The Marketplace Flash - April 2024

Request to Remove Meltable FBA Inventory by April 15

Meltable inventory, including chocolate, jelly, and waxed-based products will not be accepted by Amazon April 15 to October 15 to meet product quality standards. Any meltable inventory that arrives on or after April 14 will be disposed of with a fee. To avoid paying the fee, Amazon recommends that sellers submit removal orders or sell through all meltable inventory by April 15. Read more.

Shoppable Basic A+ Content Modules Now Available for Brands

Standard Comparison Charts within Basic A+ Content now include "Add to Cart" which was a feature previously only available within Premium A+. Consumers can add a product directly to cart from the chart, plus view pricing & customer ratings. Read more.

Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Automate Product Listing Creation

Amazon is slowly rolling out more generative AI opportunities across their platform. The most recent update that is being released will allow sellers to create high-quality listings that automatically tailor to Amazon's requirements based on the brand's website. For more information about listing products using generative AI, please visit the page titled List Your Products. Read more.

Amazon Accelerate 2024 Coming September 17

Amazon's annual selling partner conference, Accelerate, is set for September 17 in Seattle, WA. Attendees will learn about Amazon's latest tools, connect with other selling partners, and have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Amazon experts. For more information, please visit the page titled Amazon Accelerate. Read more.

Two-Factor Authentication Will Be Required for Seller Central Sign In

Amazon is now requiring sellers and vendors to use a mobile number or authenticator app when signing into Vendor and Seller Central. This update began March 28 and is being rolled out in an effort to prevent fraudulent account access attempts. For more information about Two-Factor Authentication, please visit the Seller Central article titled Two-Step Verification. Read more.

Use Persona Builder to Create and Get Insights on Your Personas

Persona Builder allows advertisers to use Amazon's first-party data around interests and/or relevant life events. This creates a custom brand persona by combining audiences into a single audience or "persona" to help advertisers reach the proper audience on Amazon and DSP. Read more.

Manage Your Customer Engagement is No Longer Available

The Manage Your Customer Engagement (MYCE) tool for brands ended campaigns on February 16, but brands can view campaign metric history in the dashboard until April 30, 2024. In addition, Brand Tailored Promotions and Brand Customer Reviews are tools brands can utilize for tailored discounts and to address customer feedback. Read more.

Sponsored TV Signals Are Now Available in Amazon Marketing Cloud

Advertisers with an AMC instance now have access to Sponsored TV insights. Sponsored TV signals allows advertisers to better understand Sponsored TV event-level signals and execute cross- media custom attribution analyses with various attribution models. Read more.

Improve Customer Satisfaction with New Voice of the Customer Features

Two new features, Recommended Actions and Key Phrases, are now available on the Voice of the Customer dashboard which groups specific products in "poor" and "very poor" health ratings. Recommended Actions provides recommendations for listing improvements - editing, removing inventory, seller content, size chart tools, product support videos plus live support. Key Phrases includes customer service session feedback, buyer-seller messaging, seller feedback and A-to-Z claims. Read more.

New Coupon Pricing Requirements

New pricing requirements are now in effect as of March 12 and still requires a percentage discount between 5 and 50% off, but helps to provide an overall better seller experience in an effort to build customer trust. There must be sales history before a brand can be eligible to run a promotion, that is either lower than the "was price" or most recent lowest price. Read more.

You Can Now Download Your Featured Offer-Related Pricing Opportunities

Sellers can now download all Featured Offer-related pricing opportunities for offers eligible or close to the featured offer price. This Pricing Health tool helps to provide informed pricing decisions and provides an overview of potential pricing errors, ineligible offers or offers close to the price. Read more.

Google Will Let You Swipe Right or Left on Clothes to Get Better Fashion Recommendations

Google's new feature provides users with recommended shopping results and style recommendations personalized to an apparel, shoes, and accessories search. This new feature is in direct competition with Amazon and Walmart. The new section called "style recommendations" allows users to thumbs up and down, plus be serviced additional recommendations if a user hasn't found what they're looking for. Read more.

Amazon Invests $2.75 Billion in AI Startup Anthropic

Amazon has invested an additional $2.75B in Anthropic. Anthropic offers AI tools for generating text and analysis and with Amazon's total investment, they're able to contribute additional funds in "the form of a convertible note." Anthropic will also use Amazon Web Services data centers for operational purposes and Amazon's customer-built computer chips. Read more.

Walmart Releases Q4 and FY24 Earnings

Walmart's 2023 Q4 earnings reports $173.4B total revenue for FY 24 Q4, +5.7% vs. FY23 Q4. Global eCommerce in 2023 grew by 23%, surpassing $100B. Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart, expressed that 2023 "drove share gains as our customer experience metrics improved, even during our highest volume days leading up to the holidays." Read more.

Amazon’s Palm-Scanning Service Now Lets You Sign Up from Your Phone

Users can now sign up for Amazon One using palm recognition via the new Amazon One app. Previously, users had to go to a physical location for palm recognition, but with this app all profiles, palm recognitions, and payment methods can be completed. The update also makes for easier sign ups and more efficient checkout lines in-store. Amazon One allows for payment at places such as Whole Foods, entry to stadiums, age verifications, and loyalty rewards throughout other places such as airports, fitness centers, convenience stores, Amazon stores, and more. Read more.

Este?e Lauder Launches Clinique Amazon Store in Distribution Shift

Este?e Lauder has now launched a U.S. Amazon Premium Beauty store for Clinique, with plans to launch Amazon stores in the coming months as the beauty space on the e-commerce platform continues to gain large momentum and growth. Read more.

Amazon Bets $150 Billion on Data Centers Required for AI Boom

Amazon announced plans to spend near $150 billion to build and operate data centers over the next 15 years in an effort to maintain ownership of the majority of shares in the cloud services market and handle the demand around artificial intelligence along with other digital services. Read more.

Rise and Shine: Walmart Unveils On-Demand Early Morning Delivery

In a move to compete with Amazon's grocery delivery service, Walmart has launched Rise and Shine, an on-demand delivery service offering early morning deliveries starting at 6 a.m. for groceries and essentials. Rise and Shine will be powered by a network of delivery drivers and will offer a wide range of products, including fresh produce, pantry staples, and household essentials. Read more.

How Target's New Paid Membership Plan Compares to Amazon Prime and Walmart+

Target has launched a new paid membership program called Target Red, positioned to compete with Amazon Prime and Walmart+ but at a lower price point. The program costs $59 per year and offers benefits such as free same-day delivery on groceries and essentials, 5% off most purchases, and exclusive deals. Target aims to leverage its brick-and-mortar stores to provide faster delivery times compared to online-only retailers. Read more.

Walmart Hits ‘Project Gigaton’ Goal 6 Years Early

Walmart has achieved its Project Gigaton goal, cutting one gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain 6 years earlier than projected. The early achievement of this goal is attributed to Walmart's efforts to work with suppliers to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain. More than 5,900 suppliers, responsible for around 75% of Walmart’s sales, have participated. Read more.

Benzene, a Known Carcinogen, Found in Some Popular Acne Products - Here’s What to Know

As there has been ongoing discussions recently around benzene being found in topical acne treatments, brands are being called to act on this information and be vigilant. This falls under the concern that benzoyl peroxide products decompose into benzene over time with other substances. One company requested the FDA to "recall and suspend sales of benzoyl peroxide from the U.S. market." Read more.