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Amazon Wants to Run Every Marketplace, AI Gets the Keys & Holiday Spending Hits $275B · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon wants your next Monday morning to look very different.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: You open Seller Central and see orders from Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and eBay.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: One inventory pool can fulfill them.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: An AI agent watches pricing and account health.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon moves the merchandise, and eligible payouts can reach the bank within a day.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is not a collection of unrelated product updates.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is Amazon applying for the job of operating system for commerce.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Will, host of the Selling on Giants podcast, where we break down what is changing across e-commerce and what marketplace operators should actually do about it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: For the week of September 29th, Amazon is expanding seller central far beyond Amazon.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: AI is moving from recommendations into account actions.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Holiday demand is moving further into October.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Business-to-business selling is becoming its own marketplace fight.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And on TikTok Shop, content is starting to replace the traditional storefront.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin with Amazon's biggest move.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is rolling out multi-channel tools that let US sellers connect eBay, Shopify, TikTok Shop, and Walmart accounts to Seller Central.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: The current release can import and link listings, show orders and sales, and use Amazon fulfillment.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: More capabilities are arriving gradually at no additional cost.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The direction matters more than the first release.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon wants sellers to manage listings, orders, fulfillment, advertising data, and profitability across several channels from one place.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: That can reduce dashboards, repetitive updates, and manual reporting.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon says sellers choose what to connect and share, can disconnect at any time, and that connected data will not inform its retail business decisions.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Still, treat this as an infrastructure decision.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Test one channel, define the source of truth, and confirm that Seller Central replaces work instead of creating another dashboard.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Protect channel-specific strategy too.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: The best content, promotion, and assortment on Amazon may not be the best version for Walmart, Shopify, or TikTok Shop.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is strengthening the pitch with fulfillment.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Multi-channel fulfillment merchants can add prime delivery to their websites without an extra charge beyond standard fulfillment fees.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: A preferred pricing program can reduce qualifying costs by 15 to 25% during the first six months.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: One inventory pool may reduce duplicated stock, but compare the full cost and the risk of relying on one network for several channels.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is also improving the cash side.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Eligible US sellers can receive qualifying disbursements within 24 hours, including weekends and holidays, through express payout.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: This shortens bank delivery after Amazon sends the funds.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It does not change when Amazon initiates the disbursement.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Verify it in payments before changing cash flow assumptions.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Put these updates together and Amazon's strategy becomes clear.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: It wants to help manage the catalog, aggregate the orders, move the inventory, measure the profit, and accelerate the cash.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: The marketplace is becoming a business operating layer.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: The second major shift is what happens when that operating layer starts making decisions.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's seller assistant now includes persistent memory and automated workflows.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It can monitor inventory, pricing, competitive changes, and account health even when the seller is not logged in.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: A selling partner plugin for Amazon Quick and, in beta, Anthropics Claude can bring real-time performance, inventory, listing, and sales data into those tools.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: With approval, the agent can also take actions.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon says the connections include permission boundaries and audit trails.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Advertising is moving in the same direction.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: A new campaign intelligence dashboard arrives for US sponsored ads advertisers in October.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: It will recommend changes across bids, budgets, and targeting.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: In January of 2027, auto optimization is expected to begin adding keywords and product targets while pausing underperforming ones within the advertiser's existing campaign settings.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: This can eliminate repetitive work.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: It can also automate the wrong objective with impressive speed.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Start with recommendations.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Define which decisions can be automated, which dollar or inventory thresholds require approval, and who reviews the audit trail.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Pricing, advertising, and replenishment affect one another, so the guardrails must reflect the whole business.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: The advantage will not be access to AI.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: It will be knowing what the AI may do, what it is optimizing, and when a human should overrule it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That discipline matters because the holiday selling season is already arriving.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Adobe expects US online spending from November 1st through December 31st to reach a record$275.1 billion, an increase of 6.7% from last year.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It also forecasts$95.8 billion in October online spending, including roughly$9.9 billion during Amazon's October 6th and 7th Prime event.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Adobe also expects shoppers to use promotions to stock up on everyday essentials, not only gifts.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: That matters for grocery, beauty, personal care, household, and other replenishable categories.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: October is now part of the holiday demand curve.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Decide how much inventory belongs to the October events, how much must survive through Cyber Week, and what needs to remain for December.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Confirm promotions, mobile product pages, and replenishment timing.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: A strong October can still produce a weak quarter if the brand gives away too much margin or runs out before November.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Adobe expects traffic from AI tools to retail websites to rise sharply as well.