Amazon Tests Vertical Shopping: Your Product Photos Just Became Content

Welcome to our weekly newsletter, Hunter's Insights!

In this special edition, we bring you essential Amazon updates and industry insights to keep you ahead in the fast-paced world of e-commerce:

❗Subscribe & Save Missing from Many Listings on Prime Day

📲 Amazon Experiments With Feed-Style Product Image Scrolling

🔊 Amazon Expands DSP With Spotify Audio and Video Inventory

🆕 Amazon Ads Rolls Out New Placement Controls for Sponsored Brands

🤖 Amazon Automates Catalog Edits with New AI-Driven Listing Tool

🎥 Amazon Search is Going Video-First — Here’s What’s Changing

💳 Amazon’s Partial Refund Update: A Blessing or a Time Bomb?

❗Subscribe & Save Missing from Many Listings on Prime Day

A surprising trend has been spotted across CPG listings during Prime Day — the Subscribe & Save (SnS) option has vanished for many brands. While some listings still display it, others have seen it completely disappear. What seems to be happening:

• When the Prime Day deal price is lower than the Subscribe & Save price, Amazon appears to suppress the SnS option.

• Only listings where the final SnS price (after coupons) is close to or below the deal price continue to show the feature.

• This suppression could be intentional or a temporary bug, but it’s affecting conversion and recurring revenue potential.

Brands may miss long-term subscribers if SnS isn’t available during major sales. Even small pricing gaps can hide this option. Ensure your first-time Subscribe & Save coupon brings the SnS price below the deal price, keeping it visible and converting Prime Day buyers into repeat subscribers.

📲 Amazon Experiments With Feed-Style Product Image Scrolling

Amazon is experimenting with a new image viewing experience on mobile devices. Instead of the traditional swipeable image carousel, clicking on a product image now opens a vertical scroll view, resembling a social media feed.

What’s changing:

• Current: Users swipe left or right through product images in a horizontal stack.

• Test: Users scroll vertically through images, creating a more immersive experience.

This design shift could transform product images into a seamless storytelling experience. Sellers who arrange visuals into a unified vertical sequence may create a "one-pager" effect, turning static images into an engaging walkthrough of the product.

If this update is rolled out, it would elevate the standards for creative strategy, making image order, flow, and visual cohesion even more essential for conversion.

🔊 Amazon Expands DSP With Spotify Audio and Video Inventory

Starting October 1, 2025, Amazon Ads and Spotify will partner to offer Spotify's audio and video ad inventory through Amazon DSP. Advertisers can reach Spotify’s 696 million monthly users via the same platform used for display and video campaigns.

Why This Matters:

• Smarter Targeting: Combine Amazon’s shopping signals with Spotify’s logged-in listener data.

• Unified Media Buying: Manage display, video, and audio ads all within one DSP.

• Better Measurement: Link audio ads to campaign awareness, consideration, and sales impact.

• Faster Activation: Easily launch audio campaigns programmatically.

This partnership positions streaming audio as an integral part of full-funnel marketing, enabling brands and agencies to expand their reach, incorporate Spotify into omnichannel strategies, and link efforts directly to measurable outcomes, reducing the issues of using separate platforms.

🆕 Amazon Ads Rolls Out New Placement Controls for Sponsored Brands

Amazon has launched a significant update for Sponsored Brands (SB) and Sponsored Brand Video (SBV) campaigns, providing advertisers with the ability to adjust bids for each placement individually.

What's new:

• Separate bid controls for the Top of Search and Rest of Search placements.

• Previously, advertisers could only adjust non-Top of Search bids by a maximum of 99%.

• This new flexibility allows for full placement-level adjustments, leading to more precise optimization.

This update gives advertisers better control over visibility and spending, allowing for improved bids and optimization for high-converting placements, ultimately enhancing ROI in Sponsored Brand campaigns.

🤖 Amazon Automates Catalog Edits with New AI-Driven Listing Tool

Amazon has quietly introduced an AI-driven listing editor within its Product Detail Page system, marking a significant change in how product data is managed. This new AI feature automatically suggests or even inserts recommended values for attributes such as Color, Size, Brand, and Title.

Here’s what’s happening:

• The AI now recommends or overrides listing data to enhance catalog consistency.

• Sellers receive a notification when Amazon inserts a “recommended” value and are advised against changing it.

• While sellers can remove or edit these values, they must do so manually.

The change in control over product data means AI-generated attributes can impact discoverability, compliance, and conversion rates. Sellers must closely manage their catalogs to prevent unwanted changes from occurring.

🎥 Amazon Search is Going Video-First — Here’s What’s Changing

A significant change is happening in Amazon's top search results: Sponsored Brand ads are being replaced by Sponsored Brand Video (SBV) ads. Now, when searching for terms like "neck pillow," video ads grab attention instantly.

Reasons for the rise of video ads:

• Instant Attention: Videos catch shoppers' eyes immediately.

• Stronger Storytelling: Effective videos address pain points and build credibility.

• Higher Conversion Rates: Visuals establish trust faster than text.

• Low Competition = Huge Upside: Many sellers avoid video ads due to production effort, giving early adopters an advantage.

Amazon is clearly indicating the direction in which the platform is heading: motion-based, immersive shopping experiences. If you haven’t started using video ads yet, now is the perfect time—visibility on Page 1 is quickly becoming a video-first battlefield.

💳 Amazon’s Partial Refund Update: A Blessing or a Time Bomb?

Amazon has quietly rolled out a Partial Refunds feature — letting sellers issue refunds without requiring returns. On the surface, it sounds like a win: faster resolutions, less hassle, fewer shipments. But dig deeper, and it’s clear — this “convenience” comes at a cost.

Here’s what’s really happening:

• No returns = no visibility — You won’t see what condition the product is in or why it failed.

• Metrics still take a hit — Partial refunds still count toward return rates and performance metrics.

• Buyer behavior shifts — It trains customers to ask for money back more easily.

• Feedback gap widens — You lose critical product insights that returned items used to reveal.

To protect margins, limit features to low-cost SKUs, monitor refund patterns, assign oversight for refund emails daily, and maintain a log of insights lost. While Amazon presents this as seller-friendly, it prioritizes efficiency over transparency, risking your data and margins.

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