AMAnews February 2025 — Brand Promotions Overhaul, AI Content Tools, FBM Order Caps

February is shaping up to be a foundational month for Amazon sellers, with changes that strike at the core of listing management, advertising strategy, and fulfillment operations. Amazon is pushing AI integration hard with a new A+ Content generator, while simultaneously giving brands an unprecedented (and free) set of retargeting tools through a massive expansion of Brand Tailored Promotions. This is a clear signal that Amazon wants brands to cultivate and re-engage their existing customer base more effectively.

However, these opportunities come with new operational constraints. A mandatory, automatically-set order capacity for FBM sellers is a game-changer that could cap daily sales if not managed proactively. Combined with tighter FBA reimbursement windows and yet another new Sponsored Brands placement to contend with, sellers must be more agile than ever. This month isn't about minor tweaks; it's about adapting to fundamental shifts in how Amazon manages its catalog and expects you to manage your business.

Platform & SEO

Using Amazon Data for Market Analysis

As we settle into the new year post-Q4, the recurring question is: where is the market, and where do my products stand? To answer this, sellers must leverage Amazon's own data. The Product Opportunity Explorer and Brand Analytics are essential, free tools for understanding market demand and customer behavior. What are the top search terms? What attributes are customers filtering for, like "temperature selection" for a kettle? These tools provide the answers.

However, knowing the market is only half the battle. To see where your specific ASINs rank within that market, you must use the Search Query Performance and Search Catalog Performance reports. Here, you can input an ASIN and see the entire search funnel, from impressions to purchases, directly from Amazon's perspective. Regularly comparing your performance data against the market data from Opportunity Explorer is critical for identifying gaps and opportunities in the new year.

Amazon Acknowledges the "Honeymoon" Phase

Amazon has now officially confirmed the existence of a "honeymoon" period for new products. When sorting search results, next to the "Sort by" dropdown, there is a small link explaining the "Featured" sort order. The explanation notes that Amazon considers many factors, including purchase frequency, availability, and shipping costs. Crucially, it also explicitly mentions "whether an item is new to Amazon" as a factor.

This is a public admission that newness provides an initial relevance boost. The duration of this phase remains undefined, but a good proxy is the "Hot New Releases" list. As long as your product is eligible for that list, it likely still benefits from this "honeymoon" effect. This confirms that launching strong and gaining early traction is structurally supported by Amazon's algorithm.

Listing & Catalog

Two-Line Titles Appear on Desktop

Sellers should be aware of a new, more compact title structure appearing on desktop SERPs. In some categories, Amazon is now displaying a two-line title format. In this layout, the brand name is pulled out and displayed separately above the title, similar to the mobile view. The remaining title text is then shown on the second line. This is a significant change from the traditional single-line title that incorporates the brand. Check your category to see which format applies and optimize your titles accordingly, as this can affect truncation and scannability.

Action Item: Check your main keywords on desktop to see if your category has switched to the new two-line title format. This impacts how much of your title is visible and may require you to front-load keywords even more aggressively.

360° Images Officially Sunset

As of January 20, 2025, 360° image views on product detail pages have been officially discontinued. This move was announced previously and is now fully implemented. In their place, sellers should utilize 3D models to provide an interactive product view. For now, this marks the end of the 360° image feature.

New AI Tool for A+ Content Creation

A new AI-powered A+ Content generator is now live in beta. This tool, accessible in the A+ Content Manager, allows sellers to generate content by providing a few inputs and prompts. You can select ASINs, upload reference images, add image descriptions, and generate entire modules. While still in its early stages and showing a mix of German and English in the UI, this tool represents a significant step towards AI-assisted listing creation, potentially streamlining the process for creating rich content.

The Importance of Variation Swatch Images

This is an evergreen reminder but remains a critical hygiene factor: use high-quality, legible variation swatch images. Too many sellers still use low-contrast or indecipherable images to represent their variations (e.g., color). A customer should be able to clearly understand what they are selecting from the thumbnail alone. A blurry or dark swatch image is a conversion killer, especially on mobile. This is a basic, mandatory optimization for any listing with variations.

Advertising

Another New Sponsored Brands Ad Slot

Prepare for even more competition on the search results page. Amazon has rolled out a new Sponsored Brands placement located in the middle of the search results ("middle of search"). This new slot often appears as a video or product collection ad. This means a single SERP can now contain up to six distinct Sponsored Brands placements:

• Top of search (standard)
• Top of search (video, requires linking to Store)
• Middle of search (video)
• Middle of search (product collection - the new slot)
• Bottom of search ("at end of search")
• Bottom of search (another one)

To maximize visibility, brands must now consider creating campaigns specifically targeting these different placements, especially this new middle-of-page slot.

Campaign "Copy" Function Has Moved

The much-used "Copy" function for duplicating campaigns, which many thought was gone, has simply been relocated. It is no longer a prominent button but is now found within the three-dot menu (...) inside the campaign management interface. This restores the easy workflow for duplicating campaigns without needing to export and re-import settings via spreadsheets.

Bidding Modifier Discrepancies

When setting up Sponsored Brands campaigns targeting specific audiences (including new AMC-powered audiences), be aware of a significant bug in the bidding modifiers. During the initial campaign creation, the UI may be broken, only allowing a maximum bid reduction of 90% (when it should be 99%) and a maximum increase of 900%. Furthermore, once the campaign is created, the editing interface looks different and has different limits.

