The sales season that runs from Black Friday through Christmas is not only the most lucrative; it is by far the most competitive. Suddenly, the first page of Amazon transforms into a highly competitive environment where those with the best chances of survival are those best positioned. If your product is excellent, but even so struggles to surface in searches, you are confronted with a very simple reality: visibility is essential on Amazon, and you must work actively to achieve it.

One of the mistakes that harms thousands of sellers each year is attempting to guess the keywords they should use with their catalog, or worse still, settling for generic terms— oversaturated and used countless times before. Relying solely on keywords such as “gift ideas” or “winter deals” is not the best way to emerge from obscurity, where your product will inevitably get lost among millions of competitors with enormous advertising budgets.

To win this battle, you must apply tactics of competitive SEO. And for this, of course, there is nothing better than to learn from what your competitors are doing.

ASIN Reverse Lookup

The key to this operation lies in the ASIN reverse lookup (Amazon Standard Identification Number), one of the very best ways to analyze the visibility strategy of products already dominating the first page, learn from them, and improve your standing in the most popular marketplace in the Western world.

ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number, and it is a unique alphanumeric code of 10 characters that the Amazon platform assigns to each product in its catalog, except for books, where the ASIN generally matches the ISBN. This code serves to easily identify and group identical products, making it easier for buyers to search and for sellers to efficiently manage inventory and track items within the extensive marketplace.

Consider that competitor’s product that always appears at the top of search results— the listing that seems unbeatable. What keywords are being used in its title, bullet points, and so forth? ASIN reverse lookup allows you to take the ASIN of that leader and enter it into a software solution that can reveal an estimate of hundreds of keywords for which that ASIN is ranking, both organically and through paid ads.

How to Obtain the Information You Need

Carrying out this process effectively requires precision and a robust tool. Therefore, we have taken as an example Helium10, one of the most popular Amazon tools on the market. Within its suite, you will find Cerebro, its tool specialized in keyword research. And it does not come alone.

As mentioned, on one hand we have Cerebro, which undertakes the tasks of observation and information gathering. By entering your competitor’s ASIN in Cerebro, you access key metrics for any seller. It not only shows the estimated search volume (how many times a month the term is searched for), but also your competitor’s organic ranking and the Cerebro IQ Score, an indicator that measures the difficulty of ranking for that keyword. The latter assists you in prioritizing: sidelining keywords with insurmountable competition and focusing on those that will quickly give you an edge.

Furthermore, the ideal complement to Cerebro is Magnet. Once you have your competitor’s core keyword set, you can use Magnet (another Helium 10 tool) to generate thousands of related long-tail keywords. These specific phrases have lower volume but extremely high purchase intent (for example, rather than “coffee mug”, look for “coffee mug with lid for office”), which is ideal for both PPC campaigns and organic SEO during the year-end shopping frenzy.

From Data to Practice

Having the list of needed keywords does not help unless you implement them correctly. Another common error is merely copying them into your product’s backend without optimizing the visible content.

The Helium 10 suite also includes Listing Builder, which integrates the Scribbles feature, a tool that assists you in strategically utilizing every valuable term you discover with Cerebro and Magnet in your listing—in the title (the most important location), within bullet points, and in the description. Scribbles functions as a checklist, highlighting the most crucial keywords as you incorporate them, ensuring that you do not waste a single character in your sales copy.

This addresses two critical problems: first, it ensures you cover the most relevant search terms so that Amazon’s algorithm indexes your product; second, it helps you avoid unnecessary keyword repetition (the notorious keyword stuffing), which can be detrimental to both SEO and the buyer experience. Scribbles streamlines your use of every field, observing Amazon’s character limits for each section and prioritizing the highest-volume keywords for your title and initial bullet points.

Toward a Successful Peak Season

The peak season—Black Friday and Christmas—is the year’s moment of greatest investment: you have purchased inventory, paid for shipping, and weak visibility can jeopardize everything. You cannot afford to launch PPC campaigns or optimize your listings based on assumptions.

Investing in tools such as those in the Helium 10 suite provides you with the market intelligence required to follow the leaders and ensure that, when buyers arrive en masse, your product is awaiting them on page one. To start uncovering your competitors’ SEO secrets using Cerebro, Magnet, and Scribbles before the high season begins, use this link and secure your Helium 10 plan with an exclusive discount.

Do not let your competitors take the whole cake. Now is the time to use the power of data to rewrite your own sales story.

Image: Gemini

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There is a significant paradox in France: the Chinese fashion platform Shein currently has 25 million active users in the country (approximately 36% of France’s total population), making it one of Shein’s main markets in Europe alongside the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. However, the French government wants no involvement with the company or its products. In the past five months, Shein has been required to pay more than €190 million in fines for misleading business practices and violations of user privacy.

This is compounded by the recent controversy regarding the sale of sex dolls with childlike features, which has raised alarms among organizations protecting children’s rights. Additionally, French authorities have repeatedly questioned the damage that the fast fashion industry is causing to local businesses and the environment.

