Amazon Posts officially discontinued

Amazon officially deprecated its Posts advertising program on June 3, 2025, marking the end of a social commerce feature that allowed brands to share lifestyle content and product promotions across Amazon's ecosystem. The deprecation occurred four days ago, according to Amazon's advertising API release notes, with existing users required to cease new post creation by June 16, 2025, followed by complete service termination on July 31, 2025.

Amazon Posts launched as part of the company's effort to integrate social commerce elements into its advertising platform. The feature enabled brands to create Instagram-style content showcasing products and lifestyle imagery, which appeared in brand stores and on product detail pages. According to the official deprecation notice, Amazon cited "declining impressions and the upcoming redesign of our Search and Detail pages" as primary factors making "the Posts program has become less valuable."

The Posts program operated through multiple Amazon advertising APIs, providing developers and marketing teams programmatic access to content creation and publishing workflows. According to documentation from Amazon's GitHub repository for ads-advanced-tools, the deprecation affects several endpoints including the core Posts API that developers have been using to automate content creation processes.

Amazon first introduced Posts APIs to allow brands to programmatically create and manage social-style content at scale. The feature supported image uploads, caption text, product tagging, and scheduling functionality. Brands could leverage these APIs to maintain consistent posting schedules and coordinate Posts content with broader advertising campaigns across Amazon's platform.

The deprecation notice indicates that new users lost access to the Posts API on June 3, 2025. Existing users retain limited functionality until June 16, 2025, providing a two-week window for brands to conclude ongoing campaigns and extract remaining content. According to Amazon's timeline, complete service shutdown occurs on July 31, 2025, after which all Posts-related endpoints will return error responses.

GitHub issues tracking the deprecation reveal that some developers experienced API access problems before the official announcement. User ay0r reported in the Amazon ads-advanced-tools repository that previously successful GET requests to the profiles endpoint began returning 403 Forbidden responses on May 30, 2025, several days before Amazon published deprecation notices. This suggests the company began restricting API access ahead of the public announcement.

Amazon Posts struggled to gain traction among advertisers despite initial enthusiasm for social commerce integration. Industry observers noted that Posts content typically appeared in less prominent placements compared to traditional advertising formats. Jon Derkits, an Amazon advertising specialist, commented that Posts appeared "so far below the fold on a PDP" that visibility remained limited throughout the program's lifespan.

The placement strategy represented a fundamental challenge for Posts effectiveness. Unlike traditional sponsored ads that appear prominently in search results or product recommendations, Posts content was relegated to secondary placements within brand stores and lower sections of product detail pages. This positioning resulted in significantly lower engagement rates compared to other Amazon advertising formats.

Analytics data from advertising professionals who extensively tested the platform revealed poor performance metrics. One practitioner who created nearly 10,000 Posts reported consistent underperformance across multiple testing scenarios and automation strategies. The platform's analytics systems also generated inconsistent data, making campaign optimization difficult for advertising teams.

Amazon's internal data supports these observations. The company specifically mentioned declining impressions as a key factor in the deprecation decision. This decline occurred as Amazon simultaneously introduced new advertising formats and placements that offered better performance and measurable return on advertising spend for brands.

The Posts deprecation reflects Amazon's broader strategy to focus resources on advertising formats that demonstrate clear performance benefits. Amazon encouraged customers to "explore our suite of sponsored advertising solutions as we continue to build and experiment with new creative formats." This language suggests the company is prioritizing development of more effective advertising products.

Amazon has simultaneously expanded other advertising capabilities while winding down Posts. Recent additions include enhanced Sponsored Display features, improved Amazon DSP targeting options, and new placement opportunities across Amazon's growing media properties including Prime Video and Twitch. These alternatives offer more direct performance measurement and clearer conversion tracking than the social commerce approach represented by Posts.

The timing of the Posts deprecation coincides with Amazon's increasing focus on performance-driven advertising solutions. The company has been enhancing machine learning capabilities across its advertising platform, enabling automated bidding and campaign optimization that delivers measurable business outcomes for advertisers.

Advertising technology companies and brands using Posts APIs must implement alternative content strategies before the July 31 deadline. Amazon recommends exploring sponsored advertising solutions that offer similar creative flexibility with improved performance tracking capabilities.

Sponsored Brand Store Spotlight campaigns provide one alternative for brands seeking to showcase lifestyle content and product collections. This format supports visual storytelling similar to Posts while offering placement in more prominent positions within Amazon's advertising ecosystem. Store Spotlight ads appear in top-of-search placements and provide direct traffic to brand stores.

