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ANavigator Weekly Amazon Digest — Week 18

4 May 2026

ANavigator Weekly Amazon Digest — Week 18

Amazon’s Q1 earnings dominated this week, with advertising confirmed as the fastest-growing segment and Andy Jassy weighing in on how Rufus compares to general AI assistants. Several listing, logistics, and ad tool updates also landed. Here is everything that moved.

📌 Contents:

  1. Amazon Q1 2025 Earnings: Advertising Leads Growth
  2. Amazon Joins Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
  3. Andy Jassy on Rufus vs ChatGPT — Who Really Knows the Shopper
  4. Amazon Testing “Hear the Highlights” — AI Audio for Product Listings
  5. Amazon Introduces “High Price” Warning on Listings
  6. Kindle Lockscreen Ads Now Available in Amazon DSP
  7. Hazmat Now Eligible for FBA Partnered Carrier Program
  8. Amazon Premium Brands Week Live Across Europe
  9. Subscribe and Save Coming to TikTok Shop UK
  10. FBA New Selection Program Offers 25% Vine Fee Discount

 

 

1. Amazon Q1 2025 Earnings: Advertising Leads Growth

Amazon reported Q1 net sales of $181.5bn, up 17% year-over-year. Operating income grew 29.9% to $23.9bn, and AWS posted 28% growth to $37.6bn. Advertising sales grew 24% YoY — 1,200 basis points faster than online store sales — confirming it as the highest-growth segment in the business. Third-party seller share of sold units fell 100 basis points to 60%, and free cash flow dropped $24.7bn YoY as Amazon funds a $200bn AI capital expenditure commitment. The FBA fuel surcharge introduced this month and the tighter contribution margin targets coming from vendor managers are direct outputs of this financial pressure. Amazon has signaled that retail needs to grow more sustainably to protect the overall profit mix.

Read more here by Martin Heubel

 

2. Amazon Joins Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)

Amazon has joined the UCP Tech Council, the primary technical governing body behind the Universal Commerce Protocol. Other members include Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Stripe, Shopify, Etsy, Target, and Wayfair. UCP is the industry’s leading standard for agentic commerce infrastructure, now powering both Gemini and Claude, and has seen significantly more active development than the competing protocol from ChatGPT and Stripe. Amazon’s membership does not change its current stance on third-party chatbots today, but places the company inside the infrastructure layer where AI-driven purchasing decisions are being built — a space that will grow in relevance for product discovery and transactions over the coming years.

Read more here by Juozas Kaziukėnas

 

3. Andy Jassy on Rufus vs ChatGPT — Who Really Knows the Shopper

During the Q1 earnings call, Andy Jassy argued Rufus has a structural edge over ChatGPT and Gemini because Amazon holds personalization data, shopping history, and real-time access to its full product catalog. The argument has merit — Amazon has more commerce context than any general AI assistant. But there is a gap in that logic worth noting: Amazon mostly sees the last few clicks before a purchase and rarely understands why someone bought something. General AI assistants like ChatGPT build memory from long conversations over time, accumulating personal context — lifestyle, habits, preferences — that Amazon does not have. Rufus is a deep vertical agent with strong product knowledge; ChatGPT is a broad horizontal agent that knows a lot about the individual. Amazon is racing to make Rufus more useful and personalized before general AI tools figure out the product layer — the outcome of that race will matter for how shoppers discover and buy products on Amazon.

Read more here by Juozas Kaziukėnas

 

4. Amazon Testing “Hear the Highlights” AI Audio Feature

Amazon is testing a feature that auto-generates short audio conversations about product listings. Two AI hosts discuss product features, pull themes from customer reviews, and answer shopper questions in real time — with no setup or approval required from the seller. The quality of the audio output is determined entirely by listing copy and review content. Listings with vague copy and thin reviews produce a weak pitch; detailed, benefit-driven content gives the AI stronger material to work with. Sellers who have not audited their listings recently have a clear reason to do so now.

Read more here by Mansour Norouzi

 

5. Amazon Introduces “High Price” Warning on Listings

Amazon is now displaying a “High Price” label on product listings where pricing exceeds recent benchmarks. The label is triggered by a combination of the product’s own pricing history, competitor pricing, and external price comparisons. It appears directly on the product page, visible to shoppers before they decide to buy. Listings with this label are likely to see reduced click-through rates and lower conversion. Sellers should audit their pricing against historical data and current competitors — particularly for products that have had recent price increases or that sit in competitive categories.