Despite all this, Shein has decided to open its first physical store in Europe in the very heart of Paris, occupying the sixth floor of the iconic BHV Marais, one of the most emblematic buildings in France. The opening event was marked by a striking contrast of opinions about the brand: on one hand, there was a long queue of people—some waiting since 6:00 a.m.—anticipating the store’s opening; on the other, dozens of protesters gathered outside the building to denounce Shein and everything it represents.

The Prime Minister of France calls for the suspension of the platform

Just hours after the inauguration, the French Government ordered the temporary suspension of Shein’s digital platform. This measure, driven by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, was a direct reaction to the controversy generated by the sale of illicit products such as sex dolls with childlike appearances and bladed weapons.

Lecornu did not mince words and described Shein’s operation as a threat to republican values. Meanwhile, Minister of Industry Sébastien Martin denounced “an aggressive strategy that undermines our values”, while Yann Rivoallan, president of the Fédération du Prêt-à-Porter Féminin, was even more critical: “Shein has already lost. Its strategy was to use the crowd effect to silence controversy and pretend to represent the French, but reality is different.”

In response to mounting pressure, Shein announced the temporary suspension of third-party product sales on its French platform, ensuring that it will review “compliance with national regulations” to guarantee “the highest standards of consumer protection.”

A divided public

While a red carpet was being prepared for the Chinese retailer inside the BHV, outside the store, activists, environmental associations, and child rights organizations protested chanting “Shein, non merci”, with banners demanding protection for children, not support for ultra-fast fashion. Some demonstrators even displayed flags from the Chinese region of Xinjiang, protesting the alleged use of forced labor.

Across the street, the line of shoppers remained resolute. Young people, teenagers, and middle-aged women had waited since early morning, some out of curiosity and others wishing to take advantage of the gifts promised by BHV. “Shein is more affordable,” some repeated. However, other customers clarified: “It is not cheaper than H&M or Zara,” and indicated that they primarily came for the promotions rather than out of brand loyalty.

An Ipsos survey cited by the Fédération du Prêt-à-Porter Féminin reveals that 70% of the French population supports taking action against Shein. Nevertheless, the fact that there are 25 million active users in the country demonstrates that the French relationship with the brand is far from straightforward.

6,000 items and aggressive discounts

With more than 1,000 m² and 6,000 items spanning women’s, men’s, children’s, sportswear, and accessories, Shein has brought its full fashion arsenal to the sixth floor of BHV Marais. According to the store staff, the pieces were “carefully selected” from among the millions of products offered on the online platform.

Pricing remains one of the strongest attractions, with garments starting at €15 and coats up to €100. However, it should be noted that there are no two-euro t-shirts as seen on the website. “We do not sell Shein t-shirts for two euros here,” stated Frédéric Mérlin, president of the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), owner of BHV. According to him, physical retail operates under different conditions and cannot offer the same discounts as the digital channel.

Furthermore, for the opening day only, the department store offered a significant incentive: for every purchase made, customers received a gift voucher for the same amount spent. In other words, if you made a purchase for €30, you would receive another €30 in voucher form—a strategy that further fueled the already long lines from the early morning.

Adding another layer of controversy, the agreement between Shein and BHV has led to Galeries Lafayette severing ties with La Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), resulting in the termination of their partnership for seven shopping centers in the country.

Photo: Shein.

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The print-on-demand (POD) sector offers an attractive business model due to its low initial investment and absence of inventory. However, the true challenge for the entrepreneur is not starting, but achieving scalability and sustained profitability. This challenge intensifies during the peak season, which includes Black Friday and the Christmas period, a time when sales volume increases, but so do the logistical pressure and the price war.

Achieving success during this time, when all competitors are trying to secure their piece of the pie, requires a strategic approach and the use of advanced optimization tools.

In this article, we will analyze three essential strategic pillars for the peak season for POD companies and explore the advanced functionalities that free-to-use platforms like Gelato bring to the efficient management of these challenges.

In fact, to access even better benefits and functionalities, Gelato offers the Gelato+ subscription. This subscription, with an annual fee of only $19.99 per month, provides significant advantages that improve business profitability, such as discounts of up to 25% on the production cost of your products, which increases the margin.

Margin Management Under Discount Pressure

One of the main headaches during Black Friday is the need to offer competitive discounts without compromising the profitability of the business. There are still POD sellers who operate based on intuition when setting prices, which makes them vulnerable to losses when applying sales. The entrepreneur who guesses the price is taking an unnecessary financial risk.

To mitigate this risk, advanced sellers focus on two areas: reducing the cost of production and pricing intelligence. Collaboration with providers that offer premium subscription plans, such as the one proposed by Gelato+, can result in a direct reduction in the cost per unit, which automatically improves the available margin to offer deals to the customer.

Even more crucial is the implementation of a pricing intelligence system, such as the platform’s Price Navigator. This tool allows for simulating various discount scenarios in real-time and setting sales prices based on market data, ensuring that, even with the pressure of offers, the profit margin remains within pre-established goals. The result is a predictable revenue model that eliminates randomness in earnings.

Efficiency in Execution and Rapid Catalog Expansion

The holiday season is characterized by the speed with which gift trends emerge and disappear. The ability to quickly launch relevant products (winter collections, themed gift designs, or new product series) is a decisive competitive advantage.

