Prime Day Fallout, Walmart’s Big Play, and the AI File That Could Change Your SEO

Prime Day 2025 is in the books, and the top-line number is massive—$24.1 billion in U.S. eCommerce sales. But behind the scenes? Sellers are sounding off.

In this week’s episode of Selling on Giants – eCommerce News & Updates, Mr. Will breaks down what really happened during Amazon’s biggest shopping event of the year: why some brands saw record gains, while others got buried under Retail pricing and rising CPCs. We dive into seller sentiment, AI-driven product discovery, and what the post-Prime Day “halo effect” actually means for your Q4 strategy.

But while Amazon made noise, Walmart made moves—quietly launching a six-day Deals Week, pushing grocery bundles, and slashing Walmart Plus memberships. Their strategy? Outlast Amazon and lock in loyalty. Mr. Will breaks down why this matters for CPG brands and sellers eyeing omnichannel expansion.

Target’s not sitting still either. Roundel, their retail media network, just rolled out a new AI-powered ad platform that promises easier campaign setup and closed-loop attribution. Will it challenge Amazon and Walmart Connect? It depends on your category—and your expectations.

We also cover:

• L L M S dot T X T – a new open-source file that helps ChatGPT and other AI tools discover your brand in natural language search.
• Lessons from eCommerce founders who’ve lost millions—and why owning your numbers and acting fast matters more than ever.
• eBay’s push into graded comic books and authenticated collectibles
• Tariff-driven buying behavior and what the N R F says about early spending trends in June

If you’re a brand operator or agency partner navigating Amazon, Walmart, or Target, this episode gives you the clarity and strategic takeaways to move faster and plan smarter.

Listen now. Take notes. And start treating AI visibility the way you treat ad placement—strategically.

