Latest / Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast / Amazon Prime Day Returns, Walmart Growth, AI Shopping, and the New Rules of eCommerce Risk

Transcript

Amazon Prime Day Returns, Walmart Growth, AI Shopping, and the New Rules of eCommerce Risk · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Selling on Giants.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Mr.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Will, and this week we are looking at a theme that keeps showing up across Amazon, Walmart, AI commerce, retail media, and supply chain.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: The platforms are getting bigger, smarter, and more automated, but the risk is not disappearing.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is just moving somewhere else.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that risk moves to the seller.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it moves to the operator.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it moves into the supply chain.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And increasingly it moves into the data layer that decides whether your product gets seen, trusted, or ignored.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is the story this week.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Commerce is becoming more intelligent on the front end, but more demanding on the back end.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: If your systems are loose, your documentation is scattered, your product data is messy, or your margins only work when everything goes perfectly, the market is getting less forgiving.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with Prime Day, because Amazon is already telling sellers to get their safety claim strategy ready before the June event.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Safety claims apply to seller-fulfilled orders when the seller believes they were not at fault for the refund or return issue.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: That can include proof of delivery disputes, damaged returns, materially different returns, non-return after refund, and free replacement abuse.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is reminding sellers about 30-day filing windows, evidence requirements, return documentation, and appeal timelines.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: On paper, this is operational guidance.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: In reality, it is Amazon quietly acknowledging something sellers already know.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Prime Day brings volume, and volume brings return abuse, fraud, documentation gaps, and reimbursement fights.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: More orders mean more opportunities for things to go sideways.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are running FBM or seller-fulfilled Prime, the exposure is very real.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: The frustrating part is that sellers do not always trust the reimbursement system.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Forum feedback is pretty blunt.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers are talking about photographic evidence that does not seem to matter.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Switcheroo returns, fraudulent item not received claims, and situations where safety claims are blocked because an A to Z claim already existed.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: That is not just a process issue.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is a confidence issue.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: The operator takeaway is not that safety will save you.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The takeaway is that if you are seller-fulfilled, especially with high-ticket items, electronics, seasonal products, or anything easy to swap, you need documentation before the problem happens.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Photograph outbound packaging, record serial numbers, organize tracking, return labels, and shipment evidence by order ID.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Build the workflow now because trying to organize proof after Prime Day volume hits is how you end up donating margin to chaos.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That connects directly to another seller forum theme, which is the continued frustration around buyers, sellers cannot block.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's position remains clear.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers cannot block individual buyers.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Abuse has to be reported after the fact, and Amazon prefers centralized enforcement rather than letting sellers create their own customer level risk controls.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why Amazon takes that position.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: They want marketplace openness, customer trust, and consistent enforcement.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: But from the seller side, it creates a real problem.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: If someone repeatedly abuses returns, claims items were not received, swaps products, rents seasonal items for one-time use, or harasses support teams, sellers have limited tools to protect themselves proactively.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of those places where Amazon's customer-first model pushes operational and fraud risk onto sellers.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can dislike that reality, and many sellers do, but you still have to operate inside it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: That means return abuse is not an exception.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is part of the cost structure.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Contribution margin needs to account for it.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: SKU selection needs to account for it.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: FBM exposure needs to account for it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: If the unit economics only work in a world where every buyer behaves perfectly, you do not have a business model, you have a wish with inventory.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: The sellers who win here will be the ones who treat fraud prevention, documentation, returns, and reimbursement recovery as operational infrastructure, not administrative cleanup.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is not glamorous work, but neither is losing thousands of dollars to the same problem while hoping Amazon eventually builds a block buyer button.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I would not hold my breath on that one.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's move to Walmart because Walmart released Q1FY 27 earnings, and this is probably the most important marketplace signal in the update set.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Revenue grew 7.3% to$177.8 billion.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Global e-commerce grew 26%.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Global advertising grew 37%.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart US advertising grew 36%.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Membership revenue grew 17.4% globally.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart Connect grew 44%, excluding Visio.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those numbers tell a very clear story.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is not just a retailer adapting to e-commerce anymore.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is building commerce infrastructure.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: The growth engines are marketplace, e-commerce, advertising, membership, fulfillment, and omnichannel logistics.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is not a side project, that is the strategy.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: This matters because a lot of brands still treat Walmart like a secondary marketplace.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon gets the strategy, the budget, the team attention, the ad management, the operational planning, and Walmart gets whatever is left after everyone is tired.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: That mindset is getting expensive.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's advantage is different from Amazon's.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon dominates digitally.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart blends physical store density, last mile logistics, pickup and delivery, grocery frequency, membership behavior, marketplace assortment, and retail media.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is a different kind of flywheel.