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Amazon News: Huge Cyber Week Gains, AI Shopping Bots & Major Amazon Updates
Published 12 days ago • 11 min read
This Week's Top Amazon Seller News
Hey Reader,
This week’s briefing covers Cyber Week results, AI training datasets modeled on Amazon/Gmail, calls for clearer product-origin labels, untapped brand power in packaging, ad growth at Walmart, and a few Seller Central tools and policies you can act on now. Join us live today at 12 PM Eastern / 9 AM Pacific!
We’ll discuss the latest Amazon news and how it impacts your business. Tune in for valuable insights to help you stay ahead. Catch the live stream on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Let’s dive in! Click here to read on our website
Cyber Week sales jumped again this year, with U.S. ecommerce up 5% and AI influencing 20% of global orders — a major signal that Amazon sellers should expect even more AI-driven shopping behavior and competition. Mobile dominated checkout and BNPL hit new highs, showing where customer convenience is shifting fast.
In-store traffic also increased 3%, proving omnichannel still matters and giving Amazon sellers insight into why big-box competitors continue to invest in hybrid shopping experiences. Strong early-season numbers suggest a trillion-dollar holiday season ahead, meaning sellers should push hard now while demand is still elevated.
Tech companies are now building synthetic replicas of Amazon and Gmail to train AI agents, allowing them to practice shopping, comparing products, and checking out inside a fake Amazon environment. For Amazon sellers, this means AI-driven shoppers will soon become more common — agents that automatically find deals, select products, and optimize purchases, making listing quality, pricing, and keyword relevance even more critical.
AWS is also investing heavily in these AI training systems, signaling that Amazon’s own ecosystem will increasingly rely on agentic AI for search, ads, and buyer interactions. Sellers should prepare for a future where AI — not humans — becomes a major percentage of traffic, decision-making, and conversion behavior across the marketplace.
Lawmakers are pressuring Amazon to prominently display country-of-origin information, component sourcing percentages, and whether sellers are U.S. or foreign-controlled — especially those tied to China. For Amazon sellers, this signals potential new compliance requirements around transparency, reporting, and verifiable origin data that could become mandatory across the marketplace.
They also want Amazon to add filters so shoppers can easily find U.S.-made products or exclude certain countries, which could shift search traffic and visibility for many listings. If implemented, this could change how sellers position products, structure listings, and handle supply chain documentation.
Blenda Luta reports that Amazon has introduced a powerful new Performance Alerts feature that notifies sellers whenever key metrics like sales, Buy Box %, indexing, or conversions suddenly shift. For Amazon sellers, this means spotting issues early, protecting revenue, and reacting to listing or traffic problems before they hurt rankings.
Luta highlights that sellers can build up to 5 custom alert groups with multiple conditions, tracking up to 10 ASINs each across metrics such as ordered sales, units, page views, and Featured Offer percentage. This update gives brand managers, PPC teams, and operators a more proactive way to manage account health and optimize performance in real time.
Amazon’s SIPP (Ships in Product Packaging) program is highly rated by brands, with 86% of participating manufacturers recommending it due to benefits like stronger branding, lower fulfillment costs, and improved sustainability. For Amazon sellers, the study shows that optimized ecommerce packaging can boost customer experience, margins, and competitive advantage — and many brands are already seeing measurable gains.
The research highlights that branding and sustainability are the top drivers of successful ecommerce packaging, and a majority of companies expect packaging strategy to become even more critical by 2027. Sellers already using DTC-style packaging or ecommerce-ready designs may qualify for SIPP quickly, unlocking lower fees and better consumer engagement.
Walmart’s ad platform, Walmart Connect, is growing 6× faster than its retail sales, signaling a shift toward an Amazon-style pay-to-play ecosystem where sponsored placements dominate search results. For Amazon sellers, this means Walmart is no longer the “cheap alternative” — advertising will increasingly become mandatory to maintain visibility, just like on Amazon.
As Walmart pushes more sponsored results to the top of search, organic rankings are losing ground, and sellers will face rising costs for the same traffic. The trend mirrors Amazon’s evolution, showing that retail media is becoming the core profit engine for both marketplaces and tightening competition across channels.
Amazon has introduced a new Seller-Set Holidays feature that lets FBM sellers block specific days from shipping while keeping their listings live — something that previously required Vacation Mode, which hid products from customers. For Amazon sellers, this means the ability to take time off without losing visibility or disrupting sales, with Amazon automatically adjusting delivery estimates around these no-ship dates.
