Amazon to Remove Irrelevant Variation Themes This Fall
Amazon is cleaning house on variation themes. Starting September 2 through November 30, 2025, the company will remove variation options from product templates that are considered irrelevant or rarely used. If you try to update a listing with one of these flagged themes, you’ll see an error message and your update won’t go through.
Instead, Amazon is asking sellers to rebuild parent-child relationships using the approved themes. If you don’t take action, your products won’t disappear, but they’ll be broken apart into standalone ASINs, losing the benefits of being grouped under a parent listing.
Why sellers should care: This matters for anyone using variations to group products, like different colors, sizes, flavors, or package quantities. A broken parent can hurt discoverability, review sharing, and ultimately conversion.
Takeaway: Don’t wait until Q4 chaos hits. If your catalog relies on variations, start checking for deprecated themes now so you don’t lose sales momentum during the busiest shopping season of the year.
Amazon Tightens Rules on Percentage-Off Promotions
Starting September 2, 2025, Amazon will require sellers to set a minimum purchase of two units for all percentage-off promotions that don’t use a claim code. The move is meant to differentiate promotion types, making it clearer for both shoppers and sellers.
Sellers still have options for single-unit discounts:
- Claim codes: Run percentage-off deals with codes that can be shared via social media or email.
- Coupons: Professional sellers can use Amazon’s coupon tool for single-unit discounts, though coupon fees apply.
Why it matters for sellers: If you rely on simple “10% off one item” promotions, you’ll now need to adjust your strategy. For high-volume products, this could encourage larger basket sizes. But for lower-priced or single-unit items, you may want to pivot to coupons or claim-code promotions to avoid losing flexibility.
Takeaway: Review your Q4 promotion plans now. If you’re running percentage-off deals without codes, update them to meet the new two-unit minimum or switch to coupons to keep single-item offers alive.
Target CEO Brian Cornell Steps Down Amid Continued Sales Decline
Big leadership changes at Target: CEO Brian Cornell has announced his departure as the retailer continues to face declining sales. While Cornell helped steer the company through the pandemic and positioned it as a strong rival in mass retail, recent quarters have shown slowing demand and margin pressures that couldn’t be offset by growth in other areas.
Target’s Growing Ad Business Couldn’t Outweigh Continued Sales Drop in Q2
Target’s retail media arm, Roundel, remains one of the company’s bright spots with strong year-over-year growth. But the strength of its ad business wasn’t enough to balance out Q2’s sales declines, raising questions about whether advertising alone can carry the retailer through continued softness in consumer spending.
Why it matters for sellers: A shift in leadership and ongoing sales struggles may bring changes to Target’s marketplace and retail media strategy. For brands selling or considering selling on Target, keep a close eye on how the new leadership team prioritizes Roundel and third-party marketplace growth heading into 2026.
Advertisers Will Soon Be Able to Buy Macy’s Media Network Through Amazon
Macy’s is teaming up with Amazon to make its retail media network inventory available through Amazon’s ad platform. This move gives advertisers the ability to tap into Macy’s shopper data and reach its customer base while managing campaigns directly through Amazon’s familiar system.
Why it matters for sellers: Amazon is quickly becoming the central hub for retail media buying, extending beyond its own marketplace. For brands, this means greater reach and efficiency but also more competition for ad dollars as retail media networks consolidate under Amazon’s umbrella.
Amazon Expands Same-Day Fresh Grocery Deliveries to 1,000 U.S. Cities
Amazon is massively expanding its grocery push, rolling out same-day Fresh delivery to more than 1,000 U.S. cities. The expansion signals Amazon’s continued bet on grocery as a key growth driver, blending speed, convenience, and its logistics muscle to capture more of consumers’ weekly food spend.
Why it matters for sellers: Faster grocery fulfillment opens new opportunities for CPG and food brands to gain visibility through Amazon Fresh. But it also raises the stakes on price competitiveness, packaging requirements, and the ability to consistently meet demand in a category where margins are already tight.
Amazon Business Tops $35B in Sales
Amazon Business, the company’s B2B marketplace, has surpassed $35 billion in annual sales, highlighting just how fast the wholesale side of Amazon is scaling. The platform has become a go-to for bulk orders, procurement tools, and tailored pricing for organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500s.
Why it matters for sellers: Amazon Business represents one of the fastest-growing revenue streams on the platform. Brands that sell in categories like office supplies, janitorial, industrial, medical, and packaged goods have a massive opportunity to capture institutional buyers — often with larger basket sizes and recurring purchase orders.
Takeaway: If your catalog includes products that serve business or institutional needs, consider enrolling in Amazon Business features like quantity discounts, business pricing, and tax-exempt purchasing to tap into this growth.