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is more hybrid, more local, and more connected to physical infrastructure.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers and agencies, the Walmart skill set is getting more complex.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is not just list products and run ads.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is marketplace optimization, Walmart Connect, fulfillment positioning, item setup, content, pricing, inventory allocation, omnichannel attribution, and understanding how store pickup and delivery behavior affects the customer journey.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Agencies that only understand Amazon PPC are going to have a harder time as the market keeps moving this way.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: The seller takeaway is simple.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: If Walmart makes sense for your category, start treating it like a real channel, not a backup plan.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: That does not mean you blindly launch everything.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: It means you evaluate the opportunity seriously, understand the fulfillment model, assess Walmart Connect readiness, and think about Walmart as long-term infrastructure.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: The brands that wait until Walmart is obvious will be late.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's widen the lens beyond marketplaces and talk supply chain because the Strait of Hormuz story is a reminder that e-commerce is not as digital as everyone likes to pretend.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about AI shopping, retail media, dashboards, and conversion rates, but a lot of this business still depends on physical goods, packaging, transportation, petroleum-based materials, and global choke points.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most sellers do not think about until costs move against them.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical shipping choke points for oil and petrochemical movement.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: If disruption hits that region, the risk is not only fuel prices.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: It can ripple into resin production, plastic packaging, food logistics, freight, manufacturing inputs, warehousing costs, and last mile delivery economics.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: That matters for e-commerce because packaging is everywhere.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Plastic containers, flexible packaging, protective shipping materials, resin-based inputs, food packaging, supplements, beauty containers, household goods, beverage products, refrigerated logistics, and a lot of the stuff sellers casually assume will always be available at roughly the same cost.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: When energy and petrochemical markets tighten, packaging and logistics costs can move quickly.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: The uncomfortable truth is that many brands are optimized for calm conditions.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lean inventory, thin margins, single source suppliers, heavy packaging dependency, and fragile replenishment cycles all look efficient until the world remembers it is not a spreadsheet.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then one choke point, one disruption, or one cost shock can expose the whole system.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is why margin discipline matters.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is why supplier diversification matters.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is why packaging strategy matters, and this is why operators need to stress test costs before the disruption, not after the invoice shows up looking like it had a personal vendetta.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: That connects to the NRF's support for federal retail crime legislation because organized retail crime is also becoming less of a store-level issue and more of a commerce infrastructure issue.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: The bill targets organized retail crime and cargo theft, and the reason e-commerce sellers should care is that stolen goods do not stay neatly inside a retail shrink report.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: They enter marketplaces, disrupt pricing, create unauthorized seller problems, trigger brand protection concerns, and increase scrutiny around supply chain documentation.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is another reason marketplaces keep tightening invoice verification, brand registry enforcement, compliance reviews, and sourcing requirements.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: When stolen or diverted inventory moves through secondary channels, everybody downstream has to prove legitimacy.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a reseller, wholesaler, distributor-backed brand, or marketplace operator, clean documentation is not a nice to have.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: It is becoming the price of staying out of trouble.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I want to pause for a second, because these themes connect directly to how we think at Bellavics.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of brands come to us thinking the problem is advertising, content, or marketplace setup, and sometimes it is.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: But increasingly, the bigger issue is operational resilience.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Can the brand support the growth it wants?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Are margins strong enough?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is inventory clean?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is documentation organized?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Is the catalog structured correctly?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is the channel strategy diversified enough?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is the team making decisions from signal or just reacting to whatever dashboard yelled the loudest this morning?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Bellivix has helped brands sell over$500 million on Amazon, and we are a verified ad partner.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the real value is not just running campaigns or optimizing listings.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is helping brands turn marketplace complexity into a clear operating plan.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: If your team is trying to grow across Amazon, Walmart, and emerging commerce channels, and the complexity is starting to outrun the structure underneath it, visit Bellovics.com.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's get into AI commerce because this week's AI updates all point in the same direction.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Shopping is moving away from traditional browsing and toward machine-assisted decision making.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Practical e-commerce covered the idea of e-commerce without merchant-owned carts, where AI agents may handle more of the discovery, comparison, and purchasing workflow directly.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Google is adding universal commerce protocol features to standardize commerce data across retailers, platforms, AI systems, and transaction environments.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Shopify is publishing guidance around AI search insights.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI is reportedly adding product feed ads to ChatGPT.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is shifting away from Rufus as a standalone chatbot and toward Alexa-powered shopping agents.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is a lot of movement, but the theme is not complicated.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: AI is becoming the interface layer between customers and products.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Historically, brands fought for website traffic, storefront conversion, email capture, checkout optimization, and direct customer ownership.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is still important, but AI agents could compress the funnel.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: A customer may not browse five websites anymore.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: They may ask an assistant to find the best protein powder for gut health under$40, reorder skincare, compare durable carry-ons, or pick a gift based on reviews and delivery speed.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: That changes what matters.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: If the AI is comparing products, evaluating attributes, reading reviews, checking inventory, considering price, and recommending options, then product data quality becomes strategic infrastructure.