[ BDSN ] Amazon Sellers: Wake Up or Get Left Behind

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I will be swapping ridiculously good, brand-new hacks with Josh Hadley on stage at The Prosper Show right after lunch on March 27.

Josh is a BDSS Dream 100 member who has won BDSS hack contests against stiff competition, and I have some brand new zingers to share that are gonna make you some serious money.

Eat fast on Thursday and head to our stage early, because it will be standing room only.

👀 WAKE-UP or GET LEFT BEHIND: HOW AGENTIC AI is TRANSFORMING AMAZON & E-COM SELLING– and WHY YOU CANNOT IGNORE IT

Amazon sellers, buckle up.

The AI revolution that everyone’s been talking about isn’t just on the horizon—it’s already here. Brands that fail to adapt risk going from millions in sales to mere thousands in the next few years, watching new AI-native sellers and agentic tools swoop in and dominate the marketplace.

If you don’t want to be left in the dust, now’s the time to understand what “agentic AI” is, how it’s reshaping traditional software (SaaS), how it is changing the way you do business, why OpenAI’s new tools matter, and how companies like Xnurta are early in bringing the next big transformation to Amazon selling.

The Age of Agentic AI Has Arrived

“Agentic AI” refers to AI systems that can operate with autonomy, making decisions and performing tasks end-to-end without constant human direction. Rather than simply offering suggestions or automations that still require a human “pilot,” agentic AI can:

• Analyze its environment

• Learn from data

• Execute tasks independently

These agents act like digital team members, freeing humans to focus on strategic and creative decisions instead of being buried in routine steps like data wrangling or dashboard clicking. And in a climate where Amazon competition is fiercer than ever, harnessing AI that can take on major workloads 24/7 is no longer a luxury; it’s the new playing field.

AI Is Eating SaaS—and Redefining It

We’re witnessing a seismic shift from traditional Software-as-a-Service to something more dynamic. “SaaS 1.0” was primarily a toolbox: you paid a subscription to access features and did the work yourself (i.e. Helium 10).

Now, as AI grows more “agentic,” SaaS is transforming into “Intelligence-as-a-Service.” Instead of buying tools and then assembling them, you’re hiring AI “agents” that handle entire processes, complete tasks automatically, and continuously learn to do those tasks better.

Why It Matters for Amazon Sellers

• Speed: AI agents work faster than any human-driven software workflow. You gain real-time adjustments on everything from keyword targeting to pricing.

• Accuracy: Agentic AI uses massive data sets—across marketplaces, consumer behavior, historical campaign data—to make more precise decisions.

• Scalability: Because the AI handles routine tasks, you can scale new products, markets, and campaigns far more quickly.

OpenAI’s New Agentic Toolkit Changes the Game

OpenAI recently introduced a suite of “custom agent” tools centered around its new Responses API, replacing the older Assistants API. Here’s what that means in a nutshell:

• Built for Action: The Responses API combines AI conversation ability with built-in “tools” for web searches, file retrieval, and even computer-based automation. Rather than offering replies you must interpret, these new AI agents can take action—search the web, dig into documents, and execute tasks in real time.

• Stateful, Multi-Step Workflows: The API is designed to maintain context across multiple steps, so an AI agent can continue to “think,” plan, and execute while referencing everything it has already learned.

• Multi-Agent Collaboration: Specialized AI agents can work together. One might handle product research, another might manage sourcing or supply chain tasks, and yet another might optimize ad strategies on Amazon.

For Amazon sellers, this is huge. Instead of cobbling together data from various tools and hoping your in-house team keeps up, you can now deploy AI that does everything from analyzing competitor pricing to adjusting your own listings.

Xnurta: Leading the Charge for AI-Driven Amazon Ads

A prime example of agentic AI in action is Xnurta, which will be front-and-center at Prosper Show 2025. Their platform has evolved from AI “copilots” (which assisted humans) into fully autonomous AI agents that can:

• Analyze Advertising Performance: Identify winning keywords, underperforming campaigns, and new segmentation opportunities—around the clock.

• Optimize Continuously: Make real-time adjustments to bids, budgets, and placements for sponsored ads, drastically cutting down wasted spend.