Read more here by Ivan Marynych

 

6. Kindle Lockscreen Ads Added to Amazon DSP

Amazon DSP now includes Kindle lockscreen ads as a new inventory type. The format delivers full-screen ads when Kindle users activate or unlock their device — no other content is visible at that moment. The audience is specific: active Kindle readers, a more engaged and reading-oriented group than general Amazon shoppers. This placement is most relevant for entertainment and media brands, audiobook publishers, and premium consumer brands, as well as upper-funnel campaigns where high-impact visibility is the primary objective. It is an incremental option within DSP worth testing for brands whose audience profile aligns with Kindle users.

Read more here by Bianca Alicia Basse

 

7. Hazmat Now Eligible for FBA Partnered Carrier Program

Amazon has expanded the Partnered Carrier program to include all FBA-eligible dangerous goods — previously, the program was mostly limited to certain lithium battery products. Sellers can now ship hazmat through the standard “Send to Amazon” workflow across parcel, LTL, and FTL, without arranging separate carrier coordination. With Prime Day officially confirmed for June, this removes a logistical step that previously added time and cost to hazmat inbound shipments. Any seller managing dangerous goods inventory should update their inbound process ahead of Prime Day prep.

Read more here by Luis Rivera

 

8. Amazon Premium Brands Week Running Across Europe

Amazon’s Premium Brands Week is live across Europe through May 5, with hundreds of brands and discounts of up to 30% across beauty, home, fashion, smart home, and technology. Amazon is using the event to promote AI-powered shopping tools — including Rufus for comparisons, Amazon Lens for visual search, personalized fit insights for fashion, and dedicated premium storefronts. Prime members receive fast delivery, including same-day on thousands of items. For brands in these categories, this is a visibility window tied to Amazon’s effort to build its position as a premium shopping destination in Europe.

Read more here by Giorgio Busnelli

 

9. Subscribe and Save Coming to TikTok Shop UK

TikTok Shop UK is piloting Subscribe and Save, currently available to larger accounts, with a structure that mirrors Amazon’s model closely. The platform funds a base discount and brands can choose to add more on top. Key dynamics from Amazon’s program apply directly — higher discounts attract one-time buyers who cancel immediately, inventory stockouts can permanently damage recurring revenue trajectories, and the metric that matters is repeat customer rate, not average order value. TikTok is also planning first-purchase promotions alongside the subscription discount, which based on comparable Amazon patterns tend to improve new customer acquisition when managed carefully.

Read more here by Thomas Baker

 

10. FBA New Selection Program Includes 25% Vine Fee Discount

Since September 2024, sellers enrolled in the second tier of Amazon’s FBA New Selection Program have been eligible for a 25% discount on Vine enrollment fees. The fee drops from $75 to $56.25 for enrolling three to ten units per parent ASIN on new products. The discount applies to new ASINs only, is available across the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, and cannot be combined with New Seller Starter Pack credits. Many sellers are not currently taking advantage of this — if you are enrolled in FBA New Selection and regularly launching new products, check whether this discount is being applied.

Read more here by Nikolai Tahmin

 

A full week of platform movement across earnings, AI positioning, listing tools, pricing signals, logistics, and ad inventory. Subscribe to the ANavigator blog to get the Weekly Amazon Digest every week.

If you want to stay updated on Amazon changes, subscribe to our blog.

If you need support with PPC, DSP, AMC, analytics, or a long-term growth strategy, contact the ANavigator team at info@anavigator.co

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Author: Oleksandr Kovalov
Role: Founder & CEO @ ANavigator
— The ANavigator Team

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ANavigator Weekly Amazon Digest — Week 18
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SELECTED ARTICLE

Amazon quietly expanded DSP through an integration with Perion.
blog
December 18, 2025
Amazon quietly expanded DSP through an integration with Perion.

Amazon DSP just got more interesting.

Amazon quietly expanded DSP through an integration with Perion.
What does that mean in practice?

Access to premium display, video, and even DOOH placements — all using Amazon’s audience data.

This isn’t about chasing more impressions.
It’s about showing up in better environments where people actually pay attention.

