Amazon Wants Seller Central to Become the Control Center for Every Marketplace
Amazon is expanding Seller Central beyond Amazon. Sellers can connect eBay, Shopify, TikTok Shop, and Walmart accounts and begin managing parts of those businesses from the same environment.
What Changed
Amazon’s new multichannel tools connect listings, orders, sales data, and profitability across supported channels. Sellers can currently connect outside accounts, import listings, view orders, and use Amazon fulfillment. Additional capabilities are rolling out gradually to U.S. sellers at no added cost.
Why It Matters
Amazon is no longer positioning Seller Central as an Amazon marketplace dashboard. It is positioning it as commerce infrastructure. The operational benefit is real, but connecting channels also concentrates more of a brand’s marketplace operations inside Amazon’s ecosystem.
What Is Not Changing
Sellers decide which channels to connect and can disconnect them. Amazon says connected data will not be used to inform its retail business decisions.
What to Do Now
Light prep recommended. Evaluate the tool before connecting major accounts. Understand which data is shared and whether the workflow actually replaces existing reporting or order management tools.
Bigger Picture Signal
Amazon increasingly wants to power the seller’s entire commerce operation, even when the transaction happens somewhere else.
Holiday Spending Is Growing, but Deal Events Are Becoming Stock Up Events
Adobe expects U.S. online holiday spending to reach a record $275.1 billion from November 1 through December 31, up 6.7% year over year. More important for operators, October is becoming a meaningful extension of the holiday selling season.
What Changed
Adobe forecasts $95.8 billion in October online spending, up 8%, with roughly $9.9 billion expected during Amazon’s October 6 and 7 Prime event. AI driven traffic to retail websites is projected to rise 130% during the holiday season. Adobe also expects consumers to use promotions to stock up on essentials rather than limiting deal shopping to traditional gifts.
Why It Matters
Q4 demand is continuing to move earlier. Brands selling replenishable categories such as grocery, personal care, beauty, and household products should not assume October promotions are primarily gift driven.
What Is Not Changing
Price and promotion remain central. Adobe expects discounts to remain aggressive throughout Cyber Week.
What to Do Now
Immediate operational check. Confirm October inventory, promotional coverage, mobile PDP experience, and replenishment plans before Prime Big Deal Days.
Bigger Picture Signal
Holiday commerce is becoming a longer promotional season where deal events increasingly capture everyday consumption, not just gift purchasing.
Amazon Is Making Its Fulfillment Network More Attractive Outside Amazon
Amazon is adding new incentives for brands to use its logistics network for orders that never happen on Amazon.com.
What Changed
Amazon Supply Chain Services customers using Multichannel Fulfillment can now add Prime delivery to their own websites at no additional cost. Amazon also introduced MCF Preferred Pricing, which can reduce fulfillment fees by 15% to 25% based on qualifying volume across websites, marketplaces, and social channels.
Why It Matters
The economics of using Amazon inventory for Shopify, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and other channels are getting more competitive. For brands already maintaining FBA inventory, this could reduce the need for separate fulfillment infrastructure.
What Is Not Changing
This does not make off Amazon orders Amazon marketplace orders. Brands still own the selling channel and customer transaction.
What to Do Now
Light prep recommended. Brands using MCF should review current fulfillment volume and pricing against the new program before Q4 volume accelerates.
Bigger Picture Signal
Amazon is building a logistics business that is increasingly independent of the Amazon marketplace itself.
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🔹 Amazon connects Shopify, Walmart, TikTok Shop & eBay to Seller Central
🔹 AI agents that take action in your account
🔹 Amazon Ads auto-optimization is coming
🔹 Adobe’s $275B holiday forecast
🔹 Amazon Business vs. Walmart Business
🔹 New delivery rate deadline for B2B sellers
🔹 Dangerous goods questions on listing edits
🔹 Best Buy brings 10,000 products to TikTok Shop
🔹 Sephora’s TikTok Shop drops
TikTok Shop’s Growth Shows Content Is Becoming the Storefront
New TikTok Shop data from Spain gives a useful look at how consumers behave once social commerce reaches scale. The strongest sales activity is coming directly from content rather than shoppers navigating traditional product pages.
What Changed
TikTok says its Shop business in Spain grew roughly 150% over the last 12 months. About 70% of seller revenue now comes from short form videos and livestreams, while LIVE Shopping sessions increased 120%. NielsenIQ data cited by TikTok shows TikTok Shop reaching 19% of Spanish online shoppers.
Why It Matters
The operating model is fundamentally different from Amazon or Walmart. Product discovery, creative, creators, and conversion increasingly happen in the same experience, making content production part of marketplace operations.
What Is Not Changing
The data is specific to Spain and should not be treated as a direct measure of U.S. TikTok Shop performance.
What to Do Now
No immediate action required, monitor closely. For brands already on TikTok Shop, track sales generated through affiliates, short form video, and LIVE separately from storefront traffic.
Bigger Picture Signal
Marketplace optimization is expanding beyond listings and advertising. On social commerce platforms, the content itself increasingly becomes the shelf.
Best Buy and Amazon Are Combining Retail Data With Fire TV Ad Inventory
Best Buy is expanding its retail media network beyond BestBuy.com and its stores. Beginning in 2027, brands buying through Best Buy Ads will gain access to Fire TV inventory using Amazon’s advertising technology.
What Changed
Beginning in February 2027, Best Buy Ads will use Amazon Ads programmatic technology to plan, activate, optimize, and measure campaigns. Brands will also be able to access Fire TV advertising inventory across new and existing Insignia Fire TVs.
Why It Matters
Retail media networks are increasingly extending first party commerce signals into connected television. A brand can potentially use retailer data to reach audiences in the living room and connect exposure back to business outcomes.
What Is Not Changing
Best Buy Ads remains its own retail media business. Amazon is supplying advertising technology and Fire TV inventory rather than absorbing Best Buy’s media network.
What to Do Now
No action required, monitor only. Brands investing in upper funnel media should watch how Best Buy packages the inventory and measurement capabilities before the February rollout.
Bigger Picture Signal
Retail media is becoming broader media infrastructure. Retailers are no longer limiting their advertising businesses to sponsored listings and onsite display.
Walmart Is Giving B2B Sellers Their Own Operating Hub
Walmart is making its Business marketplace easier to manage inside Seller Center. Sellers now have a centralized location for Walmart Business pricing, analytics, and reporting.
What Changed
The new Walmart Business Hub brings bulk pricing, performance metrics, customer insights, sales reporting, and learning resources into one location inside Seller Center. Walmart also provides dedicated B2B item, order, returns, and sales reporting for active Business sellers.
Why It Matters
Walmart is starting to give B2B sellers the type of dedicated operating infrastructure Amazon has been building around Amazon Business. Better visibility into business customer behavior makes it easier for brands to treat B2B as a separate growth channel instead of letting those sales blend into the overall Walmart account.
What Is Not Changing
Access applies to Walmart Business sellers, and Walmart notes that participation in the Business program may not be available to every Marketplace seller.
What to Do Now
Light prep recommended. Walmart Business sellers should review the new Hub and establish a baseline for B2B sales, assortment, and pricing before Q4.
Bigger Picture Signal
B2B is becoming another competitive front between Amazon and Walmart, with both platforms investing in dedicated tools rather than treating business buyers as an extension of consumer commerce.
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