• Explain It All: Xnurta’s AI agents not only do the work but also provide analysis and recommendations, so you understand why a bid was changed or why a new keyword was chosen.

A Real-World Success Story

Xnurta helped Sunnydaze Decor increase ad-attributable sales by 408%. In just two months, the AI agents made 3.3 million campaign optimizations and saved over 50,000 hours for the team. That’s the power of full autonomy in an Amazon environment—while you’re sleeping, the AI is learning, optimizing, and scaling.

The Future of E-Commerce: Adapt or Fade Away

1. Rise of Micro-Companies

One to three person companies using AI agents to handle marketing, product research, customer service, and logistics can now generate tens of millions in revenue. This isn’t a fantasy scenario; it’s happening right now, and it’ll soon become the norm.

2. AI-Native Retail Brands

With agentic AI embedded across the entire supply chain—from product design informed by real-time consumer behavior to dynamic pricing—future brands will skip the legacy overhead that old-school sellers still carry.

3. The “AI Copycat” Economy

Products will get cloned instantly. While it sounds threatening, it can also raise the value of original creators who act as “product DJs,” curating the perfect mix of brand identity, timing, and distribution. Success will hinge on creative strategies and hyper-fast execution, both powered by AI.

Why Amazon Sellers Must Wake Up—Now

• Competition Moves Faster: If you’re relying on yesterday’s tools while your competitors deploy AI that reacts to every sales spike or competitor move in real time, you’re going to lose.

• Customer Behavior Shifts: Shoppers expect more relevant recommendations, faster responses, and near-instant shipping times—AI can handle this complexity better than any human-only team.

• Margin Squeeze: As more sellers embrace AI, average cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) might rise. To remain profitable, you need AI-driven optimizations that outmaneuver the competition.

Failing to embrace agentic AI is essentially deciding to leave profit, efficiency, and future growth on the table. And in a market as relentless as Amazon, that’s a fast track to getting left behind.

💸 9 OUT of 10 AMAZON PPC CAMPAIGNS are UNPROFITABLE

Nine out of 10 sellers are running Amazon PPC campaigns that are unprofitable and there is just 1 reason for that.

Chris Rawlings discovered it after launching over 2,500 products on Amazon between 2015 and now.

Once solved, he found that he could make unprofitable Amazon brands profitable just by installing this change in their PPC. 

So he started a company 6 years ago to partner with brands and “install” this fix to grow them profitably with PPC.

Fast forward to now Chris is one of the top single spenders of Amazon PPC Ads on the Amazon Marketplace with over $2m in monthly Amazon PPC Ad spend. 

But he can only partner with so many brands at one time. So he set out to make this framework available to any seller motivated to make their Amazon PPC actually profitable themselves. 

The Profitable PPC Challenge was born. This 5 day virtual event promises torevolutionize your ability to grow your brand profitably with PPC.  

The next event is coming up in just a few days but unfortunately it is already sold out. 

Six groups of 60 businesses each have signed up to install profitable PPC frameworks into their brands so that their PPC campaigns never again keep them up at night. 

If you didn’t get a ticket in time but you are intent on making your Amazon PPC profitable, Chris has opened a traunch of “virtual standing room only” tickets.

This means you can attend the sessions and get help on your account live during the session, but you will not be in the 24/7 private coaching groups that accompany the event. You will, however, still be able to join the office hours (Q&A) sessions as well. 

He has opened up another 60 standing room only tickets, and they will all sell out as well. If you want to secure your ticket, he has reserved 25 of them for BDSN Newsletter readers (that’s you). 

🏃‍♂️ THE AMAZON REFUND KING WHO GOT AWAY

This video dives into the jaw-dropping world of a mysterious figure known as the “Amazon Refund King.” He and his network allegedly pulled off multi-million dollar refund scams by bribing inside employees and faking returns.

The video takes you behind the scenes of how these schemes worked, exposing the risks, the shocking profits, and the dizzying lengths insiders went to for a slice of the action.

Watch as one of the largest underground refund operations unravels right before your eyes

‼️ BIG BRANDS DOUBLING DOWN on INFLUENCER MARKETING

Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods brands, is making a huge pivot toward influencer-driven marketing. Under new CEO Fernando Fernandez, the company plans to shift its social media ad spend from 30% to 50% of the total budget, hiring “20 times more influencers” to reach consumers.

