Amazon is reportedly expanding its own in-house ads system in a move for the online retail giant to compete with Google.

According to the Wall Street Journal , which cites people familiar with the matter, the company is developing software that is eventually expected to unseat Google's ad placement platform on its own service.

It is also apparently hoping to beef up its ad placement business on other sites as part of Amazon's strategy to carve its way into Google's multi-billion-dollar AdWords' empire.

The company already scoops up plenty of data from customers who shop via Amazon. For example, their habits are targeted by the retailer, which nags people who browse certain items but are yet to hit the purchase button.

Such behaviour will be a lucrative selling point for the multinational when it comes to convincing other websites to sign up to its ad system, which according to the WSJ is dubbed Amazon Sponsored Links.

For now, though, Amazon is declining to officially go public with its plans. ®