Latest / Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast / Amazon’s Shoppable Video Upgrade, Black Friday Reality Check, and the Rise of AI Shopping Assistants

Transcript

Amazon’s Shoppable Video Upgrade, Black Friday Reality Check, and the Rise of AI Shopping Assistants · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Selling on Giants, the e-commerce news and updates show.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Will, your host of SOG.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I break down what's happening across Amazon, Walmart, Target, and the broader retail world, so you don't need to dig through forums or decode press releases that read like they were written by a compliance team after an espresso drip.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We are starting with something that actually helps sellers for a change.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon made a real upgrade to shoppable videos, and this one is worth your time.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is rare when Amazon hands you a conversion lever that is faster to produce, easier to publish, and actually measurable.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon added performance analytics directly inside the upload and manage videos page.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: You now get click-through rate, return rate, and attributed sales, and you can track performance over time with clean trend lines.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: This turns video from a vanity play into something you can optimize like a real asset.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Canva rolled out Amazon ready shoppable video templates at the same time.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: They are clean, straightforward, and built for mobile viewers.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: You now get templates for how-tos, unboxings, and product tours that do not require a production crew.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then, Amazon layered in bulk uploads so you can push 15 videos at once.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Small detail, massive time saver.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The move is simple.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon wants richer product pages and they want you to do the work for them.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers who adapt early will get higher conversion and fewer returns, while sellers who wait will be playing catch up by spring.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Seller Takeaway.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Strong video now shapes buyer confidence, and Amazon made it too easy to ignore.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The timing of that update hits right after we survived the marathon known as Black Friday.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: On paper, the numbers looked historic.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: In Seller Central, it felt more like a stress test disguised as a holiday.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: This year showed the most extreme gap yet between macro headlines and the seller experience.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Shoppers spent billions online.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The story everyone missed is that average selling prices climbed while order volume went down.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Revenue grew because prices were higher, not because people bought more.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, sellers saw rising ad costs, tighter margins, and a promotional environment that felt like walking uphill with a weighted vest.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Many small and mid-size brands reported flat sales with higher spend, in some cases, a lot higher.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon stretched Black Friday into a 12-day event, and shoppers responded by spreading their purchases across multiple platforms.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: None of them sat out.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Price tracking tools made fake discounts obvious.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Shoppers shopped with intent and hunted value instead of impulse.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then came the glitches.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Discounts changed mid-event.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Prime exclusive discounts forced brands to drop prices further to stay enrolled.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some listings had price overrides appear out of nowhere.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was messy across the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, and Canada.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers called their enrollment fees and ad spend a charity donation.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: That tells you everything.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: The wider retail world looked great on paper.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Global spending was up 6%.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: US online sales grew 9% year over year.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: In-store traffic dropped, but department stores saw a bump.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: AI-driven shopping behavior exploded.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Adobe tracked AI-driven traffic up over 800%, and Salesforce said AI agents influence more than$14 billion worldwide.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: We are in a new era where shoppers bring algorithms with them.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Seller takeaway Black Friday is now a volatility event.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Protect your margin before signing up for the hype.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The holiday chaos makes this next shift even more important.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's CTO is talking openly about where this all goes next, and it is the clearest signal yet that e-commerce will revolve around AI systems rather than search bars.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: He describes it as AI in the human loop, which is a polite way of saying the decisions that shape product discovery are becoming automated at the system level.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: These agents will decide what to show, what to suppress, and how to route shoppers.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Humans will set the guardrails, or they will get bulldozed by whoever does.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: This means your catalog is not only for shoppers anymore.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is training data for the machines that decide what gets surfaced.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Product data needs to be clean.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Reviews need to be believable.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Images need to be clear.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: AI systems do not give you the courtesy of reading between the lines.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: They promote clarity and bury confusion.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: He also makes the point that the winners inside this next phase are operators who can think across systems, not siloed campaign managers.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you understand how margin, CX, and inventory play together, you will thrive.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you still operate like this is 2022, you will feel the ground move under you.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Seller takeaway, AI systems are becoming the decision makers, and your catalog is speaking to them with or without your consent.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Before we move on, quick sidebar because if you are trying to make sense of all this, that is literally what we do.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: At Bellovics, we have helped brands sell more than$500 million on Amazon.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: We are a verified ad partner and we specialize in hands-on marketplace growth.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: When sellers hit volatility, like we saw on Black Friday, we come in, tighten the catalog, stabilize ads, monitor competitors, and build a plan you can trust.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Head to bellivix.com if you want a team that actually knows what the inside of Seller Central looks like.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, back to it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because the next story ties directly into this AI-driven shift.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: ChatGPT has entered the comparison shopping game and it is not subtle.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI launched a new shopping research feature that acts like a personal shopper mixed with a buying guide, mixed with someone who has no problem telling you where the better deal is.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Shoppers describe what they need and their budget.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: ChatGPT produces a curated list with trade-offs and recommendations, and it sends them to reliable retailers.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right now the purchases still happen on retailer sites.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: That is temporary.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Instant checkout is expanding fast.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Etsy, Shopify, Walmart, and Target have already wired themselves into the system, and Target's ChatGPT integration even supports fresh food, multi-item carts, and same-day fulfillment.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is a clear move.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of starting on Amazon, shoppers start in ChatGPT and let the AI decide which products deserve attention.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: That means your listings are now battling for visibility in two places: marketplace search and AI-generated shopping guides.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: If your product is overpriced, if your reviews are shaky, or if your differentiation is muddy, the model will push someone else.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Seller Takeaway Treat AI shopping assistants as a discovery channel that sits in front of the marketplace, not a novelty.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is your selling on Giants news and updates for the week.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: We covered Amazon's biggest video upgrade in years, the real Black Friday story from the trenches, the AI shift driving Amazon's next decade, and how ChatGPT is becoming the new front door of product discovery.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: If this helped you avoid a few hours of forum rabbit holes, leave a review wherever you are tuning in.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: It helps us reach more sellers and pull in stronger guests for future episodes.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Will from Selling on Giants.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: See you next week.