With multiple new policies released in succession, Amazon sellers’ costs will be reduced!

As the big sale approaches, Amazon is gearing up for the event. It just announced the launch of a fully managed supply chain service the day before, and released five new features the next day.

5 new features launched in one day

It is reported that the core of these five new functions are all artificial intelligence (AI). According to Amazon, the platform has always attached great importance to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning; these functions can not only enhance the user shopping experience, but also accelerate the performance growth of sellers.

1. Project Amelia

According to the introduction, Project Amelia is a generative AI assistant . To some extent, it can be understood as a performance consultant that Amazon provides to sellers. It will provide sellers with appropriate business advice based on their business characteristics . Currently, the beta version of Project Amelia is available to some sellers on the US site. As Project Amelia develops, it can also identify business opportunities, diagnose problems, and provide relevant advice on how sellers can increase revenue, optimize inventory, and solve key problems.

It is worth noting that Amazon also mentioned in the announcement that "in some cases (Project Amelia) will even take action on behalf of sellers", which means that Project Amelia may adjust the seller's business without the seller's knowledge.

2. A+ automatically generates brand story lines

Previously, when creating A+ content, sellers needed to complete multiple steps such as shooting, writing, designing, and modifying by themselves. Now Amazon has updated this content and introduced AI into it. According to Amazon, sellers only need to enter the product features they want to emphasize , such as "high-quality leather" and "suitable for a variety of occasions", and AI can automatically generate rich narrative content that emphasizes product features ; after sellers upload product pictures, AI can also create suitable picture backgrounds and occasions to better display the products to buyers; at the same time, through this tool, sellers can also easily create product stories that resonate with buyers . This feature is currently available to all US brand sellers and will be expanded to more sites before the end of the year.

3. Sellers can use AI to create videos

The AI ​​tool, called Video Generator, allows sellers to create a rich video in just a few minutes using only one image to showcase the features of a product, without paying any additional fees . In addition, Video Generator also includes a Live Image feature that enables brands to easily and quickly create short animated campaign images.

In addition to the above three items, there are also "extended AI listing generation function" and "providing personalized product recommendations and descriptions for customers". The former can generate listings for sellers in batches through spreadsheets containing basic information uploaded by sellers; the latter can expand listings for sellers who meet the requirements based on buyers' activity habits and commonly used keywords, thereby providing more sales opportunities.

Although these new features can help sellers save time, effort and even money in their business operations, some sellers are still skeptical of Amazon AI considering the various "blunders" it has caused. In particular, some sellers said, "I don't want the title to be changed by Amazon, but it's my own that is suspected of infringement, and I don't know what happened when my account was suspended."

(Picture from Amazon's official website)

Launch of fully managed supply chain services

In addition to the five AI features, another major adjustment is the end-to-end supply chain service fully managed by Amazon. The service will be launched to all US sellers from the end of October and will be expanded to the global market by the end of this year.

It is reported that this service integrates Amazon's existing AGL (Amazon Global Logistics), AWD (Amazon Warehouse Distribution Network) and PCP (Cooperative Carrier Program) . In other words, sellers only need to provide detailed information and pickup locations for the goods , and other links such as product pickup, inventory integration, strategic replenishment and last-mile delivery will be taken over by Amazon.

Amazon said that the new supply chain service fundamentally simplifies operations, optimizes inventory layout, and speeds up delivery, increasing sellers' sales by an average of 20%; through this service, sellers can shorten delivery time and save energy and expenses.

In addition, Amazon also mentioned in the announcement that sellers using this service will enjoy a 25% discount on AWD storage fees and a 15% discount on AWD shipping and handling costs , which also saves sellers some operating costs.

In addition to the fully managed option, Amazon's fully managed supply chain service also introduced multi-channel distribution ( MCD), which provides sellers with unified inventory management and enables sellers to flexibly allocate inventory between different sales channels. Amazon predicts that this feature will save sellers 20% of total inventory requirements and reduce capital occupation. At the same time, MCD also launched a custom labeling feature that enables sellers to distribute goods in bulk to other different sales channels.

For sellers, services that can save money and worry are undoubtedly popular, but considering Amazon's warehouse overflow, lost items and other problems, how much this service can help sellers in actual operations still requires more feedback from sellers. Fortunately, Amazon also mentioned in the announcement that the company is still expanding its global logistics capabilities to support cross-border transportation, and will increase AWD capacity fourfold this year to meet the rapid growth of seller demand.

(Picture from Amazon's official website)

Amazon's frequent moves before big sales are normal

It is not uncommon for Amazon to launch new policies or update existing policies before a big sale. Before the last big sale, Amazon also launched the Fit Insights Tool to help sellers reduce the possibility of returns from the source. In my opinion, this improvement may be due to competitive pressure.

In July this year , Amazon's summer sale overlapped with the sales of competitors such as Walmart and Target; as a result, this year's October sale overlapped with the activities of rivals Walmart and Target. Walmart's sale started from October 8th to 13th , and Target's Target Deal Days started from October 6th and lasted until the 12th ; while Amazon's Prime Day was set on October 8th and 9th . Whether it was the date or the span, Amazon was "surrounded".

In addition, the number of sellers and users on platforms such as Walmart, SHEIN, and TikTok is also increasing. According to Marketplace Pulse data, with the continuous addition of new sellers, the number of active sellers on Walmart has reached 150,000 , an increase of more than 50,000 in the past 12 months. Data from Earnest credit card shows that in the first eight months of this year, the customer growth of SHEIN and TikTok Shop reached 138.8% and 128.7% respectively .

From the above, we can see that although Amazon is a leader in the e-commerce field, it faces great pressure. But it is this pressure that makes Amazon constantly make various adjustments, such as continuously launching more services that are beneficial to sellers, such as starting to reduce seller fees. It is also this constant adjustment that makes Amazon better than before; and when Amazon is "good", sellers will naturally be "good".

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