However, manually creating product listings (titles, descriptions, and, most importantly, product photos) consumes an enormous amount of time. This inefficiency translates into occupied work hours that take away from more strategic tasks such as marketing and design.

This is where automation becomes a key scalability factor. AI-driven functionalities within advanced production platforms solve this bottleneck.

This AI can generate listings optimized for search engines and produce high-quality professional product photos in a matter of seconds. By delegating these tedious and repetitive tasks, the seller achieves instant results, allowing for a much more agile catalog expansion.

Professionalization and Brand Protection

Finally, the ability to compete with major brands and stop looking like an “amateur shop” is fundamental to securing the trust of the seasonal buyer. Investing in business tools is not a luxury but a necessity for professionalization.

The use of platforms that offer premium functionalities, such as those from Gelato+, guarantees a high-quality presentation that makes the business indistinguishable from major brands. These tools, which are usually high-cost if acquired separately (such as design or analysis software), allow the entrepreneur to focus on design while the system handles listing optimization and efficient order management.

As you can see, successful scalability in the POD peak season is not a matter of more work hours, but of process optimization and margin protection. Sellers who manage to go from barely breaking even to achieving predictable profits are those who invest in systems that provide pricing intelligence, listing automation, and cost advantages.

For entrepreneurs looking to gain that competitive edge in the holiday season, it is recommended to evaluate the potential of robust solutions. It is important to note that seasonal tool promotions, such as Gelato’s “Win the Season” offer, often have an end date (in this case, at the end of October), so the evaluation must be done in a timely manner.

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Amazon closed the third quarter of the year with outstanding results, particularly in the area of Amazon Web Services (AWS), where artificial intelligence is establishing itself as the driving force behind the company’s growth. Thus, Amazon reported revenues of $180.169 billion, representing a 13% increase compared to the same period in 2024.

From a financial perspective, the figures are even more impressive: net profit reached $21.2 billion, compared to $15.3 billion the previous year (+37.9%). Amazon explains that although operating income remained steady at $17.4 billion, it was affected by two extraordinary charges: a $2.5 billion legal settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and severance costs estimated at $1.8 billion. Excluding these impacts, the final result would have reached $21.7 billion, according to the company.

Despite this, the company announced plans to create “hundreds of thousands of temporary jobs” this holiday season, including 250,000 in the United States, 150,000 in India, and thousands more in Australia, Canada, France, Spain, and Central Europe.

The Cloud: Amazon’s Main Growth Driver

By segment, AWS once again served as the company’s engine of profitability, with sales of $33 billion, a year-over-year increase of 20%, and operating income of $11.4 billion. Currently, 18% of all the company’s revenue originates from this division. These strong results in Amazon’s cloud business are in line with the surge in AI popularity and correspond with what we have reported regarding the revenues of another giant like Google and its Cloud division.

With regard to its eCommerce business, in North America, sales grew by 11% to $106.3 billion, while the international business advanced by 14% to $40.9 billion, driven by a weaker dollar and expanded logistics capabilities.

“We continue to see strong momentum and growth at Amazon, as AI powers significant improvements across every aspect of our business,” stated Andy Jassy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon. “AWS is growing at a pace we have not seen since 2022, accelerating once again to 20.2% year-over-year. We continue to witness high demand for both AI and foundational infrastructure, and we have focused on accelerating capacity, adding more than 3.8 gigawatts over the past 12 months.”

250 million customers already use rufus, Amazon’s AI assistant

However, the impact of artificial intelligence is not limited to the cloud business. In its retail division, Amazon reported that 250 million customers have used Rufus, its AI-powered shopping assistant, and that those who use it are 60% more likely to complete a purchase. The company has also launched new smart recommendation features, such as Help Me Decide, and has extended its content generation tools to over 1.3 million sellers.

Help Me Decide is a shopping tool introduced just a few days ago, powered by artificial intelligence, appearing in the Amazon mobile app or web version when you have been comparing several similar products. When you tap the “Help Me Decide” button, the system analyzes your browsing history, searches, previous purchases, and preferences to recommend a specific product best suited to your needs, along with a clear explanation of why that particular option is appropriate. Additionally, the feature presents a couple of alternative choices at various price points, should you wish to explore further options. For now, it is only available in the United States.

Future outlook

Looking ahead, the company expects fourth-quarter revenues, which will include those from the peak sales season (Black Friday and the Christmas period), to reach between $206 billion and $213 billion, which would represent growth of between 10% and 13% compared to the same period in 2024. Projected operating profit is set to be between $21 billion and $26 billion.

Beyond the numbers, this quarter confirms Amazon’s transformation into a company increasingly focused on artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. With investments in chips, software, and new cloud services, the Seattle-based group seeks not only to maintain its leadership in eCommerce, but also to establish itself as one of the most influential technology platforms worldwide.

Image: Gemini

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Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has released its results for the third quarter of 2025 (ended September 30, 2025), highlighting a year-over-year revenue growth of 16%, reaching the historic figure of $102.35 billion. This marks the first quarter in the company’s history with revenue exceeding $100 billion. Meanwhile, net income stood at $34.98 billion, an impressive 33% increase compared to the third quarter of 2024.

