Latest / Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast / Amazon Puts Ads on Autopilot, Adds Paid Review Requests & TikTok Takes Checkout

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Amazon Puts Ads on Autopilot, Adds Paid Review Requests & TikTok Takes Checkout · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow morning, millions of shoppers will open Amazon looking for a deal.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Behind the scenes, Amazon's artificial intelligence may be deciding which ad they see, where the ad appears, which product it promotes, and how much of the advertiser's budget supports it.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is the bigger story this week.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is no longer building individual advertising tools.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is building an operating system that can manage the entire customer journey.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok and Walmart are making similar moves across advertising, checkout, fulfillment, and marketplace data.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Will Hare, co-founder of Bellivix, and this is Selling on Giants, where we break down what is changing in e-commerce, what it means for brands, and what marketplace operators should do next.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Today is October 5th, and Prime Big Deal Days begins tomorrow.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: We will cover what brands should watch during the event, but first we need to unpack the biggest announcements from Amazon Unboxed.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is bringing more of its advertising stack into one artificial intelligence-led environment called Amazon Ads Agent.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: The most important new feature is Full Funnel Campaigns.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: This combines sponsored ads, display, video, and streaming television under one budget and optimization engine.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: The advertiser provides the products, budget, creative, and business objective.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's system then determines how to allocate that budget across formats and placements.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is also launching DVA Plus, which combines capabilities previously spread across sponsored display, sponsored TV, and programmatic advertising.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It begins rolling out in late October.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Advertisers can allow Amazon to handle much of the campaign management automatically, or they can maintain more control over targeting, bidding, frequency, inventory, and supply selection.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is a significant shift.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: For years, Amazon advertising management focused on campaign construction.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Operators created portfolios, selected match types, adjusted bids, separated branded and non-branded traffic, and moved budget between campaigns.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That work is not disappearing overnight.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: But Amazon is clearly moving toward goal-based advertising, where the operator gives the system an objective and the system determines how to pursue it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: The strategic question is no longer simply whether Amazon can improve return on ad spend.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether Amazon is optimizing for the same outcome as the brand.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon may find a way to generate more sales.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: That does not automatically mean it is generating profitable sales, acquiring new customers, protecting contribution margin, building category share, or supporting the products the brand considers strategically important.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Those objectives are not interchangeable.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Brands should test full-funnel campaigns with controlled incremental budgets.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do not immediately dismantle campaign structures that are already working.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Before launching a test, define what success actually means.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: It could be new to brand customers, contribution margin, total sales growth, customer acquisition cost, or incremental reach.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The metric should reflect the business objective, not simply the metric Amazon makes easiest to see.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is also making analysis conversational.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Advertisers participating in the closed beta can ask Amazon Ads agent questions in plain English.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: The platform can analyze performance, compare time periods, evaluate new to brand customers, identify trends, and create visualizations without requiring someone to manually combine several reports.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is also testing an Amazon Marketing Cloud tool that converts plain language questions into validated SQL.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: A strategist could ask for an audience of shoppers who viewed a product during the last 30 days but did not purchase.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's system can interpret the request, create the query, and potentially prepare that audience for activation.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: This removes a major technical barrier from Amazon Marketing Cloud.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It does not remove the need for strategy.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: The machine can create the query.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: A person still needs to decide which audience matters, whether the data supports the conclusion, and what action the brand should take.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Routine reporting is becoming easier and less valuable by itself.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: The advantage moves toward asking better questions, validating the answers, and connecting advertising performance to margin, inventory, seasonality, and the broader business.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's next announcement may have an even more immediate effect on product launches.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is creating a paid advertising product called Review Requests.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Beginning in late October, eligible advertisers can create campaigns that encourage verified purchasers to leave a rating or review.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon will show the invitation while those customers browse high traffic Amazon placements.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: The customer can leave a star rating with one tap and may also add written feedback, photos, or video.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Products remain eligible until they reach 1,000 ratings and reviews.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon says early testing produced approximately three times as many ratings and reviews per week.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: To be clear, advertisers are not purchasing positive reviews.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: They are paying Amazon to present more verified purchasers with an opportunity to share their honest feedback.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: That distinction matters, but the operational impact is still significant.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Review velocity is one of the hardest parts of launching a new product.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Brands now have another paid lever alongside Vine, coupons, and traditional advertising.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Review acquisition may become a formal part of the media budget because reviews improve the conversion foundation supporting every other campaign.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Once pricing becomes available, brands should compare the cost of review requests against Vine, the expected conversion lift, and the value of accelerating early social proof.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Products with strong customer satisfaction but limited review volume may be the best candidates.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: This also reinforces a broader pattern.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon continues turning more of the product launch process into paid media.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Traffic was already paid, visibility was paid, promotions were paid.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now the systems supporting reviews and conversion are moving further into the advertising environment.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Before we move beyond Amazon, a quick note from Bellivix.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bellavix helps retail brands manage and grow across Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: That includes marketplace strategy, advertising, operations, creative, and the day-to-day execution required to turn platform changes like these into practical growth.