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Using AI every day but still doing most of the work by hand? Edwin Choi, Founder & CEO of Jet Fuel Agency, explains how eCommerce teams move from basic prompting to AI agents that run, connect, and improve their own workflows.

Mr. Will and Edwin cover a three-level framework for building AI maturity, why teams should document their judgment calls before automating anything, and where agents deliver the most impact today, from competitor gap analysis to CRO testing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- AI adoption happens in three levels: communication (prompting LLMs well), skills (turning playbooks into repeatable processes), and agentic workflows (connected agents that trigger each other and run QA).
- Don’t automate too early. Document your team’s internal DNA, the judgment calls and strategies behind your work, so agents behave the way you intend.
- Competitor gap analysis is a strong first use case. Agents can crawl competitor ads, product detail pages, and keywords to surface opportunities.
- For CRO, combining historical test data with Microsoft Clarity session recordings shows where visitors drop off and generates new experiments.
- AI looks backward at existing data. Taste-making, the ability to anticipate trends and set a brand’s direction, becomes the most valuable marketing skill.
- Human oversight stays essential. AI prepares the data, and the strategist makes the final call.
- Measure success beyond time saved. Track output quality, employee retention, and whether the work is 10x better.

CONNECT WITH EDWIN

Website: https://jetfuel.agency/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/choiedwin

Related resources from BellaVix:

https://www.bellavix.com/how-to-conduct-an-amazon-competitive-analysis/
https://www.bellavix.com/case-study/mastering-the-art-of-agency-strategy-elevating-amazon-account-performances-with-expert-techniques/

Selling on Giants is a podcast about the people, strategies, and decisions shaping eCommerce across Amazon, Walmart, DTC, and the broader digital marketplace.

#ecommerce #AIagents #AIautomation

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Holiday shopping is starting earlier, Amazon's Q4 costs are rising, and Walmart is closing the gap on fulfillment. Meanwhile, AI shopping is creating a new battle for product visibility.

In this October 12, 2026 episode of Selling on Giants, Mr. Will breaks down what Prime Big Deal Days revealed about holiday demand, the Amazon deadlines sellers cannot afford to miss, Walmart's latest marketplace moves, and why AI product cards may become the next Buy Box.

Did Prime Big Deal Days actually increase holiday demand?

U.S. online shoppers spent $9.86 billion on October 6 and 7, up 8.5% year over year, according to Adobe. That figure covers online retail broadly, not just Amazon. Will explains why pulling purchases into October isn't the same as incremental growth, and why brands must measure incremental demand and contribution margin before Black Friday.

What are Amazon's critical October deadlines for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Key holiday dates include October 14 for AWD arrival, October 21 for FBA minimal shipment splits, and October 28 for Amazon-optimized splits. Deal submissions close October 20, while peak fulfillment fees begin October 15 and run through January 14. These decisions can quietly erase Q4 profitability.

Are Amazon's new partial refund controls worth using?

Amazon now lets eligible FBA sellers configure partial refunds by return reason. Brands can compare recovery value against processing and disposal costs. The answer depends on SKU economics, not a blanket policy.

How is Walmart becoming a stronger Amazon competitor?

Walmart's new Brand Highlights bring enhanced images, video, and branded storytelling to eligible product pages. Its Stockton fulfillment center adds West Coast capacity, while a limited test explores placing third-party marketplace inventory directly inside Walmart stores for pickup and faster delivery. The opportunity is growing, but copying an Amazon strategy into Walmart still isn't a strategy.

What changes when AI agents and TikTok influence checkout?

Walmart, Shopify, Stripe, and others are supporting the emerging Personal Agent Protocol, while TikTok is introducing Buy Direct and an AI-powered Shopping Assistant. These developments point toward shopping journeys where a consumer starts with a conversation or video rather than a traditional search page.

Could AI product cards become the next Buy Box?

A small study involving 40 shoppers suggests consumers often choose products and offers from structured AI shopping cards. The numbers are early and directional, but the operator lesson is clear: accurate product attributes, strong imagery, competitive offers, availability, and reliable delivery matter as much as AI mentions.

The bottom line: More traffic does not fix weak margins. Faster delivery does not fix poor inventory planning. AI visibility does not fix a weak product offer. The brands that win are the ones connecting marketing decisions to operational discipline and real profitability.