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Clean titles, complete attributes, accurate pricing, availability, specs, variations, metadata, review sentiment, and cross-platform consistency all matter more.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Poor catalog structure becomes invisible inventory.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is the phrase I want sellers to remember.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Poor catalog structure becomes invisible inventory.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why keyword stuffing keeps losing power.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: AI search is not just matching exact terms, it is interpreting intent, context, relationships, outcomes, trust signals, and product fit.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Traditional SEO optimized for search engines.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: AI search optimizes for interpretation.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: That is a major shift.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Google's Universal Commerce Protocol features point to the same future.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: If AI systems are going to compare products and execute transactions reliably, they need standardized product, inventory pricing, and transaction data.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is not sexy work.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody throws a launch party because their product attributes are finally consistent across Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, Google Merchant Center, and retail media feeds.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But that is where visibility is heading.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI adding product feed ads to ChatGPT is another important signal.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: AI interfaces are not just answer engines, they are becoming commerce environments.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: If product feeds start powering recommendations, shopping suggestions, and sponsored placements inside conversations, feed quality becomes a growth lever, not an operations task someone forgets until the catalog breaks.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's move from Rufus toward Alexa shopping agents fits the same pattern.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: The future of Amazon Discovery may not be built around a standalone chatbot.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: It may be embedded into a broader assistant ecosystem where customers ask questions, reorder products, delegate shopping tasks, and receive recommendations through a conversational layer.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: That means fewer searches, fewer clicks, and more decisions happening before the shopper ever looks at a traditional product results page.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: For brands, the takeaway is clear.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Structured data is no longer back-end housekeeping.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is discoverability infrastructure.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Reviews, trust signals, fulfillment reliability, low return rates, product clarity, and consistent positioning all become more important when AI systems are helping decide what gets recommended.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before everyone runs off to start an AI optimization task force with 17 meetings and no owner, keep it practical.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Start with your catalog.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are attributes complete?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Are product titles clear?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Are variations clean?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are claims consistent across platforms?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are reviews reinforcing the right benefits?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is your product feed accurate?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Does your website content explain the product in a way AI can understand?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you building educational content that answers real customer questions?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you still writing thin category copy because someone once said SEO needed 500 words?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: The future may be agentic, but the work starts with cleaning up the basics.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about the consumer because recent retail earnings show that shoppers are still spending, but they are spending more selectively.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: The consumer has not disappeared.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: The consumer has recalibrated.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Value matters more.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Essentials hold up better.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Trusted brands have more staying power.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Promotions influence behavior, but excessive discounting can train customers to wait and compress margins.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Convenience still matters, and weak positioning gets exposed quickly.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: This environment creates a split market.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Strong brands can still gain share.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Weak brands feel pressure faster.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mid-tier, undifferentiated products are in a tough spot because they are not cheap enough to win on price, not premium enough to win on brand, and not distinct enough to create real demand.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is a bad neighborhood to live in.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: For e-commerce sellers, the response is not panic discounting.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is discipline.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Review contribution margin.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Focus ad spend on proven high converting SKUs.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Avoid unnecessary catalog expansion.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Strengthen retention.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful where discounting helps and where it quietly weakens the business.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Growth still exists, but it is not being handed out evenly.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you connect the whole week together, the pattern is pretty clear.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is pushing sellers to prepare for return abuse and reimbursement disputes ahead of prime day.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers still have limited tools to protect themselves from abusive buyers.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is proving that marketplace, advertising, membership, and fulfillment are now the real growth engine.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Global choke points can still hit packaging, freight, and margins.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Retail crime is becoming supply chain risk.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: AI agents are changing how products are discovered and bought.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Consumer spending is resilient but more selective.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: That means the next stage of e-commerce is not just about being better at selling, it is about being harder to break.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: The brands that win will have cleaner data, stronger documentation, tighter margins, better fulfillment, clearer product positioning, and enough operational discipline to survive a market where both platforms and customers are getting more demanding.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: The edge is not in hacks, it is in execution, clean systems, and fast decisions.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode helped you connect the dots, share it with someone on your team or another operator trying to make sense of the same shifts.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are getting value from the show, take a second to leave a review so more sellers can find Selling on Giants and stay ahead of what is actually changing.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Will here, signing off from Selling on Giants, let's keep building.