AI Search Is Eating SEO’s Lunch
SEMrush says AI-driven search (think Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity) will overtake traditional Google traffic by 2028. Translation: the blue links are losing their shine.
Traffic will likely dip before stabilizing because AI gives users what they need faster—meaning fewer clicks, but better ones.
Oh, and those better clicks? They’re 4.4x more valuable. By the time someone lands on your site from an AI query, they’ve already comparison-shopped and are ready to buy.
Bonus twist: 90% of ChatGPT citations come from pages ranked below Google’s top 20. So if you’re not ranking high now, congrats—you’re suddenly interesting again.
Reddit and Quora are topping Google’s AI Overviews, so community chatter might soon outrank your blog.
The takeaway: Start writing content that AIs can quote, not scroll past. Because in the next few years, your biggest referrer might not be Google—it’ll be a robot with opinions.
Amazon’s Invite-Only Creator Program Quietly Expands
Amazon’s Sponsored Content Requests (SCR) program is now connecting select brands directly with top Amazon Creators—think of it as influencer marketing, but inside the Amazon ad ecosystem.
Brands can commission paid posts on creators’ social channels (TikTok, IG, YouTube, etc.), then reuse that content in Sponsored Brand ads. Campaigns are flat-fee, invite-only, and include two rounds of revisions—but you pay either way, even if the latte art isn’t perfect.
Licensing runs for 90 days, and usage is restricted to Amazon ads. No off-platform repurposing, no exceptions.
The takeaway: Amazon’s turning influencer marketing into a native ad product. If you’re not building creator-ready campaigns now, you’ll be paying more later when access goes mainstream.
Amazon Reinvents TV Buying (Again)
Amazon Ads just launched Complete TV, a new buying experience inside DSP built for traditional TV advertisers trying to modernize without losing their minds—or their budgets.
The feature lets media buyers manage upfront commitments and scatter budgets in one place, automatically generating line items across Prime Video and other premium streaming inventory. Think of it as a “smart planner” for high-value TV spend, optimized for incremental reach and frequency control.
Why it matters: TV buying has always been messy, with fragmented deals and under-delivery headaches. Complete TV brings it all under one Amazon roof—streamlined, data-driven, and very DSP.
For sellers: This signals Amazon’s next big move in unifying ad buying across retail and media. Expect deeper integrations between Sponsored TV, DSP, and Prime Video inventory as Amazon pushes into full-funnel dominance.
Amazon Turns SQL Into English
Amazon Marketing Cloud just got a major glow-up: an AI-powered “text-to-SQL” generator that lets advertisers describe audiences in plain English—and get ready-to-run SQL code back in seconds.
Type something like “People who watched my streaming TV ads and later searched for my brand,” and AMC will build that audience for you across DSP and Sponsored Ads. It even explains the query logic so you can learn as you go.
Why it matters: What used to take hours of SQL tinkering now takes minutes. It’s ChatGPT for audience building—minus the syntax errors.
For sellers: Expect your ad teams (and analysts) to move faster from insight to activation. AMC’s barrier to entry just dropped, which means smarter targeting and less reliance on dev-heavy resources.
Amazon Adds Some Bass to DSP
Amazon Ads just dropped a new partnership with SiriusXM Media, giving DSP advertisers access to Pandora and SoundCloud’s 160 million monthly listeners.
For the first time, brands can target these streaming and podcast audiences using Amazon’s first-party signals—linking audio exposure directly to business results. In other words, programmatic audio finally grows up.
Later this year, the integration will expand to SiriusXM’s Podcast Network (home to four of the top ten shows in the U.S.). That means advertisers can now reach listeners from scroll to stereo—all from one DSP dashboard.
The takeaway: Amazon is turning audio into a full-funnel channel. It’s no longer about being heard—it’s about being measured
Amazon Ads + Adobe = Creative Therapy
Amazon Ads and Adobe Express just teamed up to make ad creative less painful.
Advertisers can now design Sponsored Brands video, DSP display, and online video ads directly inside Adobe Express, pulling assets from their Amazon Ads library, checking policy compliance in real time, and sending launch-ready creatives straight back into their account. The tool even auto-formats files to match bitrate and frame-rate specs—goodbye, resize purgatory.
The takeaway: Creative approvals just got faster, cleaner, and less soul-crushing. Amazon’s closing the loop between design and deployment, meaning fewer bottlenecks and faster campaign launches.