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: If your team is trying to determine where automation helps, where it creates risk, and where human oversight still matters, visit Bellovics.com.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Amazon is not the only company expanding its role in the transaction.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is introducing Buy Direct, which allows shoppers to complete a purchase inside TikTok without requiring the brand to operate a traditional TikTok shop.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: The transaction connects to merchant systems through partners including Shopify, Salesforce, and Stripe.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: The brand remains the merchant of record, while TikTok controls the discovery and checkout experience.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is also testing a shopping assistant that can answer questions about products, sizing, availability, and shipping before guiding the customer toward checkout.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: This could create an attractive middle ground for brands that want access to native TikTok commerce but do not want to build and manage a completely separate TikTok shop operation.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: The brand retains the underlying commerce infrastructure.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok removes the friction of sending the shopper to another website.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is also expanding its advertising reach beyond its own application.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The TikTok ad network gives US advertisers access to inventory across nearly 400,000 outside applications, representing more than 1 billion daily active users.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Advertisers do not need to build separate campaigns.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok's optimization system determines when external inventory may help achieve the campaign objective.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is starting to look less like a social media advertising platform and more like a full advertising network.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Brands testing the external inventory should use controlled budgets and evaluate placement quality, incremental reach, and conversion rates separately from core TikTok traffic.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: More reach is useful only if the additional inventory produces the right audience and the right business result.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is also using its data to take a larger role in seller decision making.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Its updated assortment growth tool provides personalized recommendations about products and categories sellers should consider adding to marketplace.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart can explain why it recommends a product, identify relevant trends, suggest the next action, and allow the seller to begin building the listing directly from the dashboard.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is particularly useful for manufacturers with large catalogs.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of launching every product, a brand can compare Walmart's demand signals against the products already performing on Amazon or its direct-to-consumer website.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: A recommendation is not a guarantee of profitable demand.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Brands still need to evaluate competition, margin, fulfillment costs, content requirements, and the advertising investment needed to support the launch.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: However, Walmart is giving sellers more information about where it sees assortment gaps.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: That helps sellers make better decisions while also helping Walmart close selection gaps against Amazon.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart also updated its suspension and termination policy.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Seller accounts that remain suspended without a successful appeal or reinstatement can now face permanent termination.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart has not published a specific number of days that triggers termination.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Brands should not leave suspended accounts untouched simply because Walmart is not currently a priority.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: If an account is suspended, determine the cause, begin remediation, or make a deliberate decision about whether the account is worth preserving.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's turn to the immediate Q4 priority.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Prime Big Deal Days begins tomorrow, October 6th, and runs through October 7th.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon will release major deals three times per day at midnight, eight in the morning, and one in the afternoon Pacific time.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That means demand may arrive in waves rather than moving evenly throughout the day.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Operators should monitor budgets, conversion rates, inventory, and campaign caps around each deal release.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Daily totals may hide several hours where a campaign ran out of budget during the strongest demand window.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's promotional event began today and continues through October 11th.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Brands operating on both marketplaces need to manage two very different timelines.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon requires concentrated monitoring across two days.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart needs enough budget and inventory to remain competitive for nearly a full week.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is happening while consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 2014.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: The conference board's consumer confidence index declined for the third consecutive month, falling from 88.6 in August to 81.9 in September.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: That does not mean consumers stop spending.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: It means they become more selective.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Value, bundles, replenishable products, promotions, and clear price justification become more important when shoppers feel uncertain.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Watch conversion rates, average selling prices, coupon usage, and promotional response closely during this week's events.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do not assume strong traffic automatically signals a strong holiday season, and do not assume weaker confidence means e-commerce demand disappears.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: The customer may still spend.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: They may simply require a better reason to act.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Two final operational notes.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is bringing less than truckload freight into buy shipping for heavy and bulky products.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers shipping furniture, appliances, fitness equipment, and other large items will be able to compare Amazon's negotiated freight rates while receiving additional protection from late delivery claims.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Heavy and bulky sellers should benchmark their current freight rates, accessorial charges, and delivery performance before moving volume.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok Shop is also expanding box-free and label-free returns through happy returns.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Participating customers can return eligible products through nearly 10,000 US locations without printing a label or providing packaging.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Easier returns may improve shopper confidence, but they do not eliminate the cost of refunds, damaged products, fraud, or high return rates.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: The common thread this week is that marketplaces want to manage more than the listing or transaction.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon wants to manage the advertising decision, the review request, the audience query, and the fulfillment label.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok wants to manage discovery, advertising, product assistance, checkout, and returns.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart wants to recommend the assortment, fulfill outside orders, and enforce a more mature marketplace ecosystem.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: For brands, the opportunity is greater efficiency.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: The risk is allowing the platform's objective to quietly replace the brand's objective.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Use the automation, test the new infrastructure, take advantage of the demand signals, but keep control over the goal, the economics, the customer relationship, and the final decision.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Selling on Giants.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode helps you prepare for this week's events, follow the show, subscribe, and leave us a review.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next week.