Dive Brief:

• Amazon is already the seventh-largest seller of ads globally, according to online ad tracking company eMarketer, and could sell some $1 billion of advertising this year, more than Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pandora. But it could sell more.

• Amazon sold more than $70 billion in products last year, and is hesitant to blow its customers’ trust with what could be perceived as overstepping if it uses too much of their data too often.

• Observers say this caution means that Amazon is hurting its bottom line and its growth potential, the Seattle Times reports.

Dive Insight:

For a company that seems willing to disrupt all aspects of retail, using bottom-dollar pricing and losing money on its Prime membership to provide free two-day shipping on many products, not to mention its Prime streaming entertainment service, Amazon’s tentative approach to using its trove of customer data is intriguing, and a lesson to retailers. As it gears up to possibly leverage more of this information for ads, web merchants of all stripes should keep a close eye on any consequences. Consumers are touchy about this — certainly Facebook has felt the heat of disapproval every time users feel it has overstepped. Amazon’s actions in advertising could be a treasure trove of information for others as consumers react, positively, negatively, or neutrally, to any moves the retailer makes.