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📅 LAS VEGAS MADNESS:
50 EVENTS AROUND MDS, PROSPER & SHOP TALK

This week thousands of Amazon and e-com sellers are headed to Vegas for 3 overlapping conferences. There’s learning by day, and partying and networking by night. There are more than 50 satellite event around the main conferences.

Here are two versions of the list of happenings:
The Order Prosper Underground

🔎  AMAZON’s NEW INTEREST AI MIGHT CHANGE SEARCH

Amazon’s Interests AI is a new way for shoppers to discover products. Instead of searching with keywords, shoppers describe what they want in plain language.

Amazon responds by building a curated product feed—based on mood, intent, and real-world context.

Andrew Bell says it's not replacing search. It's adding a new dimension to how people browse.

It's called Interests AI—and it might transform how shoppers find your products.

Here's what you don't want to say in your strategy meeting right now 👇

❌ “People don’t shop that way.” ↳ Translation: I'm ignoring how casual discovery already thrives elsewhere (TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube Shorts).

✅ Instead: Assume shoppers already browse by mood, use case, and moment. Amazon's just catching up—and they're moving quickly.

❌ “This is just another content feed.” ↳ Translation: I'm confusing Interests with Inspire.

✅ Instead: Recognize that Interests = intent-driven boards. This isn't passive content; it's active language-to-curation. Shoppers articulate a need. Amazon responds with a tailored product board.

❌ “We’ll optimize when it's mainstream.” ↳ Translation: I'll wait until the opportunity is crowded to compete.

✅ Instead: Early optimization for Interests equals early advantage. Brands aligning with intent-based discovery now will own critical shelf space before competitors catch up.

❌ “It won’t affect our ads.” ↳ Translation: I'm overlooking critical algorithmic signals.

✅ Instead: Interests could soon redefine ad targeting. Every phrase shoppers enter represents structured intent signals.

🧠 The bigger shift?

Interests isn't merely a beta feature. It's Amazon’s intent graph in action—inviting shoppers to speak naturally and rewarding brands that truly listen.

If your listings don't reflect this shift, you won't just miss out—you'll vanish from discovery altogether.

Interests AI will soon directly influence Rufus Recommendations.

🥊  AMAZON RESTRICTS, TIKTOK & GOOGLE EMPOWER

Platforms like Google and TikTok are actively empowering sellers and creators through innovative features, directly contrasting Amazon's closed-off approach.

Google is beta-testing "Creator Partnerships" for YouTube Shorts, allowing advertisers to seamlessly discover and promote high-quality user-generated content (UGC) featuring their brand directly within Google Ads.

This encourages transparent collaboration and data-sharing between advertisers and creators, enhancing ad performance and authenticity.

Meanwhile, TikTok has launched a CRM tool within TikTok Shop, allowing select sellers to directly engage with customers through branded messages—a significant shift from Amazon’s strict restrictions on customer communications.

Early adopters of TikTok’s CRM are already seeing substantial sales growth. TikTok has also introduced enhanced seller flexibility through features like custom shipping, return and cancellation windows, and automation for after-sales management, enabling sellers to tailor their processes precisely to customer needs and operational requirements.

TikTok and Google are proactively supporting seller growth through open data sharing, customer relationship building, and flexible operational controls, providing substantial benefits not available within Amazon’s more restrictive ecosystem.

Unlock New Growth on Amazon

Growing on Amazon takes more than great products—it’s about getting in front of the right shoppers. With affiliate marketing, you can:

✅ Drive high-quality traffic – Reach shoppers off Amazon by partnering with 8K+ vetted publishers, affiliates, and influencers.
✅ Control your commissions – Set CPA or CPC by product or creator to maximize ROI.
✅ Boost organic rankings – Amazon rewards external traffic with better search visibility and a 10% kickback.

Download the Guide

🚚 DOs and DONTs to REDUCE PLACEMENT FEES

Amazon's Placement Fees are charges applied when sellers opt for the convenience of sending inventory to a single fulfillment center, minimizing shipment splits.

While this approach simplifies logistics, it can lead to increased costs and potential delays.​

Marketplace Prep recently published an article on some do’s don’ts.

Do's: 

Understand the 5-Box Rule: To avoid placement fees, ensure your shipments include at least five identical cartons or pallets per item, each containing the same quantity and item mix. This is particularly relevant for the Pre-Pack workflow. ​

• If you're shipping via Less Than Truckload (LTL), consider the Post-Pack workflow. This method allows you to input product quantities first, receive Amazon's shipment split instructions, and then pack accordingly, potentially avoiding placement fees.

