News, strategy, seller tools, and analysis covering Amazon as the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace.
Amazon has cut fewer than 1,000 corporate roles, mainly in the Stores division that runs its retail and e-commerce business, with staff affected in the US, UK and India. The reductions were reported as Prime Big Deal Days closed and three weeks before third-quarter results on October 29.
Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days runs 48 hours from October 6, with Walmart Deals spanning October 5 to 11 and Target Circle Deal Days matching Amazon’s two days exactly. Adobe forecasts about $9.9bn of US online spending in the window, which opens on the same day as CBP’s CAPE Phase 3 tariff-refund channel.
Amazon cut Meta’s Muse agent off from Amazon.com on September 20, citing undisclosed access and credential capture, while Shopify opened Shop Pay checkout to Muse on every store a day later. The split sets the terms for who controls the AI-driven checkout ahead of the holidays.
Amazon looks likely to launch Alexa for Shopping, its agentic assistant, in three or more non-US marketplaces by March 31, 2027, and to open a shopping assistant in Mexico, Brazil or Australia. Fourteen Rufus job postings in 30 days, Alexa+ in twelve countries and a two-speed Prime Big Deal Days announcement point the same way.
Amazon has raised its minimum starting wage for full-time US operations employees to $20 an hour and paired the $1.5 billion raise with a 10-20% grocery discount from October 1 and a lifetime credit union membership. The move matches Costco and lands three weeks before Prime Big Deal Days.
Amazon has confirmed Prime Big Deal Days for October 6–7, 2026, a 48-hour Prime-only sale across 22 countries with deal drops three times a day. The date sets the first hard deadline of the holiday quarter for sellers and fixes the week Walmart, Target and Best Buy will have to answer.
Amazon is likely to name Sweden, Poland or Ireland as a required Pan-EU FBA listing store by 30 September 2027, with Poland the most probable first pick. The Dutch mandate, Kaufland’s Dutch launch and a widening Bol lead point the same way.
A low inventory performance score turns into a storage limit, and a storage limit turns into lost sales in Q4.
Registry is the gate to most of the tools that make an Amazon listing look like a brand rather than a commodity.
Vine trades inventory and a fee for reviews you cannot otherwise get on day one. Whether that is a good trade depends on your margin.