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Titles, attributes, availability, price, reviews, and delivery promises need to remain accurate wherever a shopper or an AI assistant finds the product.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: If your team is trying to connect advertising, catalog, inventory, compliance, and profitability while the platforms keep expanding their reach, that is where Bellivix comes in.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have helped brands sell more than$500 million on Amazon, and Bellovics is a verified ad partner.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Our focus is hands-on strategy that turns marketplace complexity into a clear operating plan your team can actually execute.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can learn more at Bellovics.com.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth developed story this week is the growing competition for business buyers.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon has introduced business deals, allowing eligible sellers to run promotions specifically for Amazon business customers without an additional deal fee.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Deals can run from one hour to 30 days, with minimum discounts starting at 10% for regular deals and 15% during major events.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is building its own business selling infrastructure.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Eligible Walmart business sellers can manage business pricing, volume discounts, sales insights, and dedicated reporting through Seller Center.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart business participation remains limited, but the platform is giving approved sellers more ways to treat business demand as a separate channel.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Business buyers purchase differently from households.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Track their assortment, order size, margin, repeat behavior, and fulfillment cost separately.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon business sellers also face an immediate deadline.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Starting September 30th, US sellers fulfilling those orders themselves need a business hour delivery rate of at least 90% over a rolling 14-day period.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: An on-time package can still miss the metric if it arrives after the business closes.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon says sellers below the threshold will receive a warning.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: If the rate does not improve by October 30th, their seller-fulfilled offers may be deactivated for Amazon business customers.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Fulfillment by Amazon offers are not affected.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Check account health, review performance by carrier, and confirm handling times and shipping settings.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers do not control a driver's route, but Amazon controls the metric, so operators need to manage the risk they can see.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Two shorter operational notes deserve attention.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: First, Amazon is adding dangerous goods questions when sellers create or edit listings in certain categories beginning October 26th.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: The list includes some appliances, shock absorbers, writing instruments, and pool or spa chemicals.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Existing listings do not need a proactive update.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: If your catalog is affected, collect the product specifications, chemical information, packaging details, and supporting documents before the next edit.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: A small copy chain should not become a surprise compliance project.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Second, Walmart's Review Accelerator Guidance separates two programs.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Post-purchase reviews can cover certain items with fewer than 15 reviews or no reviews in 90 days.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: The recognized reviewer sample program currently lists fewer than 10 reviews, a content quality score of at least 70%, and additional requirements.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Audit the low review catalog against the correct program before assuming an item qualifies.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Meeting the criteria does not guarantee acceptance.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now zoom out, because TikTok shop is showing the other direction commerce infrastructure can move.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Best Buy plans to bring nearly 10,000 products to TikTok Shop in late October.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Shoppers can discover them through creator content and in-app listings, while Best Buy handles fulfillment and eligible returns.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: For brands already distributed through Best Buy, that creates a route into social commerce without operating the storefront themselves.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sephora is taking a narrower approach.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Its drop shop uses exclusive monthly launches, creator content, and livestream reveals.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Some products debut on TikTok before reaching Sephora's other channels.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: One retailer is bringing breadth.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The other is using scarcity and theater.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Both are treating TikTok as more than another place to upload a catalog.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok says its shop business in Spain grew roughly 150% over the past year, with about 70% of seller revenue coming from short-form video and live streams.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is Spanish data, not a US forecast, but the operating lesson travels well.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: On TikTok Shop, content is not merely marketing for the storefront.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: The content is increasingly the shelf, the salesperson, and the path to checkout.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Brands testing the channel should begin with Hero Products, a repeatable creator pipeline, enough inventory for a breakout video, and reporting by content source.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uploading a catalog without a content engine is simply inventory waiting for attention.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: This week's updates show the marketplace model stretching in two directions at once.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is centralizing more of the operating stack.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is collapsing discovery, content, and checkout into one experience.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon and Walmart are building dedicated systems for business buyers.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: AI is starting to participate in the decisions that connect all of it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: The opportunity is efficiency.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: The risk is losing track of who controls the data, the decision, and the customer relationship.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Use the tools, but keep the operating rules.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Know the source of truth.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Define the approval limits.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Measure profit by channel.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And make sure convenience does not quietly become dependence.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode helped you think differently about the week ahead, follow Selling on Giants, subscribe wherever you listen, and leave a review.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: It helps more marketplace operators find the show.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I genuinely appreciate the support.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Will, signing off from Selling on Giants.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the systems connected, keep the decisions accountable, and keep moving forward.