The update also comes with improvements to location settings, delivery-date transparency, and multi-location inventory, giving FBM sellers more control over operational accuracy. Sellers should review how these settings affect metrics like Speed for SFP, as questions remain about potential performance impacts.
Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop are rapidly building local fulfillment networks to offer faster shipping, while Amazon is expanding its own direct-from-China, low-price model through Haul and the new Amazon Bazaar app. For Amazon sellers, this means rising competition from international platforms that now deliver faster and attract U.S. brands — while Amazon simultaneously pushes deeper into ultra-cheap global assortments.
Regulatory changes ending duty-free de minimis shipping are accelerating this shift, forcing Chinese platforms to raise prices and rely more on local warehouses. The overall trend shows e-commerce moving toward hybrid supply chains where speed and price both matter, raising the bar for Amazon sellers competing on fulfillment, pricing, and assortment strategy.
Will Haire highlights that Amazon now allows advertisers to run Sponsored Products ads across external retail sites like iHerb, Zappos, Macy’s, and more — dramatically expanding reach beyond the Amazon ecosystem. For Amazon sellers, this means your ads can now capture shoppers browsing other major retailers, increasing visibility and potential conversions without creating separate advertising accounts.
This shift opens new audience pathways and gives brands more ways to win customers earlier in their buying journey. It also signals Amazon’s push to compete directly with Google Shopping and retail media networks by controlling off-Amazon ad demand.
Amazon is slashing referral and fulfillment fees across Europe — one of its biggest fee reductions ever — to stay competitive with ultra-low-price marketplaces like Shein and Temu. For Amazon sellers, this means lower costs on cheap fashion, home goods, grocery, vitamins, and pet clothing, with some categories dropping from 15% down to as low as 5%.
These fee cuts directly target price-sensitive categories where Shein and Temu have been gaining share, signaling Amazon’s push to keep sellers profitable while competing in a race-to-the-bottom market. For sellers operating in Europe or planning expansion, this represents a meaningful margin boost and a stronger incentive to list lower-priced products on Amazon.
Amazon’s 2026 FBA update brings small average fee increases (about $0.08 per unit) but major structural changes that reward efficient inventory, accurate prep, and steady restocking. For Amazon sellers, the biggest impacts will be higher peak storage costs, new inbound placement rules, updated returns processing, and stricter low-inventory penalties — meaning poor forecasting will cost more than ever.
Some categories will see fee reductions, especially extra-large items and low-price products under $10, while bulky items get new size tiers and revised discounts. Overall, Amazon continues shifting FBA toward precision, rewarding sellers who maintain lean, well-prepped, fast-moving inventory.
Backend keywords are invisible search terms that help Amazon’s algorithm understand your product and rank it for long-tail, misspellings, and intent-based queries that don’t fit naturally into titles or bullets. For Amazon sellers, these hidden fields are a major opportunity to expand indexing, boost organic traffic, and reduce ad spend by capturing more searches organically.
The article explains how to optimize backend keywords through smart research, relevance-based selection, competitor gap analysis, and ongoing A/B testing to stay aligned with shopper behavior. When paired with strong front-end SEO, backend keywords become a powerful engine for increasing impressions, discoverability, and sales.
Amazon’s Grocery & Gourmet Foods category has higher barriers than most categories, including gated approval, strict performance metrics, food safety rules, expiration-date controls, and special handling for meltable or temperature-sensitive items. For Amazon sellers, that complexity scares away casual competitors, creating opportunity for those who learn the approval process, source from legitimate distributors, and manage compliance correctly.
It then walks through viable business models—retail and online arbitrage, wholesale, and private label—plus listing requirements like UPC structure, nutrition labels, price-per-unit data, and backend filters for dietary attributes. Success in Amazon grocery comes down to tight inventory control (especially dates and storage), choosing the right fulfillment method (FBA vs FBM for cold/frozen), and using tools for sourcing, inventory, and repricing to keep the category profitable at scale.
Amazon trademark complaints can be resolved quickly by contacting the rights owner, requesting a retraction, and agreeing to stop selling the disputed product—especially when the item isn’t central to your business. For Amazon sellers, this is one of the fastest ways to lift an account suspension and restore selling privileges without lengthy appeals.
Often, brands will retract their complaint if you sign a simple agreement confirming you will no longer list the product, helping you regain your account with minimal friction. The overall message: act fast, communicate with the complainant, and focus on retraction first to maximize your chances of reinstatement.
Reviews remain one of the strongest trust signals on Amazon, and products with even a single review convert dramatically better than those with none—making review generation essential for ranking, sales velocity, and protection against listing suppression. The article outlines compliant ways to build reviews, including Amazon’s Request a Review button, product inserts that delight customers, the Vine program, automated bulk review tools, and strong listing optimization that sets proper buyer expectations.