Video advertising through Sponsored Brands represents another migration path for Posts users. Video ads support the storytelling approach that many brands used with Posts content while delivering significantly higher engagement rates. Amazon's Sponsored TV platform extends video advertising capabilities to streaming inventory, potentially reaching audiences beyond traditional Amazon shoppers.

Brand store enhancement offers a long-term alternative for businesses that relied on Posts for brand storytelling. Enhanced brand stores support rich media content, product galleries, and custom layouts that can accommodate the lifestyle content previously created for Posts. Unlike Posts, brand store traffic can be driven through multiple advertising formats including Sponsored Brands campaigns.

Competitive landscape

Amazon's Posts deprecation occurs as social commerce continues growing across other platforms. Instagram Shopping, Pinterest Product Pins, and TikTok Shopping maintain strong growth trajectories, suggesting the concept remains viable in appropriate execution contexts. The key difference lies in placement prominence and user engagement patterns on these platforms compared to Amazon's e-commerce-focused environment.

Meta's Instagram Shopping integration demonstrates successful social commerce implementation through native content placement and seamless shopping experiences. Pinterest's product discovery approach aligns closely with user intent during shopping research phases. TikTok's entertainment-first model creates engagement that translates to purchase consideration.

Amazon's decision suggests that social commerce features require careful integration with platform user behavior patterns. Amazon shoppers typically demonstrate higher purchase intent compared to social media users, making direct advertising formats more effective than content marketing approaches.

Historical context

Amazon Posts launched during a period when social commerce appeared positioned for significant growth across e-commerce platforms. The feature aimed to bring Instagram-style content discovery to Amazon's product-focused environment. Initial adoption showed promise as brands recognized the potential for lifestyle content to differentiate their products.

However, user behavior on Amazon differs fundamentally from social media platforms. Amazon shoppers typically arrive with specific purchase intent or clear product research objectives. This context makes direct advertising formats more effective than content discovery features that require exploratory browsing behavior.

Amazon's internal recognition of Posts' struggling performance became evident through their development of promotional enhancement features. According to PPC Land's coverage, Amazon introduced a "Boost" feature for Posts, representing what appears to be the company's final attempt to salvage the program before deciding on deprecation. This boost functionality aimed to address the fundamental visibility challenges that plagued Posts by providing enhanced promotional capabilities for brands.

The boost feature development reveals Amazon's awareness of Posts' core problems, particularly the poor placement and visibility issues that limited organic discovery. Despite these enhancement efforts, Posts analytics continued revealing engagement patterns that significantly underperformed compared to traditional advertising formats. Content performance remained consistently lower even when Posts featured high-quality imagery and compelling product presentations, while the platform's measurement systems struggled to demonstrate clear attribution between Posts engagement and purchase behavior.

Timeline

Launch of Amazon Posts Boost Feature: Amazon introduced promotional enhancement capabilities for Posts, according to PPC Land's reporting, representing the company's final attempt to address fundamental visibility and engagement challenges before ultimately deciding on program deprecation.

May 30, 2025: Developers begin experiencing API access restrictions for Posts endpoints, indicating preliminary service limitations.

June 3, 2025: Amazon officially announces Posts program deprecation. New users lose access to Posts API endpoints immediately.

June 16, 2025: Existing Posts users must cease creating new content. Final deadline for new post creation across all accounts.

July 31, 2025: Complete Posts platform shutdown. All Posts APIs return error responses and existing content becomes inaccessible.

Related industry developments

While Amazon discontinues Posts, other advertising platform deprecations have occurred throughout 2024 and 2025. Google deprecated its Audience Profile Analysis feature within Display & Video 360 on July 1, 2024, as part of third-party cookie phase-out preparations. Google Ad Manager ended support for Spotlight activities and conversions on February 22, 2024, reflecting similar privacy-driven platform changes. These deprecations indicate broader industry trends toward simplified, performance-focused advertising solutions rather than complex content discovery features.

Simultaneously, Amazon has invested heavily in alternative advertising capabilities that demonstrate clearer performance metrics. Amazon's expansion into in-store digital signage for Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores shows the company's strategic focus on measurable, location-based advertising solutions. The launch of Amazon's Similar Audiences beta feature for Amazon DSP demonstrates continued innovation in AI-powered targeting capabilities that deliver quantifiable results.

This industry consolidation suggests that advertising platforms are prioritizing development resources on features that demonstrate clear return on investment for advertisers. Social commerce features like Posts require significant technical infrastructure while delivering less measurable outcomes compared to direct advertising formats.