Transcript

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Welcome back to Selling on Giants, e-commerce news and updates. Today is July 15th, 2025. I'm Mr. Will, host of the Selling on Giants podcast. Every week I break down what's happening across Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. So you don't have to scroll forums or decode vague press releases. This week on SOG, Prime Day hit record highs, but not everyone's celebrating. We'll talk winners, whiners, and the AI engine that reshaped deal discovery. Then over to Walmart's Longplay, Target's new ad tech, and the little text file that could decide how your brand shows up in the age of AI. Let's get into it. Prime Day 2025 sets records but leaves sellers with mixed feelings. $24.1 billion. That's the US e-commerce total Amazon posted for Prime Week. Up 6.1% year over year, according to Adobe Analytics. On paper, huge. But behind the numbers, the mood is a little less upbeat. Top categories this year, kids' apparel up 250%, dorm gear up 84%, back to school tech surged 90%, home appliances crushed all four days. But here's the real story AI powered deal recommendations, Amazon's Gen AI engine, usage jumped 3,300% since last year. That meant better targeting for shoppers and more eyeballs on the listings Amazon liked. And let's be real, that visibility wasn't random. If your product had strong reviews, clean images, prime eligibility, you were in the running. If not, probably buried. And sellers noticed. Here's what they said. We ran a 20% coupon and still couldn't beat Amazon retail's pricing. Ad costs were insane, 40% higher CPCs than last year. Day one was strong. By mid-Thursday, dead quiet. The takeaway? Amazon favored listings with high conversion potential. Retail ready, review rich, full funnel. So what now? Trim wasted ad spend. Push hard on review generation. And get those listings holiday ready now. Prime Day's done. But the Halo effect? That clock's already ticking. Meanwhile in Bentonville, Walmart was playing a different game. Walmart extends its grocery lead and its deals timeline. While Amazon sprinted, Walmart played chess, they kicked off their deals week on July 8th, three days before Prime Day, and stretched it through the 13th. Six days of promotions? Stacked with grocery bundles, daily essentials, and bigger ticket items. And a 50% discount on Walmart Plus? That was the hook. Smart move. Walmart's grocery game already drives 60% of its US sales. Now they're using that same cart to upsell memberships and compete long term. And here's the kicker. Their US e-commerce business is now profitable. That $121 billion from last year? Not so far behind anymore. If you sell CPG, wellness, or pantry adjacent products, this isn't a side quest. It's a roadmap. Deals Week is real, and it's here to stay. And while Walmart leaned into groceries, Target leaned into algorithms. Target's Roundell launches AI-powered ad platform. Target's retail media arm, Roundell, just launched an AI-driven ad tool. It suggests audience targets, recommends creative formats, and forecasts performance before you spend a dime. The goal? Make media buying easier, especially for smaller brands and lean teams. And the platform's full funnel on Target.com, in app and even across the open web. Sounds good, right? It is, but don't go all in yet. Roundell still lags in scale and data transparency. If you're a CPG, home, or beauty brand, test it. But keep your expectations where they belong measured. Now before we jump into the next topic, quick sidebar. Because if all this sounds like a lot, it's literally what we help with. At Bellavics, we've helped brands sell over $500 million on Amazon. We're a verified ad partner, and we specialize in turning marketplace chaos into clear, actionable strategy. Whether you're scaling ads, fixing a broken catalog, or prepping for retail pitches, we've got you. Head to Bellovix.com if you want a team that's fluent in seller central. Alright, back to the news. If you think Google rankings are hard, try ranking in an AI conversation. lLms.txt, a tiny file with big AI search power. There's a new SEO tool on the block, and it's built for AI, not Google. It's called lLms.txt, and it works just like robots.txt but for large language models. This little file tells AI where to look, what to index, and which pages to ignore. So why does it matter? Because shoppers aren't always searching anymore. They're asking, what's the best collagen powder for women over 40? Best budget travel pillow? Top-rated clean skincare brands? And if you're not showing up in those answers, you're invisible. Here's the move. Add llms.txt to your root directory. Highlight your best performing pages, storefronts, product pages, blogs, reviews. Exclude the junk. Keep it clean and current. AI search isn't coming. It's already here. Now if Prime Day didn't bruise your bottom line, maybe this next story will hit closer to home. How to recover from a million dollar loss and come back stronger. Let's talk about failure. Not the polite kind, the we lost a million dollars kind. In a new piece from Practical E-Commerce, several founders shared how they tanked their brands and how they clawed their way back. The common thread, not knowing their margins. Scaling ads before ops were ready. Waiting too long to cut the fat. And hiding the truth from their team. The fix? Transparency. Hard pivots, and ruthless prioritization. They cut SKUs, paused campaigns, negotiated with suppliers, and pulled their team in instead of pushing them out. And here's what I'll add to that: when I've lost big, the biggest lesson wasn't about money. It was about speed. Speed to admit the mistake. Speed to ask for help. And speed to act before pride or politics dragged it out. Most founders don't fail because they're wrong. They fail because they wait too long to say it out loud. Let's shift from hard lessons to high-value hobbies. eBay bets big on collectibles with graded comic book category. eBay's sharpening its niche. They just launched a dedicated graded comic books category for investment grade comics from grading services like CGC. It's part of a bigger push into authenticated high trust sales. Think. Watches, sneakers, trading cards, now comics. For sellers in collectibles, memorabilia, or fandom, it's a signal. eBay's building lanes, not for everyone, but for the right brands with the right buyers. If your product lives in the world of rarity, nostalgia, or passion, reconsider the eBay play. It's not dead. It's focused. And finally, consumers aren't waiting for Q4 anymore. They're stocking up while it's still cheap. Tariff talk is already shaping how consumers shop. 77% of US shoppers say they're buying early to avoid price hikes. Nearly half are buying in bulk. Gen Z and millennials are leading the charge, especially in electronics, apparel, and home goods. The NRF confirmed it. Retail sales dipped in June, partly due to tariff anxiety. So here's the move. Use urgency in your messaging. Forecast demand early. Tighten your supply chain. And don't assume Q4 will bail you out. Tariffs are more than headlines. They're shaping carts today? That's your selling on Giants news and updates for the week. We covered prime day highs and headaches, Walmart's grocery moat, target's ad tech, AI discovery, and what a million dollar loss can actually teach you. If this saved you from hours of slack threads and endless LinkedIn scrolls, do us a favor leave a review. It helps the show grow and gets us better guests. I'm Mr. Will Host of the SOG. See you next week.