Sellers are also encouraged to use customer service as a proactive review engine, analyze competitor reviews for product improvements, and understand how Amazon’s AI (Rufus) relies on real customer feedback to surface product strengths. It ends with strict warnings about what not to do—no incentives, swaps, biased reviews, or manipulation—since these violations can suspend your account and wipe out hard-earned progress.
Amazon has introduced new tools to make Shoppable Videos easier and more effective, giving sellers access to enhanced video analytics and Canva-made templates designed specifically for Amazon product videos. The updated dashboard now shows CTR, return rate, attributed sales, and trend lines—helping sellers quickly identify which videos are actually driving conversions.
New Canva templates allow customizable, brand-aligned video designs in vertical formats, perfect for product demos, how-tos, and unboxing content that increase shopper engagement. Sellers can also bulk-upload up to 15 videos at once, streamlining the process for brands producing multiple ASIN videos to boost detail page performance and lift sales.
Amazon has added a new Image Manager function that lets sellers instantly copy media sets across sibling variations—saving time and ensuring consistent visuals for products that share the same color and style. Instead of manually uploading and renaming images for every size or variation, sellers can now duplicate a full image set with just a few clicks.
This upgrade is especially useful for apparel, accessories, and multi-variation listings where consistent imagery improves conversion rates and listing quality. Sellers should note that future image changes won’t automatically sync, so updates must still be managed per variation when needed.
Amazon has added video directly inside Sponsored Products ad groups, along with AI-generated video creation tools, making this the most significant PPC change in years. Because Sponsored Products drive the bulk of ad traffic for most sellers, video inside SP placements instantly raises the competitive bar—especially for mid-sized brands doing $10–45K/month.
Early adopters may benefit from higher CTR and lower CPC as Amazon rewards video engagement, while brands that stick to static ads could see rising costs and reduced visibility. With Amazon removing creative barriers through built-in AI video generation, the advantage now goes to sellers who adapt quickly and treat creative quality as a core PPC lever rather than an afterthought.
AI shopping assistants are beginning to bypass Amazon entirely by scanning prices, reviews, and inventory across the entire internet and recommending products without directing shoppers to any specific marketplace. If consumers start trusting these bots more than Amazon’s search results, the company could lose its position as the default starting point for online shopping—directly affecting sellers who rely on Amazon’s built-in traffic.
This shift creates a new competitive layer Amazon doesn’t fully control, raising the possibility that recommendation power will move from retailers to whoever builds the smartest AI. Massive global investments in AI data centers signal that these tools will only grow, potentially reshaping how customers discover products—and forcing Amazon sellers to think beyond Amazon SEO and prepare for AI-driven product comparison.
Todd’s Top Tip: Let AI Handle Your Product Questions with Sponsored Products Prompts
Hey Fellow Amazon Sellers, Amazon just dropped something that’s going to save you serious time and boost conversions. It’s called Sponsored Products Prompts, and it’s completely free right now in beta.
Here’s the deal: when customers search for products, they often have quick questions before clicking buy—things like “Does it fit?” or “Is it waterproof?” Historically, you’d hope they’d dig through your Q&A section or read reviews, but most people just bounce and buy from a competitor.
Sponsored Products Prompts changes that game. Amazon’s AI automatically engages shoppers with conversational product details right there in your ad. It’s like having a 24/7 sales rep answering common questions before customers even ask. The AI pulls from your listing details, reviews, and Q&A to generate these responses in real-time.
Your plan:
Log into your Amazon Ads Console right now.
Go to Campaign → Ad Group → Ads tab.
Look for “Prompts” section (you’re already enrolled automatically if you run Sponsored Products)[45].
Check what prompts the AI generated based on your product data. Amazon’s doing this for free during the beta.
Monitor performance weekly—look for lift in click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate versus your baseline ads without prompts.
If you see a spike in impressions or engagement, you’re golden. The AI is surfacing common questions shoppers care about.
If prompts aren’t performing, you can disable them, but most sellers should see an uptick because the AI is being smart about which questions to highlight[50].
Pro tip: Make sure your bullet points and descriptions answer the top customer pain points. The AI pulls from there, so clear, benefit-focused copy = better prompts.
This is one of the few free AI tools Amazon’s rolled out that actually moves the needle on conversions. Set it and monitor—don’t just ignore it.
More strategies to grow your Amazon business await at AmazonSeller.School. Let’s keep building those wins!
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