Best Buy Doubles Assortment With Marketplace Launch
Best Buy has officially launched its third-party marketplace, a move that effectively doubles its online product assortment overnight. By opening the door to outside sellers, Best Buy aims to strengthen its eCommerce position and compete more directly with Amazon and Walmart, while giving shoppers broader product options beyond traditional electronics.
Why it matters for sellers: This is another sign that major retailers are leaning harder into marketplace models. For brands, Best Buy’s marketplace offers access to a loyal customer base with high trust in the retailer’s brand. However, success will depend on how strict Best Buy’s seller policies and category approvals turn out to be.
Takeaway: Keep an eye on Best Buy’s entry requirements. Early adopters may benefit from less competition and more visibility as the marketplace scales.
A Framework for eCommerce Merchandising
Practical eCommerce outlined a simple framework for stronger online merchandising. At its core, effective merchandising comes down to four key elements:
- Curating the right assortment
- Organizing products logically
- Presenting them with compelling visuals and copy
- Personalizing the experience to match shopper intent
Why it matters for sellers: On marketplaces like Amazon or Walmart, strong merchandising is often the difference between winning or losing the click. How you group variations, use imagery, and structure product detail pages directly impacts discoverability and conversion.
Takeaway: Sellers should think beyond listing creation and treat merchandising as an ongoing strategy. Optimized variations, strategic cross-sells, and shopper-focused content can drive higher average order value and improve long-term customer loyalty.
How AI Content Sleuths SEO Gaps
Practical eCommerce explored how AI tools are being used to uncover SEO gaps that humans often overlook. By analyzing competitor content at scale, AI can highlight missing keywords, structural weaknesses, and untapped opportunities to improve rankings.
Why it matters for sellers: Amazon listings, Walmart pages, and even DTC websites all rely on search visibility. Using AI to identify blind spots in your content strategy can sharpen keyword targeting and strengthen your competitive edge.
Takeaway: Brands that embrace AI-driven SEO audits will move faster and smarter. Think of AI as a content sleuth that helps you spot what your competitors are ranking for — and what you’re missing.
Walmart Beats on Sales but Misses Earnings as Tariffs Hit Costs
Walmart posted stronger-than-expected Q2 sales but fell short on earnings, with executives pointing to tariff-driven cost pressures as a key drag. While the retailer continues to grow top-line revenue, higher expenses are squeezing profitability — a theme likely to impact pricing, sourcing, and supply chain decisions going forward.
Why it matters for sellers: Rising tariffs don’t just affect Walmart. They ripple through supplier negotiations, shipping costs, and retail pricing strategies across the board. Brands selling on Walmart Marketplace may see tougher margin pressures as the retailer works to absorb or pass along added costs.
Takeaway: Keep tariff exposure in mind when planning pricing and Q4 inventory. If Walmart is feeling the margin squeeze, marketplace sellers will need to be extra careful about cost structures and competitive positioning.
How to Map Out the Customer Journey for Your Retail Business
Shopify laid out a framework for mapping the customer journey, breaking it into five key stages that sellers can use to refine their strategy:
- Awareness – The point where shoppers first discover your brand or product. This could be through ads, organic search, social media, or word of mouth. The goal here is visibility.
- Consideration – Shoppers begin comparing you to competitors. Strong content, reviews, and differentiation become critical in this stage.
- Purchase – The conversion moment. Clear product detail pages, streamlined checkout, and compelling promotions all help tip the decision in your favor.
- Retention – Keeping customers coming back is often cheaper than acquiring new ones. Subscribe & Save, loyalty programs, and post-purchase follow-ups matter most here.
- Advocacy – Loyal customers turn into promoters, leaving reviews, sharing products on social, and recommending you to friends. This stage amplifies your brand without added ad spend.
Why it matters for sellers: On marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart, most sellers obsess over the “purchase” stage but underinvest in awareness, retention, and advocacy. That’s leaving money on the table. For example, optimizing A+ Content or your Brand Store doesn’t just improve conversion — it builds consideration and advocacy. Similarly, running Subscribe & Save campaigns on Amazon or loyalty integrations on Shopify improves retention.
Takeaway: Treat the customer journey as a continuous loop, not a one-and-done funnel. Every stage can be measured and optimized — from ad-driven awareness to post-purchase loyalty. Sellers who plan content, ads, and offers across the full journey will see higher lifetime value and more efficient acquisition costs.
Keep up with the latest Amazon and Walmart news updates and subscribe to our BellaVix newsletter 👇👇👇
Stop scrolling. Start knowing.
Take a screen break and tune into the latest episode of Selling on Giants: Weekly eCommerce News & Updates.
This week: Amazon’s Return Nightmare, Best Buy’s Marketplace Debut, and Retail Media Consolidation
Brief your brain – catch the latest in just 10.
🎧Now streaming on Buzzsprout and YouTube.