• Initial Creation: Flawed UI, may show incorrect limits (e.g., only 90% decrease).
• Editing (Post-Creation): The UI is corrected, allowing for a 99% bid decrease and a 900% bid increase.

Warning: Do not trust the bidding limits shown during the initial campaign creation for Sponsored Brands audience targeting. Create the campaign, then go back into the settings to edit the bid adjustments, where the correct and full range (up to +900%) will be available.

Marketing & Promotions

New "Shoppable Collection" Tile in Amazon Stores

Amazon Stores have a powerful new interactive feature called the "Shoppable Collection." This tile allows you to create a guided shopping experience using a question-based framework. You can set up a series of up to three questions, with up to four answer options for each. Based on the customer's selections, they are presented with a curated product selection at the end. For example, a sports equipment brand could ask: "Who are you shopping for?" (Him/Her), "What body part do you want to protect?" (Head/Knees/Torso), etc., leading the customer directly to the most relevant products. This is a fantastic way to improve engagement and conversion within your Store, effectively acting as a lightweight product finder.

Massive Update to Brand Tailored Promotions Audiences

This is the biggest news of the month. Brand Tailored Promotions, which allow brands to offer specific discounts to defined audiences, has received a massive overhaul with a host of new, powerful retargeting segments. These promotions come with no additional fees beyond the discount itself. The audience size must be over 1,000 to be eligible.

The new audiences are segmented by purchasing and engagement behavior:

• At-Risk Customers: A new group of audiences to re-engage shoppers whose interest may be waning.
  • Former Customers: Purchased from your brand in the last 2 years, but not in the last year. A huge win-back opportunity.
  • Once-a-Year Customers: Purchased exactly once in the last 12 months, but not in the last 30 days.
  • Repeat Customers (Lapsed): Purchased more than once in the last 12 months, but not in the last 30 days.
• In-Market Customers: Customers who viewed selected products in the last 7 days but did not purchase.
• Remarketing Customers: Customers who viewed selected products in the last 30 days but have not purchased in the last year.
• Cart Abandoners: Customers who added selected products to their cart in the last 30 days but did not purchase.

These new segments are incredibly valuable and offer a free way to execute sophisticated retargeting campaigns that were previously only possible through complex and expensive tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud. Every brand should be building promotions for these audiences immediately.

FBA & Policy

Mandatory FBM Daily Order Capacity Limits (US)

Starting February 24, 2025, Amazon will automatically set a minimum daily order capacity threshold for all FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) seller accounts in the US. This is a massive change.

• How it works: Amazon will calculate a recommended daily order limit for your account based on your average daily sales over the last 30 days. This is updated weekly.
• What happens when you hit the cap: Once your daily order limit is reached, Amazon will automatically add one day to the handling time and extend the delivery promise shown to customers on your listings. This is designed to prevent you from receiving more orders than you can handle, but it will make your offers less competitive for that day.
• Your control: You can manually set a higher order capacity at any time. However, Amazon will automatically adjust your cap down if your performance drops.

Action Item: FBM sellers MUST monitor their order capacity. If you anticipate a sales spike from a holiday or promotion (e.g., Mother's Day), you must proactively increase your order capacity limit before the event. Failure to do so could result in Amazon throttling your sales by showing customers longer delivery times right when demand is highest.

FBA Reimbursement Windows Shortened

The timeframes for submitting FBA reimbursement claims for lost or damaged inventory have been changed and, in many cases, shortened. The old 18-month lookback window is a thing of the past. Sellers and third-party reimbursement services must now operate on much tighter deadlines, such as filing claims between 45 and 105 days after the discrepancy. This requires more frequent and diligent monitoring of your inventory reconciliation reports.

New Inventory and Reimbursement Portal

To provide more transparency into these claims, Amazon has launched a new "Inventory and Reimbursement" portal. This dashboard provides a centralized view of inventory discrepancies, claim statuses, and analytics on the frequency and reasons for these issues. This should help sellers better track their claims within the new, shorter time windows.

What Sellers Should Do Now

1. Activate Brand Tailored Promotions: Immediately go into the Brand Tailored Promotions tool and create campaigns for the new audiences, especially "Former Customers," "Cart Abandoners," and "Repeat Customers (Lapsed)." This is a free, powerful retargeting tool.

2. Check Your FBM Order Capacity (US): If you are an FBM seller in the US, locate the new order capacity setting in Seller Central. Understand the limit Amazon has set for you and be prepared to increase it manually ahead of any planned promotions or seasonal peaks.

3. Audit Your Campaign Bidding Modifiers: Review your Sponsored Brands campaigns that use audience targeting. Go into the editor for each campaign and verify the bid adjustments are correct, taking advantage of the full +900% increase if needed.

4. Analyze Your Performance Funnel: Use the Search Query Performance report for your top 5 ASINs. Compare the impression, click, and conversion data against the market-level data from Product Opportunity Explorer to identify your biggest optimization levers.

5. Build a Shoppable Collection in Your Store: Experiment with the new "Shoppable Collection" tile in your Amazon Store. Create a simple 1- or 2-question guide to help customers navigate your catalog and find the right product.

6. Review FBA Reimbursement Processes: Check your internal or external process for filing FBA reimbursement claims. Ensure it complies with the new, shorter submission windows to avoid losing out on owed money.

7. Optimize Titles for the Two-Line View: Search for your main keywords and check if your product titles are being displayed in the new two-line format on desktop. If so, adjust your titles to ensure the most critical information is visible.