It’s no secret that Amazon is an e-commerce juggernaut. According to eMarketer, 60% of U.S. adults now begin their product search on Amazon. Despite its popularity, many brands mistakenly believe that they must sell on Amazon to access its massive customer base. There’s a reason for this – it used to be true. However, times have changed. Today, any brand in any industry can leverage the power of Amazon to scale its business.

First, it’s important to understand why Amazon is such a powerful force. It’s not simply because more than two billion shoppers visit Amazon each month. Sure, that’s part of it. But even more important is the data that Amazon collects about these consumers. When a shopper visits Amazon, the company tracks everything – not only what products you browse and links you click, but also more interpretative data. For example, they can infer if you prefer premium-marketed products or what brands are most likely to appeal to you. From an advertising point of view, this detailed customer data enables brands to target customers on an incredibly granular level.

The other reason why Amazon’s data is so powerful is that it doesn’t rely on cookies. It’s first-party customer data. For years, advertisers used cookies to track customers. But in 2021, Apple released an update to its operating system that enabled customers to opt out of cookies. This upended the way many brands advertise to customers. To make matters worse, Google intends to phase out cookies on Chrome by 2024. At this point, Amazon will be the most powerful online advertising platform thanks to their unparalleled collection of first-party customer data.

All of this matters because, for the first time, brands that don’t sell on Amazon can leverage this hyper-targeted customer data. In fact, you don’t even have to be in retail. Amazon DSP (demand-side platform) is an advertising tool that allows brands to programmatically buy ads that appear all over the internet – not just on Amazon. These ads can appear anywhere online, including all Amazon-owned properties like Twitch, Fire Stick TV, and Amazon Music. For example, a pet insurance company could use Amazon DSP to reach new pet owners via display and video ads that appear on the most popular pet care blogs and websites. A sports league can use Amazon DSP to reach fans with video ads that appear during sports-related streaming content on Amazon Prime and Freevee. The possibilities are endless.

With the end of third-party cookies coming soon, Amazon DSP will be a game-changer for online marketing. The ability for businesses in any industry to harness the power of Amazon’s massive collection of first-party customer data will enable smaller brands to compete with larger, more established ones like never before. Most of all, it will allow companies to reach their most likely customers with surgical accuracy at scale. While still in its early stages, there is every reason to believe that Amazon DSP will mark a new era for advertising.

Dan Brownsher is the Co-Founder and CEO of Channel Key, a fully remote Amazon and Walmart Marketplace consulting agency. A national thought leader in Amazon retail strategy and emerging e-commerce trends, he frequently speaks about Amazon practices, policies, and technologies. Dan is a member of TAAN, the worldwide alliance of independently owned marketing agencies, as well as Vistage, the global organization for entrepreneurship and executive coaching.