Amazon News: The Amazon Analytics Insider August 2023

Your biweekly resource to staying informed on the news and obstacles currently affecting other vendors and sellers. Stay attuned to potential changes that might affect your business and focus on recommended reports, chosen in light of current events in order to empower your data-driven decisions. 

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• TL;DR

  • Amazon sellers can now use Shiptrack Carriers to track FBA shipments from China to the US.

  • Sellers can now purchase Sponsored Product Ads for sites such as Pinterest, BuzzFeed, and more.

  • Amazon is testing out an AI tool to help sellers write product descriptions.

  • Amazon changed its reserve policy for sellers in Europe to DD+7 - meaning funds will be held in reserve for seven days after the delivery date of an order.

  • Product listings in select categories (Dog toys, belts, etc) are now displaying reviews differently on the search page - the percentage of 4-star reviews are being shown, rather than the review count.

• FBA Shipment Tracking Available via Shiptrack

  • Source: 1

  • Starting August 21, 2023, Amazon sellers who use a non-partnered carrier to ship FBA shipments from China to the US can choose one of Amazon's ShipTrack carriers.

  • Using ShipTrack carriers are supposed to provide more reliable tracking information which helps Sellers predict when shipments will arrive at fulfillment centers and can help estimate more accurate delivery dates for customers.

    • This can also help you make more informed replenishment decisions, potentially reducing overstock costs.

    • Information on shipment progress from Shiptrack is automatically provided to Amazon and available on the Shipment Summary page in Seller Central.

• Sponsored Product Ads available off-site

  • Source: 1

  • On August 16th, Amazon announced they were expanding their Sponsored Products ads program to include other apps and websites such as Pinterest, BuzzFeed, and more. After being clicked, these ads link directly to Seller’s product listing pages.

  • Sponsored product ads will only be shown for items that are in-stock and ready to be shipped. Sellers can choose not to have their ads shown on specific apps and websites.

• AI-Generated Product Descriptions

  • Source: 1

  • Amazon is testing an AI tool that helps sellers write product descriptions. This tool uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze product information, such as the title, images, and reviews, and then generate a product description.

  • Sellers can then review and edit the AI-generated description before publishing it on Amazon. The tool is currently being tested with a limited number of sellers, but Amazon plans to make it available to more sellers in the future.

  • This is Amazon's second attempt at a customer-facing AI feature. The first one was Ai-generated review summaries which we talked about a few months ago. This is the first time the company has offered an AI feature that can be used by sellers.

• EU Base Reserve Policy changed to DD+7

  • Source: 1

  • On August 3rd, Amazon changed its reserve policy for sellers in Europe. The new policy is called Delivery Date-Based Reserve (DD+7). Under DD+7, funds will be held in reserve for seven days after the delivery date of an order meaning sellers will have to wait longer to receive payment.

  • Amazon says that the new policy is necessary to protect customers and to ensure that sellers have enough funds to cover refunds, claims, and chargebacks. However, sellers are understandably concerned that the new policy will hurt their cash flow

• Review Display changed on Search Page

  • Source: 1

  • Many sellers in the forum are upset after having seen Amazon's changes to the way select product reviews are now being displayed. Select product categories such as dog toys and belts use a percent system, such as 81% of customers rate this as 4+ stars. However some categories such as phone cases still display the same review style.

  • Listings on the search page now feature three different assortments of review information, with percentages, review count, and purchase rates being displayed to customers.

  • Many sellers dislike this new change on the search page because it hides the good reviews that many sellers work hard for, and the meaning behind this scoring system can vary greatly depending on how many reviews an item has - for example, an item with 90 5 star reviews and 10 1 star reviews and an item with 9 - 5 star reviews and 1 - 1 star review will read as the same on the amazon UI

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