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Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend. We shifted our publishing to Cyber Monday instead—figured you needed the rest after the madness. We'll see you next week back on our regular Friday schedule.
Let's get into it.
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If you ran Black Friday or Cyber Week deals, there's a widespread glitch suppressing approved deals without warning. Sellers who set up deals correctly are suddenly losing price badges, visibility, and entire promotions—with zero notification
Amazon is now requiring deeper discounts than originally approved. No email. No alert. Just silent suppression.
To check if you're affected: Go to Seller Central > Advertising > Price Discounts > Events > Edit. Look for new percentage or price requirements. If Amazon changed the terms, your deal could've been dead for days.
With Q4 conversion rates at peak, losing your deal badge tanks sales velocity and ranking. It's thousands in revenue disappearing while you run ads to listings with no deal visibility.
Takeaway for Amazon Sellers: Check your deals now. Verify the badge is showing and Amazon hasn't demanded a lower price. Takes 60 seconds and could save your biggest week of the year.
A prolonged U.S. government shutdown has stalled federal data that importers use to place purchase orders with confidence. This hits right before the critical Lunar New Year window.
Courtesy of Port of Los Angeles
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said importers typically have a 3-month window to issue POs before factories shut down for the Feb. 17 Lunar New Year holiday. That creates a tight 6-week sprint between year-end and factory closures.
Without federal import data, demand forecasting gets harder. Importers can't see clear trends, making them hesitant to commit to large orders.
Despite uncertainty, the Port of Los Angeles is on track to hit 10 million TEUs in 2025. October imports aligned with the 5-year average at 429,283 TEUs, exports up 7% at 123,768 TEUs.
Port leadership says ordering looks "pretty normal" so far, but the data gap is limiting visibility. When importers can't see clearly, they hesitate. That could tighten the 6-week window fast.
Takeaway for Amazon Sellers: Plan Lunar New Year inventory earlier than usual. Don't wait to issue POs. Build buffer stock and stay close with suppliers—the 6-week window could shrink if orders spike late. Getting ahead now prevents Q1 stockouts.
Amazon's Black Friday and Cyber Monday prep starts months in advance through forecasting, staffing, intensive training, and logistics coordination.
Fulfillment centers handle picking, packing, and shipping. Delivery stations sort and route packages—the last stop before reaching customers. Hiring and onboarding are major priorities. New employees and DSP drivers get trained on safety, ergonomics, and site procedures.
Amazon also boosts morale during peak events with barbecues, ping-pong tournaments, and celebrations. According to Beryl Tomay, VP of Transportation, "Sites are buzzing with excitement during the event, and leaders arrange events to build on that energy and thank our employees."
This extensive prep ensures faster fulfillment and reliable delivery during critical sales periods. For sellers, FBA becomes even more valuable during peak events.
Takeaway for Amazon Sellers: Amazon's operational machine handles peak demand, so lean into FBA during major shopping events. Plan inventory early, align promotions with Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday, and leverage Amazon's fulfillment capacity for fast delivery and strong customer satisfaction when it matters most.
SmartScout's Michael Radziszewski reveals a new data-driven way to find profitable Amazon products in 2025 by focusing on category trends—not just individual items.
Michael walks through a live SmartScout demo showing how to identify growing markets, assess competition, and validate product ideas with real-time insights. Instead of picking products blindly, he shows how to spot entire categories trending upward before they get saturated.
The approach focuses on market-level data to avoid launching products in dying categories or oversaturated niches. By analyzing category growth patterns, you can position yourself in markets with momentum instead of fighting uphill battles.
Takeaway for Amazon Sellers: Before launching your next product, check the category trends first. Individual product success means nothing if the whole category is declining. Use category-level data to find opportunities with built-in momentum, not just one-off winners in dead markets.
How much could AI save your support team?
Peak season is here. Most retail and ecommerce teams face the same problem: volume spikes, but headcount doesn't.
Instead of hiring temporary staff or burning out your team, there’s a smarter move. Let AI handle the predictable stuff, like answering FAQs, routing tickets, and processing returns, so your people focus on what they do best: building loyalty.
Gladly’s ROI calculator shows exactly what this looks like for your business: how many tickets AI could resolve, how much that costs, and what that means for your bottom line. Real numbers. Your data.
In Case You Missed It
That's it for this week. We'll be back next Friday with your regular dose of the 20% of ecommerce news that 80% of sellers need to know.
See you next week.
— Gary