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Transcript

Amazon at 25: The Celebration Sellers Didn’t Ask For — Plus Walmart’s New Rules, AI Discovery, and the Coming “Goods Recession” · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Selling on Giants, e-commerce news and updates.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Will, host of the Selling on Giants podcast, where we break down what's happening across Amazon, Walmart, and the broader retail universe so you can skip the noise, save time, and focus on what actually impacts your business.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: This week, Amazon throws itself a 25th birthday party, Walmart sharpens its data standards, the NRF predicts a trillion dollar holiday, and we'll unpack why AI-driven discovery could be the new front door to retail.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is celebrating 25 years with sellers, and the response is about as mixed as prime day reviews.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The company released a glossy video highlighting how independent sellers have driven over$2.5 trillion in sales and created more than 2 million US jobs since 1999.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: More than 60% of Amazon's total sales now come from third-party sellers, a stat that should make anyone who built their brand on the platform proud.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the rub.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: The comments section told a very different story.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers flooded Amazon's YouTube and LinkedIn posts with frustration over rising fees, stricter storage limits, and delayed reimbursements.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: One commenter wrote, Amazon says we're partners, but it feels more like we work for them.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Another called it a monopoly wrapped in gratitude.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a tough truth.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon has built the single most powerful growth engine in retail history, but that engine runs hottest for Amazon itself.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Seller profits keep getting squeezed, while costs for ads, logistics, and compliance go up.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: The takeaway, Amazon is still the best distribution channel on earth, but it's not your business.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers who treat Amazon as a piece of a broader strategy, not the whole pie, are the ones that build lasting brands.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now to something more tactical.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why does this matter?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because that section has always been underutilized.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Most brands treated it like a bio when it should have been a sales driver.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: With shoppable collections, Amazon is finally connecting branding to conversion.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you manage listings, think of this as your cross-selling cheat code.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Use it to highlight seasonal bundles, complementary SKUs, or best sellers, and update fast.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: When the new module activates, your old brand story disappears.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart, meanwhile, is cleaning house, literally in its catalog data.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: The company just overhauled how it classifies products, forcing sellers to correctly identify each listing by category, product type group, and product type.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Get it wrong, and your product ends up in miscellaneous, the graveyard of discoverability.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's making this change to strengthen search accuracy both on Walmart.com and across Google.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The company's algorithm now relies heavily on clean data to power filters, comparison charts, and add placements.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: That means sellers who ignore this will see their products buried.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't a sexy update, but it's an important one.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: As retail media gets more automated, data hygiene becomes your new competitive edge.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Audit your listings, fix your attributes, and stay consistent across your catalog, because Walmart's new AI won't fix it for you.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of big numbers, the National Retail Federation says 2025 will be the first trillion dollar holiday season in US history.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're forecasting over$1 trillion in total sales for November and December, a 3-4% increase from last year.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what's interesting: retailers aren't adding seasonal staff like they used to.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring projections are down by almost 30% from 2024, signaling that companies are relying more on automation and earlier promotions to stretch revenue over a longer window.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, this means timing is everything.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: The holiday rush now starts in October.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you're waiting until Black Friday to go big, you've already missed the early adopters.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your best play first is to launch campaigns early.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Next, position your offers as gifts or bundles.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, prioritize value messaging.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Consumers are still spending.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're just more selective about where their dollars go.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Before we move on, quick sidebar.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because if all these updates feel like a full-time job, that's literally what we do.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: At Bellivix, we've helped brands sell over$500 million on Amazon.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're a verified ad partner, and we specialize in hands-on marketplace growth, the kind that turns complex problems into clear, actionable plans.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's scaling ads, cleaning up your catalog, or prepping for a retail pitch, we help you stay ahead of the algorithm and the competition.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Head to Bellovics.com if you want a partner who actually knows what it's like to live inside Seller Central.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, back to it.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's not letting Alibaba have all the fun this November.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Its Hall Holiday sale, a cheeky nod to 1111 singles day, features items as low as 11 cents.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: The campaign spans everything under$20 across home, fashion, and electronics.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's Amazon's boldest move yet to claw back share from Timu and Sheen.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the playbook.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon Hall operates like a separate storefront, complete with its own checkout flow.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to hook price-sensitive shoppers who might otherwise buy from Chinese marketplaces.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, this is both opportunity and warning.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you have fast-moving, low-cost SKUs, Haul could drive serious volume.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if your brand depends on premium positioning, this new tier of bargain shopping could dilute perceived value.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: The bigger picture?