Amazon Accelerate once again delivered! The annual conference returned to Seattle on September 13-14, welcoming over 2,500 sellers. As expected, Amazon released quite a few exciting updates and teased at even more.
Our team was in the audience for all the updates, and we’re here to share them with you. Plus, we’re giving you some bonus tips on how you can make the most of these Amazon new doings.
Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Amazon, opened the show and shared the five foci of the event:
Presentations, breakouts, and more were geared toward one of these five points of the event. As the various members of Amazon’s team presented onstage, our team noticed one more focal point: Listening. The Amazon teams have been listening to sellers’ pain points and are actively working to improve the process of selling in the Amazon store. This leads us to . . .
Amazon FBA got its start in 2006, providing the cheapest two-day shipping options in the market (approximately 70% less expensive!) The program now includes over 300 million products available worldwide.
A common pain point for sellers was the sheer volume of programs needed to manage their comprehensive supply chain, from warehouses to buyers’ doors.
Enter Supply Chain by Amazon.
Supply Chain by Amazon will start from the suppliers and factories, whether you’re working with someone globally or domestically. It includes freight (through Amazon Global Logistics or the NEW Partnered Carrier Program), bulk storage (for your Amazon or multi-channel operations) as well as distribution and replenishment. From there, it goes to the fulfillment centers through to the end customer.
Part of this program also includes auto-replenishment planning via AI. Through data, Amazon can determine where your products will be most valuable to customers, helping to relocate them where customers can get them in hand even sooner. In fact, more than 1.8 billion items have been delivered either the same day or the next day.
Amazon also announced the launch of Amazon Shipping, the “last mile” offering from Amazon. The program will be open to more than FBA sellers (looking at you Fulfilled by Merchant folks). This allows for item delivery in 2-5 days, resulting in up to a 7% higher sales conversion. The only drawback? This is only available in 15 metro areas across the U.S. currently.
As part of the improvements Amazon is making in light of the Supply Chain program, it’s also making changes to the AWD options.
In talking with sellers, Amazon realized that more than 50% of sellers use one or more third-party software to efficiently run their business. That’s not terribly efficient. With hundreds of apps already in the SPA, including the SellersFi app, Amazon is continuing to add more, with Skai and ShipMonk at the top of the list.
Amazon is growing the Emerald program. This program will include notifications from more than a dozen (so far) third-party software providers right in your Seller Central account. You’ll still need to manage the software natively on their respective websites, but you’ll get key notifications, so you know where and when you need to act. Amazon selling partners can use this functionality worldwide.
We all know dealing with Amazon Seller Support is often more difficult than it needs to be. The team has been working (for the last year) on the option to “Escalate My Case,” which will connect sellers to a live human. This is not a public feature but is launching soon according to Amazon.
Amazon is making improvements to the Seller Forums. Did you know that there are over 25,000 daily visits to these forums? It’s a way to engage both with the selling community and Amazonians.
Amazon is also taking its Buyer Abuse Prevention even more seriously. Sellers can now provide more evidence in the case of fraudulent returns. Additionally, the marketplace is increasing its product review and seller feedback sanitization, including a weekly report sent to sellers of any action that was taken against shoppers.
Sellers are getting a redesigned Seller Central homepage! What does this mean? In an effort to reduce time spent looking for critical pieces of information, your Seller Central homepage will be grouped into three sections: Actions, Recommendation, and Communications. This will give you key information at a glance, as soon as you log into your account.
Sellers are also getting their wish to simplify listing management! Instead of having to go multiple places to update different parts of your listing, you’ll have one core place for changes. Listing management will also now include…
Yes, listing management inside Seller Central now includes Generative AI! You can provide a few details about your product and the AI will create optimized titles, bullet points, AND descriptions for you automatically. This is still in a bit of a beta test, but it has been rolled out for all sellers on Amazon U.S.
What does this mean for existing listings? The same AI will help develop your listings by adding missing attributes to supply even more information to shoppers considering a purchase.
The announcements made in Day 2’s general session were lesser (especially compared to Day 1’s Supply Chain by Amazon release) but will have the largest impact especially as it relates to providing the best customer experience.
Amazon made news recently with the launch of the all-new Buy with Prime and Shopify integration. These two marketplace behemoths have come together to improve the customer experience exponentially. So much so that Amazon even had a Shopify representative onstage talking about all the fun updates.
Once again, Amazon is setting the pace for not only growth on its own marketplaces but also in e-commerce in general (particularly with Supply Chain by Amazon and Buy with Prime with Shopify integration). While it’s not possible to predict the future, it tends to be a good bet to go where Amazon is going. With its massive amount of data, trends, and influence, very rarely does Amazon not pave the way for next-generation growth.
Given that, and the understanding that sellers committed to accelerated growth need to move swiftly and decisively, success hinges upon two main factors:
Start today by registering for your free SellersFi account. There’s no obligation and you can be approved for funding in as little as 48 hours.