Like and follow Selling on Giants for weekly coverage of Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, retail media, and AI commerce.

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What if your product isn’t the problem?

What if your customers simply don’t see the problem the way you do?

In this episode of Selling on Giants, Mr. Will explores why some products struggle to sell even when the product itself is good—and why the answer may have less to do with traffic, advertising, or adding new SKUs than with seeing the customer’s problem from a different perspective.

The story starts with Bette Nesmith Graham, the entrepreneur who created Liquid Paper. Working as a secretary in the 1950s, Graham realized that typing mistakes did not necessarily need to be erased. She could simply paint over them.

The breakthrough was not the white paint.

It was reframing the problem.

That lesson applies directly to ecommerce.

Brands often respond to slow sales by launching more products, expanding their audience, adding keywords, or increasing advertising. But if the underlying positioning is unclear, more traffic and more products can simply create more ways to avoid solving the real problem.

Sometimes the answer is already sitting right in front of you—in customer searches, reviews, questions, and the language shoppers use to describe what they actually need.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why slow sales do not always mean you need another product
• What Bette Nesmith Graham’s Liquid Paper story teaches brands about problem-solving
• Why Amazon search data is a form of customer research
• How long-tail searches can reveal the problem behind the purchase
• Why customers may search for a situation rather than a product
• How customer language can reshape your positioning, listings, and advertising
• Why adding more audiences can make your messaging less effective
• How advertising can amplify a positioning problem instead of fixing it
• Why founders sometimes need to stop building and start listening
• How to identify the actual job your product is doing for customers

This episode is for ecommerce founders, Amazon sellers, brand operators, and marketplace teams trying to understand why a product is not converting despite having traffic, advertising, and a solid product behind it.

Your customers may not be buying what you think you are selling.

They may be buying comfort, convenience, relief, protection, confidence, or a solution to a very specific problem.

Before launching another SKU, adding another variation, or spending another dollar on traffic, ask a simpler question:

What problem is the customer actually trying to solve?

At BellaVix, we help brands turn marketplace data and customer behavior into clearer strategies for positioning, advertising, listings, and growth.

BellaVix has helped brands sell over $500 million on Amazon and is a Verified Ad Partner, but the real work starts with understanding what customers are actually looking for.

The key question:
Are you selling the product—or solving the problem behind the purchase?

Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level breakdowns on Amazon, Walmart, retail media, marketplace strategy, AI commerce, eCommerce growth, and what actually changes for brands responsible for profitability.

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Amazon is turning advertising into an AI-powered operating system for the customer journey.

In this October 5th episode, Mr. Will covers Amazon’s biggest unBoxed announcements, paid review campaigns, TikTok checkout, Walmart seller intelligence, and Prime Big Deal Days priorities.

How is Amazon changing advertising?

Amazon Ads Agent brings sponsored ads, display, video, streaming TV, analytics, and audiences into one AI-led environment. Full Funnel Campaigns allocate one budget across formats, while DVA+ combines Sponsored Display, Sponsored TV, and programmatic capabilities.

Amazon is also introducing natural-language analytics and an Amazon Marketing Cloud SQL generator. The tools reduce technical work, but brands still define success. ROAS, contribution margin, new-to-brand growth, category share, and long-term sales are not interchangeable.

Can Amazon advertisers pay for reviews?

Amazon Review Requests enters U.S. open beta in late October. Advertisers can pay to show verified purchasers an invitation to leave a rating or review. Products remain eligible until they reach 1,000 ratings and reviews.

Brands are not buying positive reviews. Customers choose whether to participate and what rating to provide. Review acquisition is becoming a media expense alongside Vine and advertising. Amazon says early tests produced approximately three times as many ratings and reviews per week.

What is TikTok Buy Direct?

Buy Direct lets shoppers purchase inside TikTok without requiring a traditional TikTok Shop. The brand remains the merchant of record, while TikTok manages discovery and checkout through Shopify, Salesforce, Stripe, and other partners.

TikTok is also testing an AI Shopping Assistant and expanding its U.S. Ad Network across nearly 400,000 outside applications.

What is changing for Walmart sellers?

Walmart’s Assortment Growth tool now recommends products and categories based on demand and marketplace gaps. Walmart also warns that accounts left suspended without a successful appeal can face permanent termination. Suspended sellers should begin remediation or decide whether to preserve the account.