According to the company’s statement, this result was fueled by its comprehensive focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robust growth across all key business segments. Specifically, divisions such as Google Search & other, YouTube Ads, subscriptions, Google’s platforms and devices, and Google Cloud all reported double-digit growth rates.

Gemini has more than 650 million active monthly users

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, expressed his pride in the results: “Our comprehensive approach to AI is generating strong momentum, and we are rolling out solutions at high speed, including the global deployment of AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search in record time. In addition to being leaders in the rankings, our proprietary models, such as Gemini, are now processing 7 billion tokens per minute via direct API use by our clients.”

He also added “AI Overviews are driving significant growth in queries. This effect was even stronger in the third quarter, as users continue to realize that Google can answer more of their questions. It is particularly encouraging to see that this effect was even more pronounced among younger people.

We are also seeing that AI Mode is resonating well with users. In the United States, we have seen strong and steady growth in usage week after week since its launch, and queries doubled during the quarter. In the past quarter, we rolled out AI Mode globally in 40 languages in record time. It now has over 75 million daily active users. And we launched more than 100 product enhancements in the third quarter, an incredibly fast pace. Most importantly, AI Mode is already driving incremental growth in total queries for Search.”

Regarding Gemini, Pichai explained that “it now has more than 650 million active monthly users. We continue to drive strong growth in new businesses. Google Cloud accelerated, ending the quarter with $155 billion in backlog. And we have over 300 million paid subscriptions, led by Google One and YouTube Premium.”

Search now accounts for more than half of total revenue

During the third quarter of 2025, the Google Search & other segment returned as the primary driver of revenue for the company, generating $56.567 billion (+14.5%).

Google Cloud experienced the highest percentage growth, posting a 34% year-over-year increase in revenue to reach $15.157 billion. Its main products, AI infrastructure and Generative AI solutions, drove the growth of this segment.

As Pichai explained in an open letter, “Our models are world leaders. Gemini 2.5 Pro, Veo, Genie 3, and our viral sensation, Nano Banana, are among the best in their class. More than 230 million videos have been generated with Veo 3, and more than 13 million developers have built with our generative models. We are looking forward with great anticipation to the launch of Gemini 3 later this year.

Our leadership in research is driving next-generation technologies. Last week, we announced that our Willow quantum chip had achieved a major breakthrough: it executed an algorithm 13,000 times faster than one of the world’s top supercomputers. And the result is verifiable, paving the way for future practical applications.”

Revenue from subscriptions, Google’s platforms and devices also performed well, reaching $12.870 billion (+20.7%), while YouTube Ads grew to $10.261 billion.

Headcount Growth

In contrast to the workforce reductions that have affected other large companies, Google has increased its headcount. By the end of the third quarter of 2025, the technology company had 190,167 employees, representing an increase compared to the 181,269 in the same period of 2024.

Image: Gemini

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Pricing has always been one of the most powerful levers in eCommerce success, but in recent years it has evolved from a simple number on a product page into a strategic discipline that defines how brands grow.

As competition intensifies and consumers compare prices in seconds, the retailers that thrive are not necessarily those offering the lowest prices, but those that understand how to act on data. The rise of competitive intelligence is reshaping how eCommerce businesses make decisions, turning pricing into a driver of sustainable growth.

From traditional pricing to data-driven competition

For a long time, pricing in eCommerce followed predictable patterns. Retailers relied on static rules or manual updates, reacting to competitor’s moves when it was already too late. What used to work in a slower, less transparent market no longer keeps pace with today’s reality.

Nowadays, winners are those who move from instinct to insight. Modern pricing decisions depend on real-time data that reflects how customers, competitors, and marketplaces behave. This is the foundation of competitive intelligence, which turns pricing from guesswork into a strategic advantage.

Retailers who use intelligent data are not just adjusting numbers. They are analysing the full context of their market, understanding when and why prices shift, and using that visibility to anticipate the next move.

The role of competitive intelligence in modern eCommerce

Competitive intelligence in pricing goes far beyond tracking a few rivals. It combines market analysis, automation, and performance insights to help retailers make better decisions every day. Through structured data collection and analysis, eCommerce managers can:

• Detect new competitors before they start affecting sales
• Monitor pricing patterns across categories, channels, and regions
• Identify margin opportunities and pricing gaps that others overlook
• Benchmark product positioning and understand how customers perceive value

This type of visibility transforms pricing from a reactive task into a proactive growth lever. Businesses that build this capability can act faster, adapt their pricing with confidence, and protect both competitiveness and profitability.

Why competitive pricing strategies are driving growth

Pricing has shifted from being a background function to one of the main sources of eCommerce growth. Every adjustment sends a message about a brand’s value, positioning, and trustworthiness.

A competitive pricing strategy powered by intelligence is not about racing to the bottom. It is about finding the right balance between being attractive and being profitable. When supported by reliable market data, retailers can:

• Increase conversion rates by aligning with customer expectations
• Preserve profit margins even in crowded marketplaces
• Strengthen brand credibility through transparent and consistent pricing

In practice, competitive intelligence allows eCommerce teams to compete on strategy rather than instinct, turning pricing into an engine for expansion instead of a daily challenge.