A few things have changed:

– Premium formats now run directly inside DSP
– Attention becomes something you can measure, not guess
– DOOH finally works at scale with Amazon audiences

The bigger picture is clear.
Amazon is moving DSP away from “retargeting only” and toward a real omnichannel demand platform.
If you use DSP seriously, this is a shift worth watching.

Curious — which channel do you see as the biggest unlock here: premium video or DOOH?

(Source: insights shared by Valentyna Symonenko)

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LATEST UPDATES

Amazon Just Removed Custom Return Instructions for FBM Sellers
Blog
August 20, 2026
Amazon Just Removed Custom Return Instructions for FBM Sellers
Starting August 2026, a field that seller-fulfilled brands have quietly relied on for years disappeared from Seller Central. The option to add custom return instructions in Return Settings and the Manage Seller-Fulfilled Returns screen is gone, confirmed by Amazon moderator Billy_Amazon in the Seller Central forums when sellers began reporting the change around August 13. Amazon's notice was a single sentence: "Starting August 2026, the option to add return instructions in your return settings will no longer be available." No replacement was announced. No equivalent field was introduced. For brands selling bulky, expensive, fragile, or condition-sensitive products through FBM, the implications are worth thinking through carefully, particularly in the context of five other FBM return changes that have already taken effect in 2026. What Sellers Actually Lost The custom return instructions field allowed FBM sellers to communicate specific requirements directly to buyers when a return was authorized. Common uses included telling customers to return items unused, include original packaging, use specific packaging materials, or understand that return shipping was their responsibility when the item was not defective. For products where condition on return directly affects resale value- outdoor equipment, electronics accessories, custom items, fragile goods, anything with hygiene or safety considerations- that field was doing real operational work. It set expectations before the package was shipped back, which reduced the frequency of returns arriving damaged, used, incomplete, or improperly packaged. Without it, buyers now receive a return label with Amazon's standard messaging. The seller has no dedicated channel to communicate product-specific return requirements at the moment of return authorization. Amazon's stated alternative is Buyer-Seller Messaging; FBM sellers can still reach buyers through the messaging system to communicate return requirements. That is technically true, but it is a manual, reactive step rather than a systematic one. It requires the seller to initiate a message after every return authorization, and it is subject to Amazon's messaging policies, which restrict commercial communication. The Broader FBM Return Picture in 2026 The removal of custom return instructions is one piece of a larger pattern of FBM return policy changes that have accumulated throughout 2026. Taken together, they represent a significant tightening of how seller-fulfilled returns work, and a consistent shift toward Amazon controlling more of the return experience while sellers absorb more of the cost. Effective February 8, 2026, all FBM sellers must use Amazon prepaid return labels for every order, regardless of item value. The previous high-value exemption, which allowed sellers of electronics, jewelry, cameras, and other expensive items to opt out of prepaid labels, was eliminated entirely. Sellers of high-ticket items now absorb prepaid return shipping costs on every return. Effective January 26, 2026, the FBM refund processing window was extended from two business days to four calendar days. If a seller does not process a refund within four calendar days of receiving a returned item, Amazon may issue an automatic refund, and in most cases, the seller loses eligibility for SAFE-T claim reimbursement. The four-day window sounds generous but requires tight operational discipline. Returns that arrive on Friday need a decision by Monday. Returns that arrive around holidays compress the inspection timeline further. Sellers previously had two business days, which excluded weekends. The new four calendar-day window sounds longer but is operationally shorter in practice for sellers without weekend fulfillment operations. What FBM Sellers Should Do Now The absence of a custom instructions field does not mean you have no options. It means the options require more proactive effort. The most effective replacement for custom return instructions is proactive messaging. When you authorize a return, immediately send a Buyer-Seller message that covers your key return requirements: unused condition, original packaging, return shipping responsibility if applicable. This does not happen automatically, so it needs to be built into your return authorization workflow as a standard step, not an occasional practice. For products where specific handling is genuinely important- fragile items, products with hygiene implications, items where incomplete packaging significantly affects resale value- review whether your product detail page, packaging inserts, and any post-purchase