What should brands watch during the October sales events?

Prime Big Deal Days runs October 6th and 7th, with major deals released three times per day. Amazon advertisers should monitor budgets around each release instead of relying only on daily totals.

Walmart’s event runs October 5th through October 11th. Consumer confidence has also fallen to its lowest level since 2014. Shoppers may continue spending, but brands should expect stronger demand for value, promotions, bundles, and clear price justification.

The operator takeaway: use the automation and infrastructure, but control the objective, economics, customer relationship, and final decision.

Selling on Giants delivers operator-focused ecommerce news and marketplace strategy for brands growing across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Target, and the broader retail ecosystem.

Follow Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level coverage of Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, AI commerce, retail media, marketplace strategy, and the changes actually affecting ecommerce operators.

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

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Spending more on Meta ads while revenue stays flat? Krista Karpan, Co-Founder & CEO of Milked Media, explains why eCommerce brands plateau and how to diagnose it using MER, year-over-year data, and creative testing.

Mr. Will and Krista cover how Milked Media drives growth for fashion, jewelry, beauty, and home brands across paid social, email, Google, and creative, plus the early decisions that turned a small agency into an award-winning performance marketing business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Diagnose a plateau with year-over-year data. Month-over-month comparisons are distorted by seasonality.
- Meta attributes on a 1-day view, 7-day click window. High-ticket products like fine jewelry have longer purchase cycles, so platform ROAS undercounts.
- MER (total revenue divided by total ad spend) removes attribution from the equation. If Meta shows growth but Shopify revenue is down, something is broken.
- Brands that stop launching new or limited-edition products end up relying on sales and train customers to wait for discounts.
- Broad targeting plus diverse creative outperforms lookalikes and interest targeting. Creative angles, like mom-focused messaging, are how you reach specific audiences.
- Meta's Andromeda algorithm favors creative volume, creative diversity, and partnership ads.
- For partnership ads, a creator's on-camera skill matters more than follower count.
- Human-made creative performs better at the top of the funnel. AI-assisted creative can work at the bottom.

CONNECT WITH KRISTA
Milked Media: https://www.milkedmedia.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristakarpan/

CONNECT WITH MR. WILL
www.bellavix.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhaire/

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6cLgg-r_qtQ

Selling on Giants is a podcast about the people, strategies, and decisions shaping eCommerce across Amazon, Walmart, DTC, and the broader digital marketplace. If this episode helped, follow the show and leave a rating.

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Amazon is no longer trying to win only the sale. It wants to run the systems behind the entire commerce operation.

In this September 29th episode, Mr. Will examines Amazon’s expansion beyond its marketplace, AI agents acting inside Seller Central, record holiday spending forecasts, and TikTok Shop’s growth.

What is Amazon changing inside Seller Central?

Amazon’s multichannel tools connect eBay, Shopify, TikTok Shop, and Walmart accounts to manage listings, orders, profitability, and fulfillment. Amazon is also adding Prime delivery for website orders, Multichannel Fulfillment savings of 15% to 25%, and Express Payouts. The efficiency is real, but so is the concentration inside Amazon’s infrastructure.

How are AI agents changing marketplace management?

Seller Assistant now uses persistent memory and workflows for inventory, pricing, competition, and Account Health. Amazon Quick and Anthropic’s Claude can access seller data and take approved actions.

Amazon Ads is introducing campaign intelligence in October and auto-optimization in January 2027. Operators need permissions, approval limits, audit trails, and human oversight.

What should brands expect from Q4 2026?

Adobe expects U.S. online holiday spending to reach $275.1 billion during November and December, with another $95.8 billion spent online in October. Approximately $9.9 billion may be spent during Amazon’s October Prime event.

Consumers are expected to use promotions to stock up on everyday products. Grocery, beauty, personal care, and household brands should treat October as part of the holiday demand curve.

How are Amazon and Walmart competing for business buyers?

Amazon Business Deals creates a promotion tool, while Walmart Business expands pricing, volume discounts, analytics, and reporting. Amazon’s seller-fulfilled Business orders must also meet a 90% Business Hour Delivery Rate beginning September 30th.

Which operational updates need attention?