Intelligent monitoring tools as a growth enabler

Technology has made this evolution possible. Intelligent monitoring tools give retailers access to a real-time view of the market, helping them make data-based decisions at scale.
These platforms can analyse thousands of products simultaneously, detect pricing movements instantly, and highlight the patterns behind those shifts. Rather than reacting days later, eCommerce managers can respond within minutes, maintaining control over their margins and market position.

A good example is using a price intelligence tool to identify opportunities, and apply pricing rules across different channels. The result is greater clarity, faster reactions, and a more strategic use of data to support growth.

Preparing for the future of eCommerce pricing

The future of pricing in eCommerce will be defined by intelligence and adaptability. Artificial intelligence and automation are opening the door to new models such as predictive pricing, personalised offers, and cross-channel alignment.

Retailers that begin integrating competitive intelligence now will be better equipped for what is coming. The goal is not only to follow market trends but to understand them deeply enough to anticipate change.

Pricing has moved from being a routine task to becoming one of the most strategic areas in eCommerce. The retailers that treat data as a growth asset and embrace intelligent monitoring will set the pace for the next stage of digital retail.

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PayPal has announced today its decision to adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) with the objective of offering its payment services within the ChatGPT platform by OpenAI, thereby becoming the first mainstream wallet to become available within the popular AI tool. This strategic collaboration seeks to integrate PayPal’s capabilities in order to facilitate direct transactions within the conversational environment powered by the artificial intelligence of Sam Altman’s company.

“From chat to purchase in just a few taps”

According to the announcement, the integration will allow millions of ChatGPT users to shop online using their PayPal accounts. In this way, PayPal will support payment processing for merchants who implement the OpenAI Instant Checkout functionality. A key aspect of this initiative is the connection between PayPal’s global network of merchants and OpenAI, which will enable “tens of millions of small businesses and large brands” to sell their products directly within ChatGPT.

The president and CEO of PayPal, Alex Chriss, noted that this partnership will enable PayPal to drive commerce experiences that make it easier for users to transition “from chat to purchase in just a few taps”.

What does this all ***** mean?

This Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open standard that OpenAI has developed alongside the payment infrastructure company Stripe, and it is intended to connect AI agents with buyers and merchants. In this way, agents can reason and understand purchase information logically and in an organized manner, as well as interact with merchant systems and their tools. All of this occurs while keeping the customer informed in real time.

Now, let us clarify some of these concepts a bit. 😉

Currently, the Instant Checkout function operates under a model of assisted or semi-agentic purchasing:

• The human asks: “I want a pair of red running shoes for under $100.”
• The agent (AI) searches: ChatGPT displays three options from connected merchants (Etsy, Shopify, etc.).
• The human selects and authorizes: The human chooses the shoes and clicks the “Buy” button.

In this workflow, the selection is made by the user, but the payment and checkout process (entering shipping address, payment method, confirming the purchase) is performed using the ACP structure, without leaving the chat. PayPal’s integration will allow users to use their PayPal wallet during this conversational checkout, avoiding the need to complete forms on an external website.

However, the ACP is designed so that in the future, the process will be fully autonomous:

• The human delegates: “ChatGPT, automatically purchase tickets for that concert as soon as they go on sale.”
• The agent (AI) executes: The AI waits, buys the tickets, and completes the payment with PayPal using credentials delegated by the user.

That is, the integration of PayPal within the ACP ensures that anyone wishing to purchase a product displayed by ChatGPT (the “human form” of selection) will be able to pay using PayPal, since PayPal has adopted the technical standard that governs this conversational payment process. It serves as the gateway for both types of commerce.

Implementation, Timeline, and Availability

The underlying direct purchase feature, Instant Checkout (powered by the ACP), was initially launched in the United States, where it is already available to ChatGPT users (including Plus, Pro, and free plans). At present, the feature is enabled with sellers on Etsy, with plans to expand to merchants on Shopify.

Full integration of PayPal is planned so that by 2026, ACP will enable product catalogs from businesses within PayPal’s network to be incorporated into ChatGPT. This phase will allow millions of products to be discovered and purchased through artificial intelligence.

In terms of geographic scope, although the Instant Checkout feature is currently limited to the United States, progressive global expansion is anticipated. PayPal’s participation in the ACP and its worldwide presence suggest that the payment option will be extended to other key international markets following the initial rollout.

Much More than Payments without Leaving ChatGPT

Users will have access to multiple financing options (bank accounts, available balance, and cards) without leaving the chat, and will additionally benefit from PayPal’s buyer and seller protections.

PayPal will play a crucial role in the payment infrastructure of ChatGPT. On one hand, it will support OpenAI’s Instant Checkout function by utilizing a delegated payments API to manage the processing of those transactions made with credit or debit cards. On the other hand, and for merchants, PayPal will operate as an “ACP server.” This role will enable it to facilitate mass connection of product catalogs from its network and handle all complex technical tasks, such as order routing, payment validation, and transaction orchestration, thereby eliminating the need for each seller to carry out individual technical integration with the platform.