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's competing not just on quality, but on price psychology, meeting inflation weary consumers where they are.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's also upping its game?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: The retail giant now allows self-fulfilled sellers to earn the Walmart Plus badge.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: No WFS required.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Until now, only sellers using Walmart fulfillment services could access that prime style visibility.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: But as long as you ship within three days, offer free delivery, and maintain strong on-time metrics, you're in.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is a win for entrepreneurs.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: It rewards performance, not platform lock-in.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: It gives small and mid-sized sellers a chance to compete toe-to-toe with major brands without giving up control of their logistics.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been running a solid 3PL or hybrid fulfillment setup, this change can dramatically expand your reach.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Check your metrics, adjust your shipping policies, and go claim that badge.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Next up, the intersection of AI and SEO is getting real.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Analyst Anne Smarty revealed that Google Search Console now detects traffic patterns generated by ChatGPT and similar AI tools.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can actually filter them using rejects, looking for long structured or comparison style queries that sound more like prompts than human searches.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why does that matter?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because it means ChatGPT and other large language models are now crawling your content for product recommendations.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: When someone asks, what's the best vitamin C serum under$50?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: AI tools scrape and synthesize that data, and if your content is well structured and authoritative, it gets surfaced in their responses.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is the new Discovery Frontier.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about who ranks first on Google, it's about who gets cited by the bots.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to future-proof your brand, start building citable content.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Write comparisons, guides, and tutorials.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: AI reads like a librarian.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: It rewards clarity, structure, and expertise.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And speaking of AI, Amazon is suing Perplexity AI over its Comet shopping agents.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: The claim, Comet impersonated real users to access prime data and automate purchases without permission.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon argues that it's about protecting customers and price integrity.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Perplexity says Amazon's just scared of competition.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is more than a legal squabble.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a battle for who owns AI-driven commerce.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: If Amazon wins, third-party AI tools will lose access to its marketplace, cementing Amazon as the gatekeeper of agentic shopping.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: If it loses, we could see open agent ecosystems where assistants shop across marketplaces freely.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where I stand.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers should want openness.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart, for example, is already benefiting from Chat GPT referrals, with up to 30% of its traffic reportedly coming from AI assistants.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's decision to wall off its ecosystem might protect control in the short term, but it risks missing the broader shift toward open discovery.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: For now, sellers should optimize listings for Amazon's own AI assistant, Rufus.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Detailed specs, conversational keywords, and complete metadata are your best bet for staying visible.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let's shift gears to logistics.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: U.S.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: port data is signaling what analysts are calling a goods recession.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Import volumes dropped 7.5% year over year in October, and projections show sharper declines through the end of the year.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Retailers overstocked early to beat tariff deadlines, and now they're pulling back hard.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: For marketplace sellers, that means slower freight movement, tighter margins, and more cautious buyers.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't doom and gloom.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's normalization.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: After two years of whiplash supply chains, retailers are learning restraint.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: The smart move is agility over abundance.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Keep inventory lean, diversify sourcing beyond China, and protect your cash flow.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you run FBA, expect longer check-in times as carriers adjust to lower volumes.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Stay proactive with shipment planning.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: 2026 is shaping up to be another year where operational disciplines separate survivors from strugglers.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: We'll close with Amazon's latest advertising push, interactive, location-based prime video ads.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Advertisers can now run video spots that show live local offers like sign up today or send a phone, customize to where the viewer is watching.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine a car dealership showing nearby inventory or a restaurant chain promoting the closest location, all inside Prime Video.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: With over 300 million ad-supported viewers, this is a serious retail media play.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is merging entertainment and commerce at scale.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: For brands, it opens a new way to reach customers regionally with big screen impact and local precision.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, this signals a bigger shift.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: The convergence of retail, media, and AI-driven personalization.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about getting seen, it's about getting seen by the right shopper at the right moment on the right screen.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's your selling on Giants news and updates for the week.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: We covered Amazon's 25-year journey from startup to empire, new tools reshaping how we sell, Walmart's data discipline, trillion dollar retail forecasts, and how AI is rewriting the Discovery Playbook.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: If this saved you time or helped you think sharper about your strategy, do me a favor follow, rate, and subscribe wherever you're tuning in.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It helps us reach more sellers and keeps these insights coming every week.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Will from Selling on Giants.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: See you next week.