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This week’s Selling on Giants breaks down a major shift happening across Amazon, Walmart, and the broader marketplace landscape. The headlines may look unrelated, but they all point in the same direction.

Platforms are moving beyond transactions and into infrastructure, while operators face increasing pressure across fulfillment, compliance, and discovery.

Top stories this week:

• Amazon expands Multi Channel Fulfillment for Shopify globally
  Amazon extends its MCF Shopify integration into Europe, Japan, and Canada, positioning itself as the fulfillment layer for direct-to-consumer brands. Efficiency increases, but so does dependency.
• eigh to Z claims continue to create friction
  Even with Buy Shipping and proper documentation, sellers report inconsistent outcomes. The process is clear, but enforcement remains unpredictable, shifting risk toward the seller.
• VAT complexity increases for EU expansion
  Global growth introduces operational overhead, including registration, reporting, and tax compliance across multiple countries. Expansion is no longer plug and play.

Operational pressure is building:

• Supply chain diversification becomes more complex
  New restrictions in China slow down efforts to shift manufacturing, increasing friction in sourcing and planning.
• Distribution expectations continue to rise
  Speed, reliability, and automation are now baseline requirements, not differentiators. Fulfillment performance directly impacts conversion.
• Amazon tightens advertiser payment structures
  Less flexibility in billing ties ad spend more closely to cash flow, requiring tighter control and faster optimization.

Discovery and behavior shifts:

• AI-driven shopping adoption increases
  Millennials and Gen Z are using AI tools to guide purchasing decisions, shifting discovery from search to assisted selection.
• AI traffic grows, but remains inconsistent
  Traffic from AI sources is increasing, but conversion and intent vary widely, making it an additive rather than foundational channel.
• Conversational and voice-based advertising emerges
  New formats like Alexa-based ads signal a move beyond screens into interactive discovery environments.

Retail and marketplace evolution:

• Walmart pilots store-based fulfillment
  Physical stores become logistics nodes, improving delivery speed and raising expectations across ecommerce.
• Sam’s Club connects in-store experience with data
  Offline interactions become measurable, giving retailers more control over customer insights and performance tracking.
• Marketplace expansion accelerates
  Brands continue to diversify across platforms to reduce dependency, increasing operational complexity but improving stability.

The bigger picture:

• Platforms are expanding into infrastructure
• Costs and complexity are increasing
• Discovery is becoming fragmented and AI-driven
• Risk is shifting toward the operator
• Execution is becoming the primary differentiator

The edge is not in hacks. It is in execution. Clean data. Clear systems. Fast decisions.

If you are operating on Amazon, Walmart, or scaling across marketplaces, this episode provides a clear operator-level perspective on what is changing and how to respond.

Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly insights that go beyond headlines and focus on what actually impacts your business.

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In this episode of Selling on Giants, Will sits down with Milton and Gisela, founders of Not Bad Snacks, to explore what happens when a digital-first brand takes its first steps into retail.

Not Bad Snacks is a Vancouver-based better-for-you snack brand built around the idea that healthy snacks shouldn’t be boring. Known for their clean ingredients and bold flavors, the brand has been growing through direct-to-consumer channels, local events, and a strong community presence.

Learn more: https://notbadsnacks.ca
Follow them: https://instagram.com/notbadsnacks

This conversation breaks down that transition from online to retail, and what founders often underestimate along the way.

You’ll learn:

- How real customer demand (not just strategy) pushed the brand toward retail
- Why local events became a key proving ground for product-market fit
- What actually needs to change before approaching retail buyers (pricing, packaging, case packs, shelf presence)
- How retail buyers evaluate products—velocity, margins, and category fit
- Early signals that indicate retail success, including reorders and in-store feedback
- Why retail is still a relationship-driven business—and how that impacts growth

Milton and Gisela also share honest insights into the learning curve of entering the CPG space for the first time, from operational challenges to pitching buyers and navigating new stakeholders beyond DTC.

If you’re building an eCommerce brand and considering retail expansion, this episode offers practical, real-world perspective on what it actually takes to make that leap—and what to pressure test before you do.

Follow Selling on Giants for more conversations with founders and operators scaling across Amazon, Walmart, and retail.

Follow BellaVix:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bellavix/
Website: https://www.bellavix.com/

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This week’s Selling on Giants breaks down a clear shift happening across Amazon, Walmart, and the broader marketplace landscape. It is not one major update. It is a series of smaller changes that all point in the same direction.

More platform control. More operational pressure. Less room for error.

If you are responsible for performance, this is the environment you are operating in.

Top stories this week:

• Amazon launches “Unmet Demand” insights
  A new feature inside Product Opportunity Explorer highlights high search, low conversion opportunities. Strong in theory, but still too broad for direct execution. Useful for validation, not decision-making.
• eigh-to-Z claims remain inconsistent despite clear process
  Sellers follow the rules, provide documentation, and still absorb losses. The issue is no longer understanding the process. It is trusting the outcome.
• Amazon doubles down on AI infrastructure
  AI is not a feature. It is becoming the system that drives search, ads, and visibility across the platform.
• Google search shifts toward AI-generated answers
  Ranking matters less. Selection matters more. Fewer links, more synthesized results, and tighter competition for visibility.

Operational pressure building across the board:

• Supply chain complexity impacts scalability
  Categories like fragrance highlight how sourcing, compliance, and production variability affect margins and inventory.
• Packaging costs becoming volatile
  Material costs, sustainability requirements, and supply disruptions turn packaging into a variable cost center.
• Variation enforcement tightens on Amazon
  Review consolidation strategies are being phased out. Each Skew must now build its own credibility, increasing launch cost and time.

Retail and demand signals:

• Walmart leans into cultural product drops
  Limited-time collaborations show a shift toward event-driven commerce and demand creation.
• Easter spending hits record levels
  Demand remains strong, but consumers are more price-sensitive and value-driven.

Discovery and advertising shifts:

• Conversational ads expand with Alexa+
  Voice-based interaction introduces new discovery surfaces beyond search and scrolling.
• Community and AI reshape visibility
  Reddit, AI-generated results, and conversational interfaces influence perception before customers reach listings.

Macro trends shaping the market:

• Potential tariffs on digital goods
  WTO developments introduce uncertainty around costs tied to software, tools, and services.
• Shift toward profitability and efficiency
  Growth-at-all-costs is fading. Operators are focusing on margin, retention, and disciplined execution.

The bigger picture:

• Platforms are taking more control
• Costs are increasing across the board
• Discovery is becoming fragmented
• Consumers are more selective
• Operations are more complex

The edge is not in hacks. It is in execution. Clean data. Clear systems. Fast decisions.

If you are operating on Amazon, Walmart, or scaling across marketplaces, this episode gives you a clear operator-level breakdown of what matters right now and how to respond.

Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly insights that go beyond headlines and focus on what actually impacts your business.