Finally, PayPal reported that its partnership with OpenAI also includes the expansion of its own AI strategy, encompassing the scaling of access to ChatGPT Enterprise for its more than 24,000 employees and the increased direct use of OpenAI’s APIs to accelerate product development and optimize customer experiences.

Image: Gemini

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It is a dark week for Amazon’s corporate employees worldwide. In the early hours of today, October 28, the Reuters news agency exclusively reported—without confirmation from official sources—that the company led by Jeff Bezos would initiate a wave of layoffs that could affect up to 30,000 office employees responsible for managing and coordinating the different business units of the company. This number does not include warehouse, logistics center, or delivery personnel.

Now, the multinational company has clarified the situation: indeed, there will be cutbacks, but it will be “only” 14,000 employees. The aim is to reduce bureaucracy. “We need a more agile organization, with fewer layers and greater accountability, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and our business,” explains Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, in a statement the company sent this morning to its employees.

This represents the second most aggressive reduction carried out by the tech giant since 2022, when it began a wave of layoffs that extended into 2023, affecting more than 27,000 people.

At the same time, Amazon is working on a plan to reduce costs and offset the overhiring that took place during the pandemic, a period in which orders surged, creating a spike in demand that ultimately proved unsustainable over time.

“There is an excess of bureaucracy in the organization”

Although the layoffs will affect a relatively small percentage of Amazon’s total workforce, this reduction will have a significant impact on the company. Staff in areas such as Human Resources, Operations, Devices and Services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) could be affected, impacting various divisions that are pillars of the organization.

In the aforementioned letter, Galetti expresses gratitude to her team for their efforts thus far to strengthen their organizations by reducing layers, increasing accountability, and helping to decrease bureaucracy. “We are already seeing results: teams are moving faster, and many Amazon employees feel greater ownership,” says the executive, adding that “The reductions we are sharing today are a continuation of this work to further strengthen ourselves, streamlining bureaucracy even more, eliminating layers, and redirecting resources to ensure we are investing in our greatest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”

In this regard, the company has already implemented initiatives such as reducing the number of managers and introducing a confidential complaint line to identify operational inefficiencies, which has led to more than 450 process changes. Additionally, automation driven by artificial intelligence will be a decisive factor in workforce reduction in the coming years.

There Are Layoffs… but More Hiring Is Also Expected

The company asserts that the increasing use of AI in repetitive operational areas is contributing to higher productivity, thus decreasing the need for human workers to perform routine tasks. Nevertheless, Amazon has also announced that it will hire more than 250,000 temporary employees in its warehouses to reinforce operations for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

The company also announced that “Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas, while also identifying additional opportunities to eliminate layers, increase ownership, and achieve efficiencies.”

As for employees who will lose their jobs, Galetti explains that most will be given 90 days to seek another position within the company: “To those colleagues who cannot find a new position at Amazon or choose not to pursue one, we will provide transition support, including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits, and more,” she adds.

The Future of Amazon: AI, Automation, and Robots

This adjustment reflects Amazon’s transition towards greater automation. As artificial intelligence takes on a more prominent role in the company’s operations, it is expected that repetitive tasks will increasingly be managed by automated systems.

“This generation of AI is the most transformational technology we have seen since the Internet, enabling businesses to innovate much faster than ever before (in both existing market segments and entirely new ones). We are convinced that we need a more agile organization, with fewer layers and greater accountability, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and our business,” the letter states.

The shift in focus extends to logistics operations, where Amazon plans for a substantial percentage of ultra-fast delivery processes to be managed without human intervention. The company has already expressed interest in replacing workers with robots in various facilities, marking a step towards the mechanization of the industry. In fact, it already has one million robots operating in its warehouses and distribution centers worldwide.

Image: Depositphotos

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Amazon, the giant of eCommerce, has been investing in logistics technology for years—a commitment that has even made it the subject of online memes. However, these efforts have resulted in a fleet of more than one million robots currently operating in its distribution centers worldwide. As the company has explained on several times, these robots—including units equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) technology—have transformed the way products are managed and customer needs are met.

However, all of these advancements have come hand in hand with an extensive and profound controversy regarding the future of employment on a global scale.

According to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times, Amazon intends for its advancements in automation to allow it to avoid hiring more than 600,000 people by the year 2033, even if it doubles its sales volume. This efficiency goal places Amazon at the forefront of a massive workforce restructuring, while also positioning it at the center of the current debate about replacing humans with machines in corporate environments.

For these reasons, we believe it is appropriate to review Amazon’s latest technological innovations—including the recently unveiled Blue Jay and Project Eluna systems—which are enabling this transformation, and to analyze the company’s strategy for managing the impact of automation.

Let us proceed.

The Robots that Move Amazon’s Warehouses

Kiva Robots: The Predecessor Robot

Long, long ago (2012), in a land far, far away (California), Amazon deployed for the first time the Kiva Robots, devices resembling an orange Roomba powered by an excessive amount of steroids.

These robots were so striking, and so drastically changed the traditional concept of warehouse management, that their image quickly went viral, giving rise to frights marvels such as this waltz, or this dance set to The Nutcracker Suite music, both recorded when Kiva was still an independent company and not part of the eCommerce giant.

