New AI Mode lets users shop conversationally, upload photos, and browse frequently updated visual results powered by Gemini and Shopping Graph.

Read more: https://chainstoreage.com/google-launches-ai-enabled-conversational-shopping

Amazon’s new feature lets your Ring doorbell recognize visitors and respond conversationally, even when you’re away. Using Ring Video Descriptions and Alexa’s AI, it can distinguish delivery personnel from casual visitors and manage conversations for you.

More details: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/alexa-ring-doorbell-ai-greetings

Amazon is piloting several innovations to improve safety and efficiency for its delivery partners, including light-up dashboard devices and vehicle decals with the smile logo for clearer identification. The company is also using AI to help drivers find optimal drop-off spots by comparing delivery photos.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQkVKTFNSVU1YOVJaODZH

Amazon now operates over 1 million robots across its fulfillment centers, including Sequoia which speeds up inventory storage by 75% and Vulcan, the first robot with a sense of touch for picking items. The company has also retrofitted 120+ packaging machines to use paper bags instead of plastic.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRFI1UUZVMjZNTjNYQkha

Amazon has stopped plans to launch commercial drone deliveries in the country, citing regulatory and business framework challenges, despite earlier progress with aviation authorities.

Read more: https://chainstoreage.com/news-briefs/2026-01-02?article=amazon-reportedly-reverses-course-drone-delivery-italy

Alexa+ expands to the web, allowing users to move seamlessly across voice, mobile, and browser to get answers and complete real-world tasks like meal planning, shopping, scheduling, and smart-home control with shared context.

Read more: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/alexa-plus-web-ai-assistant

Amazon expands checkout-free shopping at Whole Foods Market with smart carts that feature a lighter design, real-time spending tracking, instant produce weighing, flexible payment options, and expansion to dozens of additional U.S. locations by the end of 2026.

Read more about it: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-redesigned-dash-cart-whole-foods-market

Amazon revealed at CES that its annual Amazon Upfront will take place Monday, May 11, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. ET at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, spotlighting new ad tech innovations alongside Prime Video, live sports, and talent from across Amazon’s entertainment portfolio, with both in-person and virtual viewing options.

Read more: https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/library/news/amazon-ads-upfront-2026-date/?ref_=a20m_us_libr

Amazon introduced new Ring security features, a faster and redesigned Fire TV experience, Alexa.com, expanded Alexa+ integrations with major partners, and new wearable AI capabilities from Bee, all centered on making everyday life easier through ambient AI.

Read more about it: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/amazon-ces-2026-fire-tv-ring-alexa-plus

Amazon has introduced a new feature in Vendor Central called MixNMatch Contribution, which leverages Amazon-curated, AI-generated, and sourced imagery. This functionality combines retail and internal ID images, displaying them on the product detail page with a MixNMatch tag aligned to the winning internal ID. Designed to enhance the customer experience and boost conversion rates, this feature curates diverse imagery from multiple sources—improving representation across dimensions such as body size and ethnicity. The feature is mandatory per SAS.

The new AI-powered tool helps sellers easily update and optimize existing product listings. The feature generates smart suggestions for titles, descriptions, and missing details to keep product content fresh and aligned with evolving shopper trends.

Read more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVVhKRDIyVjlSMjhHS1pV

This feature lets registered brands create interactive carousels in the “From the brand” section of product pages to showcase best sellers, highly rated, or seasonal products. Collections can include shoppable videos or photos that link to product pages or Brand Stores, replacing Brand Story for participating ASINs and created through A+ Content Manager.

Read more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHOEZNNzM0QUdKS0JTOFlN

Sellers can create branded videos with Canva templates, view enhanced performance metrics, and bulk-upload up to 15 videos.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTVBRU1E4Mk5OOEFQQ0JK

Sellers can auto-generate titles, bullets, and descriptions from simple spreadsheets, with AI filling over 70% of required attributes for faster, higher-quality listings.

Learn more about it: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRUxORjdBOVJWV1E2VkFY

Marketplace sellers must use accurate, high-quality product photos that clearly represent the actual item, with stock images and ‘sold out’ graphics now prohibited to avoid product unpublishing.

Learn more: https://t.co/T1scO8DDNX

Sellers can now use GenAI to optimize titles, descriptions, and key features for multiple items at once through the Enhance with GenAI feature.

Read more: https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Catalog%20management/Item%20management/Update-item-content-individually-in-Seller-Center

Advertisers can now tap Nielsen Marketing Cloud data to target specific audiences across Amazon DSP, Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV and Amazon.com, combining Nielsen’s cross-channel insights with Amazon’s first-party signals for more precise, full-funnel targeting.