Beauty Giants Go on a Brand Diet
Coty is reportedly exploring a sale of its mass cosmetics division—including Covergirl and Max Factor—as part of a broader industry trend: beauty conglomerates are trimming underperforming brands to focus on what actually moves the needle.
L’Oréal and Estée Lauder are doing the same, shedding smaller or slower-growth labels like Sanoflore, Decléor, and Smashbox to double down on proven moneymakers. The move reflects shifting shopper habits—fewer impulse buys, more loyalty to established brands—and tougher retail channels as customers trade CVS aisles for Amazon and TikTok Shop.
The takeaway: Leaner portfolios, fatter profits. The age of endless brand sprawl is over—focus and channel agility are the new beauty metrics.
Agentic AI: When Chatbots Get a Driver’s License
If generative AI is the intern, agentic AI is the full-time employee—with your credit card. Michael Kearns, an Amazon Scholar, says the next wave of AI won’t just talk; it’ll act. These systems will book flights, manage finances, and negotiate deals on your behalf, all while learning your “common sense” rules—like when to ask permission and when to just do it.
The challenge? Teaching agents how to communicate (likely through their own “embedding” language), respect privacy while sharing context, and make decisions that feel fair. Researchers are even exploring how AI agents might negotiate prices or coordinate like humans, complete with quirks and egos.
The takeaway: Agentic AI isn’t about bigger models; it’s about autonomy. The next frontier of AI won’t just generate—it’ll decide, act, and occasionally need to be told “no.”
Amazon to Sellers: Your Money’s on Layaway
Starting March 12, 2026, Amazon will delay seller payouts until seven days after delivery (DD+7)—a change that’s sparking outrage across Seller Central forums. The company says it’s to “account for fees and customer satisfaction,” but sellers see it as Amazon earning extra interest on their cash.
The new system means if an order ships Jan 1 and delivers Jan 3, funds won’t hit your account until Jan 11. Sellers warn the shift could cause a cashflow crunch, especially for those relying on daily disbursements or shipping without tracking.
The takeaway: Amazon’s latest policy means tighter seller wallets and tougher liquidity planning. The only thing moving slower than payouts might be USPS.
Walmart Adds a New Metric to Keep Sellers Honest
Source: Newsletter
Walmart Marketplace is rolling out a new Negative Feedback Rate (NFR), measuring how often products earn 1–2 star reviews over a 60-day window. Sellers must keep their NFR at or below 2% or risk account disruptions once the policy becomes official early next year.
The goal, according to Walmart, is to “help sellers improve,” but many see it as another compliance headache. NFR applies only to seller-fulfilled orders and will appear soon in Seller Center dashboards—with API access coming later.
The takeaway: Walmart’s tightening the quality screws. Keep your listings accurate, your shipping tight, and your customers happy—because two bad reviews out of a hundred could now put your account on thin ice.
Walmart Doubles Down on Food Traceability
Source: Newsletter
Walmart and Sam’s Club are reminding food suppliers: don’t slow down on FSMA 204 compliance—even though the FDA just proposed a 30-month extension.
The rule requires suppliers to capture and share Key Data Elements (KDEs) tied to Critical Tracking Events (CTEs) for high-risk foods. Walmart expects all suppliers to meet ASN and packaging requirements (including SSCC-18 and GS1-128 labeling) and declare item eligibility in the catalog. Compliance monitoring starts with items on the Food Traceability List (FTL).
The takeaway: Walmart isn’t waiting on the FDA. Suppliers need to lock in traceability systems now—barcode ready, data clean, and Retail Link dashboards up to date.
Amazon Turns Returns Into Data Gold
Amazon just launched a new Insights and Opportunities dashboard to help sellers see what’s really driving their returns—and how much value they’re recovering.
The tool combines FBA and seller-fulfilled returns data, showing trends over time, product-level issues, and tailored recommendations to cut return rates. It even tracks recovery performance, revealing how much of your returned inventory gets resold or written off.
The takeaway: Instead of guessing why customers return products, Amazon’s now spelling it out. The smarter you get on return data, the fewer refunds you’ll eat.
Amazon Lets Sellers Say “Keep It” (for Less)
Amazon now lets sellers issue partial refunds without requiring a return for FBA orders in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
The feature helps cut shipping and processing costs by allowing sellers to set custom refund percentages, choose which products qualify, and skip the hassle of low-value returns. Transactions show up in the FBA Returns dashboard as “Complete – Return not expected.”
The takeaway: Sometimes it’s cheaper to let customers keep the product—and now Amazon’s making that choice official.
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