communications address return expectations proactively. Reducing the information gap before a return is initiated is more reliable than bridging it at the point of authorization. On the SAFE-T claim side, the four-day inspection window is now the critical deadline. A seller generally has four days after receiving the returned product to inspect it and submit a SAFE-T claim. Eligible claims may cover the return label cost plus up to 50% of the item's price, depending on circumstances and product category. If returned inventory arrives damaged, used, or incomplete, document the condition immediately upon receipt and submit the SAFE-T claim within the window, not after. For brands with high-value SKUs where the combination of mandatory prepaid labels, four-day refund windows, and now removed return instructions creates compounding risk, the economics of FBA versus FBM are worth revisiting by ASIN. FBA fees are higher, but Amazon takes on the return risk and associated costs for FBA inventory. For high-value items where damage or fraud is a real concern, those extra fees may now be cheaper than the combined cost of prepaid labels, damaged returns, and missed SAFE-T claims. The Broader Pattern 2026 has been the most active year for FBM return policy changes in recent memory. Mandatory prepaid labels, a revised refund window, high-value exemption removal, and now the elimination of custom return instructions have all landed within eight months. Each change individually is manageable. Together, they represent a consistent shift: Amazon is standardizing the return experience for buyers at the cost of seller control and flexibility. For brands running significant FBM volume, the practical response is not to fight the direction; it is to rebuild operational workflows around the current reality, document returns thoroughly, use SAFE-T claims consistently, and evaluate whether FBM remains the right fulfillment model for each SKU in your catalog. The custom return instructions field is gone. The work it was doing still needs to happen; it just requires more deliberate effort than it did before August 2026. If you want to stay updated on Amazon changes, subscribe to our blog. If you need support with PPC, DSP, AMC, analytics, or a long-term growth strategy, contact the ANavigator team at info@anavigator.co  Book a call to get a FREE AUDIT using the link below:     Book a call – FREE AUDIT   Follow my Weekly Newsletter on LinkedIn:  / amazon-digest-for-brands-7232361008185372672   Follow me on LinkedIn:  / ookovalov  Follow ANavigator on social media:  / anavigator    /@anavigator_official  / anavigator7    / @anavigators     LinkedIn page to contact us:   Author: Oleksandr Kovalov Role: Founder & CEO @ ANavigator — The ANavigator Team
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Blog
August 18, 2026
Since September 2025, Amazon DSP advertisers have had access to Netflix's ad inventory. What changed on August 4, 2026, is practical: Amazon published the full technical documentation for how to actually set up a Netflix campaign through Amazon DSP, including deal types, vendor requirements, frequency capping, audience limitations, and reach reporting. The integration is no longer in early access. It is a live, documented advertising channel. For brands already running Amazon DSP, this is worth understanding in detail before adding it to a media plan. Why This Integration Exists Netflix reaches a unique and attentive audience - 44% of members who see an ad on Netflix never saw it on broadcast TV or other streamers. Campaigns on Netflix drive almost 2x the TV norm on long-term brand building and 23% above benchmarks on purchase intent compared to competitors. Amazon's interest in the partnership is straightforward. Amazon DSP's authenticated identity graph, built from purchase behavior, browsing signals, and retail data, can now be applied to Netflix's premium streaming environment. A retail brand that previously could use Amazon's purchase data only to target audiences on Amazon-owned properties can now extend those same audience definitions to Netflix inventory. Amazon's purchase signals reach Netflix's living room. For brands, this collapses a step that previously required separate negotiations, separate tech stacks, and separate measurement. Netflix inventory is now accessible through the same DSP interface, the same deal workflow, and the same reporting layer you use for Prime Video and other streaming placements. How Netflix Campaigns Work in Amazon DSP Netflix supply is available for private auction and programmatic guaranteed deals only, it is not available through open auction. Before creating a campaign, you need a Netflix deal with the correct configuration. Existing deals are not compatible with Amazon audience-enabled campaigns and will not work. There are two ways to secure a deal. You can work with Netflix or your Amazon Ads representative directly, in which case the deal appears automatically in your Amazon DSP manager account via API once it is ready. Or you can submit a deal proposal to Netflix directly inside Amazon DSP through the deal proposal workflow. Once a deal is in place, the campaign setup follows the standard Amazon DSP structure: campaign, ad groups, and ads. Activation is straightforward: enable the ad groups and campaign