Read more about it: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/nielsen-strengthens-ties-with-amazon-advertisers-via-audience-segments/807271/

Samsung Ads announced an integration with Amazon Publisher Cloud, enabling advertisers to activate campaigns using Samsung Smart TV data alongside Amazon’s shopping, streaming, and browsing signals through Amazon Ads.

Learn more: https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-ads-announces-integration-amazon-publisher-cloud-connect-streaming-browsing-shopping-signals/

Amazon Ads has updated the Brand Store quality experience so ratings (High, Medium, Low) are based on sales attributed to a storefront rather than visitor dwell time, adding peer sales benchmarking and sales-impact optimization insights.

Read more: https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/brand-store-quality-rating-now-reflect-sales-performance/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Advertisers can now manage brand safety across Twitch and third-party web and mobile inventory with a one-time setup, using on/off content category exclusions to prevent ads from appearing alongside misaligned topics. The update also expands Brand Suitability reporting, giving advertisers clearer visibility into where ads run and helping maintain consistent brand standards across markets and inventory.

Learn more: https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/content-exclusion-categories-brand-suitability-control/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Amazon has launched a shopping-signal enhanced last-touch attribution model that will become the standard for conversion metrics like purchases, sales, and ROAS. Advertisers will still be able to access metrics that include all ad views within a 14-day window as all views metrics through Unified Reporting interfaces and APIs, with changes affecting Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display vCPM campaigns, and Amazon DSP campaigns serving ads in the Store.

Read more on this update: https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/view-attribution-updates-for-amazon-store-ads/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Advertisers can now plan, execute, and measure podcast campaigns alongside display, video, and streaming TV initiatives in one platform. The integration combines Amazons first-party data with Art19s audience intelligence for precise targeting across premium podcast inventory, currently available to self-service, agencies, and direct advertisers in the US.

Read more: https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/podcast-audience-network-integration-with-amazon-dsp/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Sponsored prompts now appear in Sparky, as Walmart expands gen-AI tools to help advertisers optimize campaigns, recommendations, and creative.

Read more: https://www.adweek.com/commerce/walmart-opens-up-ads-in-gen-ai-shopping-agent-sparky/

Amazon Campaign Manager gets a major upgrade — Amazon has rolled out a new Campaign Manager view that allows advertisers to pull performance reports across all ad types. Users can now slice and dice data in multiple ways for deeper insights and easier campaign management.

Seller Central now automatically detects file types when uploading item setup templates through the file browser, displaying the correct template format and enabling faster uploads. The feature is available for all product categories except fitment, and the Template drop-down menu has been removed to streamline the process.

Learn more: https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/releasenotes

Seller Center admins can now retire items from Walmart.com even when their account is suspended. Items can only be retired if theyre not already in Retired, Archived, or Draft status.

Read more: https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Catalog%20management/Item%20management/Retire-items-in-Seller-Center

Starting January 5, 2026, PO items without an ASN by the cancellation deadline will be automatically canceled (excluding Grocery, Fresh, Devices, and Back-order POs).

Learn more: https://vendorcentral.amazon.com/gp/vn-headlines.html?ref=nswg_vcgw_G3HEQADVSWQ9LKDQ_en_US_0_vnlp&id=G3HEQADVSWQ9LKDQ&newsMpId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&communicationDeliveryId=7f91dbce-6830-4d5c-afdf-fda1488354d5

Sellers can now easily find, compare, and connect with VAT and EPR compliance providers across European marketplaces, with transparent pricing, customizable country bundles, and quick responses to support regulatory requirements.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNTQ1VFBHSkxSMlpCMzlO

All US sellers must use Amazon Prepaid Return Labels for customer returns regardless of item value starting February 8, 2026, eliminating the previous high-value exemption. This reduces refund cycle time from 14 to 7 days, with existing category exemptions still applying.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUFNEVEYzSEIzQTk1MjNB

Amazon introduced new metrics for tracking Amazon Business customer patterns, including B2B refund rates, negative feedback, and A-Z claims. Sellers can access these insights through the B2B dashboard view in Business Reports to refine their B2B strategy.

Learn more: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVEg1NVVVOUpNNjY2RllD

Needed option for customer messages — Sellers can now close customer inquiries that dont require a response without impacting their Seller Response Rate. The feature helps maintain performance metrics when handling duplicate messages or inquiries that dont need a reply.

See the full details: https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Order%20management/Customer%20care/Respond-to-customer-messages-in-Seller-Center?locale=en-US

AI-powered shopping — Customers can discover and purchase Walmart and Sams Club products directly within Gemini using conversational AI, with personalized recommendations based on purchase history and delivery in as fast as 30 minutes.

Read more: https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2026/01/11/walmart-and-google-turn-ai-discovery-into-effortless-shopping-experiences