Kiva has belonged to Amazon for 11 years (the company acquired it for $775 million), and although more than 200,000 of these units are still operating within its warehouses, they are by no means the most advanced technology in this field possessed by Jeff Bezos’ company in the area of robo-logistics.

Proteus, Cardinal, and Sparrow

Proteus was Amazon’s first fully autonomous mobile robot, utilizing computer vision and machine learning to operate safely alongside employees in logistics centers and to optimize operational efficiency.

This robot was designed to perform its tasks independently and to move among employees, enabling what Amazon calls a “simple and safe interaction between technology and people.” Proteus is by no means the only robot in Amazon’s arsenal; Cardinal and Sparrow are two robotic handling systems that play a vital role in sorting and picking packages in the company’s distribution centers—robotic arms essential for the sorting and picking of items.

However, logistical efficiency extends beyond the mere handling of packages. Amazon has introduced the concept of “Container Storage” in its operations, in which robots are used to deliver products to employees in a more ergonomic manner.

• In fact, Proteus and Cardinal are used together. Proteus is a robotic system that autonomously transports carts full of packages, and its main function is to move these carts from the outbound dock to the delivery trucks. Cardinal is responsible for loading packages onto specific carts: those packages that share the same zip code are grouped to expedite their subsequent shipment.
• Sparrow, for its part, is a robotic handling system operating in a facility in San Marcos, Texas. Its primary function involves automatically selecting and sorting hundreds of thousands of customer orders. It is a robotic arm that picks items from one container and places them in separate containers.

Digit, the Humanoid Robot

In 2023, Amazon unveiled Digit, its futuristic humanoid robot, designed to efficiently perform repetitive tasks with remarkable agility—and a touch of elegance. These androids were created by Agility Robotics, a company in which Amazon itself is an investor, following the same model as the Kiva acquisition years earlier.

According to the company, Digit is limited to repetitive tasks: “Digit can move, grasp, and manipulate items in warehouses in novel ways. Its size and shape make it a good fit for buildings designed for humans, and we believe there is a significant opportunity to scale a mobile manipulator solution, such as Digit, that can collaborate with our employees. Our initial use of this technology will be to assist employees with container recycling: a highly repetitive process of picking up and moving empty containers once inventory is completely removed.”

The potential of Digit is enormous. Agility Robotics has established its first production center for this type of humanoid unit, capable of producing up to 10,000 Digits per year—a task in which, interestingly enough, Digit units themselves are involved.

Sequoia: Amazon’s Robotic System Concept

In addition to these units, Amazon launched Sequoia in 2023, a new robotic system aimed at assisting in fulfilling customer orders during key shopping events of the year.

“We have restructured our method of storing and managing inventory so that Sequoia can help us fulfill customer orders with greater speed and accuracy, while simultaneously enhancing employee safety within our facilities. Sequoia allows us to identify and store inventory received in our logistics centers up to 75% faster than what we are currently able to do. This means we can post items in our store more swiftly, benefiting both sellers and customers. When orders are placed, Sequoia also reduces the time required to process them in the logistics center by up to 25%,” the company explained at the time.

Sequoia integrates mobile robots, gantry crane systems, robotic arms, and a state-of-the-art ergonomic workstation designed to facilitate inventory management within containers. The mobile robots are responsible for transporting items in containers, delivering them directly to a gantry crane. This crane has the capability to restock containers as well as send them to staff members assigned to selecting products requested by customers.

Once the items required by customers are retrieved from inventory, the task of regrouping the remaining inventory within the containers must be performed. At this stage, Sparrow comes into play, undertaking the repetitive task of organizing products within containers, ensuring that, once filled, they are returned to their respective storage locations efficiently and seamlessly.

Vulcan: A Robot with a Sense of Touch

Vulcan is among the latest additions to Amazon’s robotic fleet. This robot uses physical AI and force sensors to handle items with delicacy and precision. Its design is focused on worker ergonomics, as it assumes the tasks of stacking and retrieving goods from upper shelves (approximately 2.4 meters high) and from the floors of containers, eliminating the need for workers to use ladders.

Unlike traditional industrial robots, which lack sensitivity, Vulcan employs force feedback sensors in its arm and tools so that it can precisely detect when and how it touches an object, thereby avoiding damage. It is equipped with a dual tool: a spatula that allows it to push and “create space” between densely packed items in containers, as well as paddles (clamps) that adjust the gripping force depending on the product’s size and fragility, thus being able to handle approximately 75% of all item types.

The Latest Generation: Speed and Cognitive Assistance

If this already seemed remarkable, the most recent innovations (presented only recently) mark the culmination of Amazon’s robotics and AI strategy at the finish line of last-mile delivery. Enter Blue Jay and Eluna.

Blue Jay

Amazon has introduced Blue Jay as the latest evolution in robotic handling, engineered for maximum efficiency and ergonomics. This new model coordinates multiple robotic arms to conduct concurrent tasks, successfully combining three separate robotic stations into a single optimized workspace that can simultaneously pick, stack, and consolidate items.

According to the company, it reduces repetitive reaching and lifting tasks, allowing employees to work within their ergonomic “power zone.” Its development was accelerated thanks to AI and the use of “digital twins.” It will become a key technology for same-day delivery centers, expediting the process for the customer.

