual product targeting campaign with its own bid; one that takes clicks and never converts, often because it is cheaper than you, becomes a negative product target.
Complements usually converts worst of the four groups, but it is not useless. For accessories, refills and spares, the complement page is exactly where the buyer is, and a low bid there can be the most profitable placement in the account.
Blocking the ASINs that take clicks without converting.
Learn more →The search-result group in the same auto campaign.
Learn more →The manual version: choosing ASINs and categories yourself.
Learn more →Filter every keyword and target by ACoS, CVR and spend, then change bids in bulk on Amazon India.
Learn more →They are two auto campaign targeting groups that show your ad on product pages. Substitutes are products shoppers might buy instead of yours; complements are products they buy alongside yours.
Close and loose match target shopper searches, tightly or broadly related to your product. Substitutes and complements target product detail pages, of rival products or of products bought with yours.
Close match usually converts best, followed by substitutes. Complements is often the weakest because the shopper on that page has already chosen a different kind of product. Check your own search term report rather than assuming.
No. Amazon picks the pages. To choose specific ASINs, run a manual campaign with product targeting, and use negative product targeting in the auto campaign to block ASINs you do not want.
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