Amazon adds dangerous-goods questions to affected listing edits October 26th. Walmart sellers should audit low-review products against the correct Review Accelerator program.

Why does TikTok Shop matter?

Best Buy is bringing nearly 10,000 products to TikTok Shop, while Sephora is using exclusive drops, creators, and livestreams to launch products. TikTok reports that its Shop business in Spain grew roughly 150%, with approximately 70% of seller revenue coming from short-form video and livestreams.

Content is becoming the shelf, salesperson, and checkout path. Brands need focused products, creator pipelines, inventory depth, and reporting that connects content to sales.

The operator takeaway: use the new infrastructure and automation, but retain control over your data, approval limits, channel economics, and customer relationship.

Selling on Giants delivers operator-focused ecommerce news and marketplace strategy for brands growing across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Target, and the broader retail ecosystem.

Follow Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level coverage of Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, AI commerce, retail media, marketplace strategy, and the changes actually affecting ecommerce operators.

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

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Most ecommerce brands do not have a traffic problem. They have a clarity problem.

In this episode of Selling on Giants, Mr. Will breaks down why trying to sell to everyone weakens your Amazon positioning, confuses customers, and makes your product harder to convert.

The story starts with WD-40, a product that did not begin as a household brand or a broad consumer idea. It started with one specific job: preventing rust and corrosion on missile components. WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula, which is a literal reminder that the product became valuable because it solved one clear problem first.

That lesson applies directly to ecommerce.

Most brands want to expand too early. They chase more keywords, more audiences, more use cases, and more messaging angles before they have clearly defined what their product does best. The result is a product detail page that says a lot but communicates very little.

Amazon does not reward vague creativity. It rewards clarity.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why most brands do not have a traffic problem, they have a positioning problem
• How WD-40 became trusted by solving one specific job first
• Why broad messaging weakens conversion
• How Amazon rewards clear intent, not generic category language
• Why your keyword strategy is part of your positioning
• How titles, images, bullets, and ads need to reinforce the same job
• Why trying to sell to everyone makes your product obvious to no one
• How brands earn the right to expand into new use cases
• Why efficiency can quietly limit growth if exploration disappears
• How ecommerce brands can balance precision and expansion

This episode is for ecommerce founders, Amazon sellers, brand operators, and marketplace teams that feel stuck even though they are getting traffic, running ads, and adding more keywords.

More traffic does not fix unclear positioning.

If your product page is trying to speak to too many customers at once, the customer has to work too hard to understand why your product is the right choice. On Amazon, that usually means they keep scrolling.

At BellaVix, we help brands turn marketplace complexity into clear operating plans. That includes refining product positioning, tightening keyword strategy, improving product detail pages, aligning creative with customer intent, and helping brands scale from a focused use case into larger market opportunities.

BellaVix has helped brands sell over five hundred million dollars on Amazon and is a Verified Ad Partner, but the real work is helping brands build clarity before scale.

The key question:
Are you trying to sell to everyone, or are you making it obvious why the right customer should choose you?

Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level breakdowns on Amazon, Walmart, retail media, marketplace strategy, AI commerce, eCommerce growth, and what actually changes for brands responsible for profitability.

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Could your team lose access to Seller Central during the busiest stretch of Q4?

Amazon’s rolling passkey requirement is ending the shared-login workaround many sellers, agencies, and contractors still rely on. Mr. Will explains how to audit account access, establish individual users, and protect your business before the change reaches your account.

What else is changing this week?

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, Target Circle Deal Days, and Walmart’s October promotion are competing for the same customers, inventory, and advertising dollars. Retail spending remains strong, but higher interest rates, international FedEx surcharges, and aggressive discounts could put additional pressure on margins.

This episode also covers:

• How to pace advertising across Amazon’s daily deal drops
• Quebec’s French-language packaging requirements
• Why Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse AI shopping agent
• Pinterest’s new Visual Search Ads
• What Gen Z expects from brands using AI

The takeaway: Q4 readiness now depends on secure access, disciplined margins, broader product discovery, and customer experiences that still feel trustworthy as AI expands.

Selling on Giants delivers operator-focused ecommerce news and marketplace strategy for brands growing across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Target, and the broader retail ecosystem.

Follow Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level coverage of Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, AI commerce, retail media, marketplace strategy, and the changes actually affecting ecommerce operators.

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