According to Fernandez, traditional brand messaging no longer resonates—people trust people, not corporations. The goal is to create a “machine of content creation” that positions influencers and creators as the key drivers of brand conversations.

For Amazon sellers, this is a clear playbook: if a global juggernaut like Unilever is doubling down on influencers, you should too. Relying solely on Amazon’s platform and ads isn’t enough; investing in real voices from your own repeat customers, on TikTok, Instagram, and other social channels is how you build demand and authenticity.

📦 SELL for LESS w/o LOSING the BUY BOX on AMAZON

Did you know that if you are using Buy with Prime on your own website, you WILL NOT lose the buy box on Amazon if you have a lower price on your website than on Amazon? That’s right, you have full flexibility to strategize your price point on your website utilizing Buy with Prime.

Here are a couple other little know facts most of you don’t know about the advantages you get with Buy with Prime:

Buy with Prime has a marketing strategy for DSP with Buy with Prime that let’s you target anyone who has been on your listings, or your competitors listings, and then target that customer and drive them to your off-Amazon website.

Amazon also shows your customer the delivery promise right on your website’s PDP page. The customer knows exactly when that product will land in their hands, which is one of the biggest drivers of a conversion,.

They can also bring your reviews from the US Amazon marketplace on to your website’s PDP page so customers don’t bounce off to Amazon to check what Amazon reviews look like. They’re staying right on you site, which is where you want them to stay.

If you are an agency and you get your clients to add Buy with Prime banners to your client’s pages, Amazon will compensate you. Additionally if you want to have the Amazon branding look cohesive with your website so that you’re not vomiting Amazon onto your website, Amazon will support that effort to co-brand with you too.

And one more thing: if you are a larger seller (well into the millions), Amazon will often gift you the equivalent of an expensive account manager to help you on your account.

If you want an introduction or want to learn more details, I know a guy who knows a gal. Reply to this email with your annual sales volume and I will connect you.

📈  THIRD PARTY SELLERS 24.48% of AMAZON’s REVENUE

Third party sellers on Amazon: $156.1 billion in 2024, representing 24.48% of Amazon's total revenue, the highest share to date.

🌶️ MAXIMIZE LISTINGS with MULTI-SENSORY MARKETING

Most products are naturally multi-sensory. Take wine, for example. It has color, fizz, fragrance, texture, and other traits besides taste. These sensory traits are wired into the way we think about wine.

When you apply this principle to every sensory aspect of your product on Amazon:

• Your product gets activated more strongly in customers’ minds.

• Intense activation heightens emotions.

• Stronger emotions drive more purchases.

How to Apply These Principles on Amazon

1. Display Scented Objects
   Research shows that in Walmart’s online marketplace, only 27% of scented products actually include the scent source in their imagery, yet those that do tend to earn higher ratings. The same principle applies to your Amazon listing: if you sell a lavender-scented candle, show fresh lavender in the image.
   

2. Enlarge the Trigger
   Make the “scent source” or other sensory trigger more prominent. For instance, if your product is rose-infused, feature multiple roses in your main images.
   
   

   

3. Strengthen the Trigger
   Not all triggers are equal. Cleaning products, for example, perform better with images of sliced lemons rather than whole lemons, because seeing the inside juices conveys a stronger sensation.
   
   If you sell cinnamon-scented items, you might pair a cinnamon stick with ground cinnamon, which looks more aromatic.
   

4. Add Videos With Sounds
   From kitchen blenders to knives, products seem more powerful and effective when the sounds they produce are audible. Short videos on your Amazon listings can capture this effect.
   

5. Include Sensory Words
   Descriptive terms like “crumble,” “juicy,” or “crisp” often spark stronger sensory reactions than images alone. In a recent TikTok study, sponsored videos gained about 11k more likes and comments for each additional sensory word. Adapt this tip for your Amazon bullet points and product descriptions to boost engagement.

✌🏼 Have a great weekend.

See you again on Monday.

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
64.8% of Amazon sellers raised prices in 2024