eCommerce Platforms Want Total Control: Amazon AI Analytics, Retail Media Growth, and AI Shopping Agents

This week on Selling on Giants, Mr. Will breaks down several major shifts shaping eCommerce, Amazon selling, and retail strategy. From AI entering Seller Central to retail media becoming a billion-dollar business, the rules of marketplace growth are evolving fast.

The common thread across this episode is simple.
 Platforms are becoming smarter, more automated, and more data-driven.

Key topics in this episode include:

Amazon Adds AI to Seller Central Analytics
Amazon is embedding generative AI directly into Seller Central to help sellers analyze sales trends, advertising performance, and inventory movement via natural-language questions. For smaller brands, this could function like having a built-in analyst. For experienced operators it speeds up pattern detection across complex data sets.

Agentic Commerce and the Rise of AI Shopping Agents
New research from McKinsey highlights the next phase of online commerce. AI systems will not only recommend products but may soon execute purchases on behalf of consumers. That means product discovery could shift from human browsing to machine-driven decision making.

Target’s Advertising Business Keeps Growing
Target generated $915 million in advertising revenue in 2025 through its Roundel media network even while retail sales remained soft. This reinforces a massive industry shift where retailers are evolving into media companies and brands increasingly pay for visibility inside retail ecosystems.

Amazon Expands Product Opportunity Explorer
A new “Saved Opportunities” feature allows sellers to track niches and product ideas directly inside Seller Central. This signals Amazon’s continued push to keep product research and demand validation inside its own platform rather than relying on third-party tools.

Tariffs, Supply Chains, and Retail Cost Pressure
Costco is proactively adjusting sourcing strategies as tariffs begin influencing global supply chains again. Brands should expect renewed pressure on margins as retailers negotiate pricing with suppliers.

Returns Continue to Drain Retail Profitability
Retailers processed roughly $706 billion in product returns in 2025. Operational gaps and omnichannel returns like buy online return in store are becoming major margin challenges across retail.

Celebrity Backed Brands Continue to Reshape CPG
Kim Kardashian has joined energy drink startup Update as a co founder as the brand launches into Walmart with a paraxanthine based formula targeting wellness focused consumers.

The Bigger Theme

The future of commerce is becoming increasingly automated and data driven.

Retailers are building media businesses.
Platforms are embedding AI into operations.
And shopping behavior itself may soon be influenced by autonomous AI agents.

For brands and marketplace operators, the companies that adapt fastest to these structural changes will have the strongest advantage.

If you sell on Amazon, operate across marketplaces, or care about the future of retail, this episode provides the operator-level perspective behind the headlines.

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