• For products with quantities less than five units, create separate shipment plans. Including them in larger batches can trigger placement fees for the entire shipment. ​

• Ship in Larger Volumes When Possible: Shipping five or more pallets often makes it economical to use optimized splits, reducing the likelihood of incurring placement fees. ​

• Avoid Mixing Different Product Categories: Do not combine specialty categories like Hazmat or Oversize items with standard products in the same shipment plan. Mixing can lead to complications and potential fees.

• Don't Overlook Hidden Costs: Be aware that placement fees can lead to additional expenses, such as extended fulfillment center transfer times (up to 2-3 weeks), delayed inventory reconciliation, and challenges in obtaining reimbursements for miscalculated fees. ​
  
  Tips: 
  

• Evaluate Shipment Methods: Assess whether paying placement fees for minimal splits is cost-effective compared to optimized splits, especially for larger shipments. ​

• Marketplace Prep Stay Informed on Amazon's Policies: Regularly review Amazon's guidelines and updates on placement fees to ensure compliance and cost efficiency.​

🌍  EUROPE BEATS USA in HQs, BUT NOT in MARKET POWER

Europe hosts the largest number of e-commerce headquarters among the world's top 250 companies, with 95 (38%) located there—slightly ahead of North and South America combined (92 headquarters), and significantly ahead of Asia (57).

Within Europe, Germany leads with 22 headquarters, including major players like Otto and Zalando, followed by France and the UK (17 each).

Globally, the United States dominates at the country level with 80 headquarters, while China, despite having fewer headquarters (17), hosts highly concentrated giants like Alibaba.

Interestingly, none of the top 10 global ecommerce firms are European; the first European company, Otto Group, ranks only 19th. Amazon, a U.S. firm, remains dominant in Europe's ecommerce markets, underscoring that headquarter concentration doesn't necessarily reflect market leadership.

📛  NEVER GUESS YOUR BREAK EVEN AGAIN

Izzy Benoliel has created a powerful, free tool designed specifically for Amazon sellers to accurately calculate profits and simulate various pricing scenarios. It's user-friendly, completely free, and requires no signup or registration.

Check it out here 😀 

Here's a quick overview of what you can do with this tool:

• Determine exact profit margins, factoring in returns based on your specific return rate and processing fees.

• Account for coupon discounts and associated coupon fees.

• Include advertising costs to see their impact on your profitability.

• Run unlimited simulations by adjusting one or multiple metrics to forecast potential profits.

• Calculate your exact break-even pricing.

• Understand the maximum discount you can offer without sacrificing profitability.

• Simulate and analyze different price and volume combinations to optimize overall profit.

• Export results as PDFs (this feature is being actively improved).

• Note: Storage fees are not yet included in this version but can temporarily be accounted for in the product cost field.

🤖 MACHINES RISING: BRACE for ROBOT DOMINATION

Recent advancements in robotics are poised to significantly transform various industries, including manufacturing and e-commerce logistics:

Mass Production of Humanoid Robots: A Shanghai factory has commenced mass production of humanoid robots capable of performing tasks ranging from sales to heavy-load transport.

Multi-Humanoid Robot Coordination: China is developing systems that enable multiple humanoid robots to coordinate effectively, enhancing efficiency in complex tasks.​

Amazon's Robotics Integration: Amazon has deployed over 750,000 robots across its operations, including eight distinct types that assist in sorting, lifting, and transporting packages, thereby improving employee safety and operational efficiency.

DeepMind's Gemini Robotics: Google DeepMind introduced Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, AI models designed to help robots understand and interact with the physical world. These models enable robots to perform complex tasks such as folding origami and packing items, with a focus on safety and adaptability. ​

MIT and NVIDIA's AI Framework: MIT and NVIDIA unveiled an AI framework that allows users to correct robot actions in real-time through gestures, enhancing task success rates by 21% and paving the way for more adaptable robots.

Hugging Face and Yaak's Self-Driving Dataset: Hugging Face partnered with Yaak to release Learning to Drive (L2D), a comprehensive self-driving training dataset containing over a petabyte of real-world driving data, aimed at improving autonomous vehicle safety and adaptability. ​

Estonian Robot Weaving Technology: Researchers in Estonia developed a robot capable of weaving its own parts on demand, similar to a spider spinning silk. This technology has potential applications in disaster relief, search and rescue, and construction.​

✌🏼 See you again Thursday …

The answer to today’s STUMP BEZOS is
The Port of Shanghai processed 5 million containers in January