Top 5 this week
1. Walmart Expands AI-Powered Shopping with Google Gemini
“For brands, this is a signal to start stress-testing whether product content, assortment, and pricing are ready for AI agents that build baskets on your behalf, often based on natural-language prompts, value cues, and delivery promises as opposed to keyword search alone. To show up reliably, sellers should treat catalog data as “AI input”: clean attributes, consistent variants, clear pack counts, and unambiguous claims. Also consider building intent-based bundles (e.g., “camping starter kit”) that match how shoppers ask questions in chat.” ~Vanessa Cox
2. Amazon is Building a Walmart-Style Supercenter
“The move highlights Amazon’s continued retail experimentation as it competes more directly with Walmart and Target. Is this the beginning of a scalable big-box model for Amazon, or another experiment like Amazon Go? Suppliers should anticipate more “store-native” requirements – case pack efficiency, shelf-ready packaging, and tighter replenishment cadences – especially for essentials.” ~Shelby Owens
3. 4 TikTok Shop Payment Policies Every Seller Should Know
“TikTok Shop is rapidly adopting payment structures that will feel painfully familiar to many Amazon sellers: reserves, performance-based payouts and chargebacks. This directly impacts both operating capital and cash flow. Sellers who aren’t factoring these policies into their forecasts risk mistaking theoretical profit for net usable cash. In an inventory-based business—where timing is everything—failing to plan for these constraints can cap your ability to scale.” ~Chelsea Cohen
4. Retail News: How Retailers Are Rebuilding Around AI and Customer Experience
“Walmart’s 53% ad growth paired with the addition of Sponsored Prompt ads in conversation with their AI Agent Sparky is another compelling data point that the shift from ‘search’ to ‘ask’ is actually happening. If your product data doesn’t make sense to an AI agent, you might practically disappear from the digital shelf regardless of your ad spend. Data ownership and control of checkout is more important than ever as discovery spreads across AI-driven channels.” ~Nikko Patten
5. Amazon Holds Talks with Suppliers on Pricing Following Tariff Changes
“Vendors should move fast: prepare a rapid cost-defense pack (COGS, freight, labor) and pre-select which SKUs can absorb reductions without breaking contribution margin and align internal approvals before going into negotiations. Set guardrails: define which party owns duty changes, what triggers repricing, and which updates apply to POs already in motion. Vendors who treat this as a planning cycle, instead of a one-off negotiation, will protect both availability and margin. Done right, this prevents “tariff roulette” from becoming a recurring hit to margins and planning.” ~Mak Bidikar
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