Amazon Brand Verification, AI Shopping Agents, Walmart Drone Delivery, and the New eCommerce Growth Gap

This week’s Selling on Giants breaks down the June second eCommerce updates shaping Amazon sellers, Walmart operators, retail media teams, and brands trying to grow in a marketplace environment that keeps getting more complex.

The theme this week is clear: eCommerce is still growing, but growth is not being handed out evenly.

Amazon is tightening Brand Registry and identity verification. AI shopping agents are becoming the new layer between customers and products. Google wants more of the checkout experience. Meta is opening its ad ecosystem to third-party AI tools. Walmart is turning last-mile fulfillment into infrastructure. Consumers are still spending, but they are becoming harder to win.

In this episode, we cover:

Amazon Brand Registry rejections and verification friction

Amazon opened up more guidance around Brand Registry enrollment rejections, appeals, and trademark verification. For sellers, this is not paperwork anymore. Brand Registry is foundational infrastructure because it unlocks A+ Content, Brand Stores, Sponsored Brands, Brand Analytics, and brand protection tools.

Why identity verification is becoming marketplace infrastructure

Amazon is reminding sellers to keep identity, ownership, banking, business records, and verification documents clean and current. A simple account update, EIN change, ownership change, banking update, or marketplace expansion can trigger additional review if documentation does not line up.

The rise of AI shopping agents and agentic commerce

AI agents are becoming a major layer in product discovery. Instead of shoppers manually browsing search results, AI systems may compare reviews, check pricing, evaluate availability, and recommend products before the customer ever visits a website.

Why product feeds are becoming the new SEO

Product data, structured attributes, pricing accuracy, inventory availability, taxonomy, review signals, and catalog consistency are becoming strategic assets. If AI systems cannot clearly interpret your product, your brand may become harder to recommend.

Google’s universal shopping cart and the fight for checkout control

Google’s unified shopping cart shows that the company wants to move deeper into the transaction layer, not just search and discovery. The battle for eCommerce is increasingly about who owns the decision layer between the consumer and the purchase.

Meta opens advertising to AI tools

Meta is expanding third-party AI integrations inside its advertising ecosystem. Campaign creation, optimization, audience management, and creative workflows are becoming more automated, which shifts the value of operators and agencies toward strategy, creative direction, and data interpretation.

McKinsey’s consumer research and the selective shopper

Consumers are still spending, but they are more intentional. They want value, quality, convenience, trust, and a clear reason to buy. Weak positioning and unclear offers are getting exposed faster.

Target’s World Cup activation and cultural commerce

Target’s soccer event tour shows how retailers are becoming media and lifestyle platforms. Major cultural moments like the World Cup create opportunities for brands that plan inventory, creative, and retail media early.

Walmart passes one million drone deliveries

Walmart’s drone milestone is not really about drones. It is about last-mile infrastructure. Walmart is using stores, delivery, pickup, Walmart+, marketplace growth, and retail media to build a commerce ecosystem that competes directly with Amazon on convenience.

U.S. eCommerce keeps taking retail share

Census data shows eCommerce sales grew faster than total retail sales in Q1 twenty twenty six. The channel is still expanding, but brands need to ask whether they are growing faster than the market or quietly losing share.

The bigger takeaway:

The next phase of eCommerce will not be won by brands that only chase traffic.

It will be won by brands that are easier to trust, easier to understand, easier to fulfill, easier for AI systems to interpret, and easier for customers to justify buying.

The edge is not in hacks. It is in execution, clean systems, strong data, and fast decisions.

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

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