via the toggle in the Campaigns interface. Vendor requirements are strict. Netflix maintains firm third-party vendor requirements for all ad serving and measurement. Supported ad serving vendors are Google Campaign Manager 360 and Innovid. Supported measurement and verification vendors are DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. All other third-party vendors are not supported. If you are currently using a different vendor for your DSP campaigns, you will need to switch to one of the approved options or use Amazon DSP-hosted ad options before running on Netflix inventory. What Amazon Audiences Can and Cannot Do on Netflix Starting Q2 2026 in the US, advertisers can apply Amazon Audiences to Netflix campaigns, audience segments built from Amazon's purchase and behavioral data, applied to Netflix's streaming environment. That is the meaningful capability at the center of this integration. Your Amazon customer cohorts, category buyers, high-LTV segments, competitor brand shoppers, can now be used to target audiences on Netflix. The limitations are specific and worth knowing before building a campaign: Amazon audiences are available on private marketplace run-of-network deals only. They are not available on programmatic guaranteed deals. Do not layer third-party audiences, genre detargeting, or Netflix-side targeting on Amazon audience-enabled deals - this will stop delivery. Similar audiences and durable audiences are not available on Netflix inventory. Ad Exposure remarketing is not available. Audience-level reporting is not available. Brand safety settings through Amazon DSP do not apply to Netflix inventory; contact Netflix directly for brand safety options. Frequency caps are fully enforced for private auction and preferred deals. For programmatic guaranteed deals, impressions count toward caps but cannot be suppressed on the Netflix line item. What Is Actually Measurable De-duplicated reach and frequency metrics are now available for Netflix ad group lines and populate automatically, no setup, no opt-in, no additional cost. These metrics are available across all 11 Netflix ad-supported locales. Netflix and Spotify are now direct integrations available through Amazon DSP, with reach and frequency metrics that feed into cross-publisher measurement. That matters for brands running streaming TV alongside Netflix; you can measure unduplicated reach across Prime Video, Netflix, and other inventory sources from the same platform, without reconciling separate reports. The measurement piece is what has historically made streaming TV difficult to justify in a performance-oriented media plan. De-duplicated reach and frequency data, combined with Amazon's purchase attribution from the same DSP, changes that calculus meaningfully. What Brands Should Be Thinking About Before Running Netflix Campaigns Netflix inventory is premium, which means it is expensive relative to other streaming placements, and the minimum deal thresholds reflect that. This is not a format to test with a small budget expecting performance metrics comparable to Sponsored Products. The right frame for Netflix through Amazon DSP is brand building with measurable audience reach, not direct-response conversion. The brands for whom this makes sense have a few things in common. They are already running Amazon DSP with meaningful budget; Netflix is an addition to a working DSP strategy, not a standalone channel. They have a product or brand story that benefits from a lean-back, high-attention streaming context. And they have creative that is production-quality for the streaming environment, not repurposed Sponsored Brands video. A recent Dove campaign spanning consumer products and custom creative on Netflix saw an almost 60% increase in new shoppers for products. That result reflects both the reach quality of Netflix's audience and the creative investment Dove made for the placement. The format rewards brands that treat it like a premium channel, not a cheaper extension of search advertising. If you are running Amazon DSP and have not yet looked at Netflix as an inventory source, the August 2026 documentation update is a useful moment to evaluate it. The technical setup is now clearly documented, the audience integration is live, and the measurement tools are in place. Whether the economics make sense depends on your category, your brand objectives, and your existing DSP performance, but the access barrier that existed before the Amazon partnership is gone. If you want to stay updated on Amazon changes, subscribe to our blog. If you need support with PPC, DSP, AMC, analytics, or a long-term growth strategy, contact the ANavigator team at info@anavigator.co  Book a call to get a FREE AUDIT using the link below:     Book a call – FREE AUDIT   Follow my Weekly Newsletter on LinkedIn:  / amazon-digest-for-brands-7232361008185372672   Follow me on LinkedIn:  / ookovalov  Follow ANavigator on social media:  / anavigator    /@anavigator_official  / anavigator7    / @anavigators     LinkedIn page to contact us:   Author: Oleksandr Kovalov Role: Founder & CEO @ ANavigator — The ANavigator Team
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The Power of Premium A+ Content on Amazon: A Deep Dive with Fatos Fatin from Maxamaze
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