Project Eluna

Project Eluna constitutes a breakthrough in operational intelligence by incorporating agentic AI, a system designed to reason through complex operational situations and act autonomously in order to recommend solutions. In this way, it functions as a “cognitive teammate” for operations managers, reducing mental workload. Furthermore, it can collect both historical and real-time data from throughout the warehouse to anticipate bottlenecks and failures.

Its integration with Amazon’s logistics systems enables operators to pose complex questions and receive clear, data-driven recommendations. The objective: to transition from reactive management to operational forecasting.

Against the backdrop of this entire robotic landscape, Amazon emphasizes that technology serves to enhance the work environment. By delegating heavy and repetitive tasks to machines, the company explains that it has trained more than 700,000 employees in technical skills since 2019, ensuring that its most advanced centers require up to 30% more employees in maintenance, reliability, and engineering roles. Robotics and AI are regarded as tools to make work “safer, smarter, and more rewarding.”

Only time will tell if employees share this perspective.

Images: Amazon

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Amazon is a vast company whose business spans areas as diverse as eCommerce/marketplace, advertising, logistics, hardware, artificial intelligence, and video and music streaming. However, among these business areas is one that, while less well-known to the general public, is of extreme importance both for the company itself and for thousands of other companies around the world. Are you familiar with Amazon Web Services?

A major AWS outage

The collapse of multiple services worldwide due to the outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) once again highlights the enormous dependence the global digital infrastructure has on Amazon’s cloud. On Monday, the disruption caused widespread failures and massive disconnections that affected millions of users in Spain and across the globe—and it is quite likely that you have been impacted as well.

What exactly happened?

As explained by Amazon itself, the failure originated in the AWS region US-EAST-1, located in Northern Virginia (United States), one of the most critical areas for Amazon’s global infrastructure. In fact, Amazon referred to an “increase in error rates and latency across various AWS services”, which resulted in cascading interruptions.

Around 11:30 AM Spanish time, AWS explained that there was “an issue with the Domain Name System (DNS) that prevented many services from locating and communicating with the DynamoDB database. This affected other services and global services that rely on US-EAST-1.” Shortly thereafter, AWS reported that “We are seeing significant signs of recovery. Most requests should now be successful.”

Imagine AWS as a gigantic office and DynamoDB as the central filing cabinet where everyone stores and retrieves crucial information: for another AWS service to use the cabinet, it needs its extension number or exact location. The DNS system (Domain Name System) serves as the telephone directory or internal directory of that office. When the error occurred, whenever an employee (another service) asked the directory, “What is the extension number for DynamoDB?” the directory could not provide the correct IP address.

Since the services could not obtain DynamoDB’s address, they were unable to locate or communicate with it, and many AWS services depend on DynamoDB for basic operations (such as identifying users, checking their permissions, or determining where to look for certain data). When they could not “find” the central filing cabinet, these services failed in succession. They were unable to perform their tasks and crashed. Given that the affected region (US-EAST-1) handles many of AWS’s functions, the failure spread to global services that, even if physically located elsewhere, still required that central address.

However, the situation did not resolve as simply as it might have seemed. Around 4:15 PM(CEST), AWS again warned of significant failures affecting multiple services, once more creating a sense of uncertainty throughout the sector. Nevertheless, according to reports from Down Detector, the chain reaction of disruptions was comparatively less severe.

Who was affected by the outage worldwide?

The failure demonstrated the high concentration of digital services that rely on Amazon’s platform, resulting in daily applications and platforms in Spain ceasing to function properly.

• Amazon Services: Both the Alexa voice assistant and the Prime Video streaming platform experienced connection issues.
• Online Payments: Redsys also faced problems. This is particularly serious for online commerce: it is the company that acts as the principal technological intermediary and manager of electronic payments in Spain, serving as the backbone that allows card transactions—whether in-store or online—to be conducted securely and quickly throughout the country.
• Video Games: Highly popular platforms such as Fortnite and Roblox.
• Productivity: Tools such as Canva, the language-learning application Duolingo, and the video call platform Zoom reported access errors or downtime. Some users also mentioned others such as Klaviyo, Asana, or Teachable.
• Artificial Intelligence: AI-based assistants and services such as Perplexity were also affected, as Perplexity’s CEO himself admitted in a tweet.

Perplexity is down right now. The root cause is an AWS issue. We’re working on resolving it.

— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) October 20, 2025

The immense power of Amazon Web Services in today’s digital market

Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006, is a cloud services provider offering everything from infrastructure technologies such as computing, storage, and database management to emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. This enables existing applications to be migrated to the cloud more quickly, easily, and cost-effectively and allows for the creation of virtually anything one can imagine.

AWS provides cloud hosting and computing services to more than one million companies worldwide, including some of the largest corporations and many of the world’s most-visited websites, all of which depend on AWS to function properly—such as Amazon itself, Disney+, Tinder, Netflix, among others. Therefore, an outage of AWS servers can cause serious disruptions in the global digital business landscape, destabilizing not only Amazon’s internal operations but also the functions of hundreds of tools and websites, potentially compromising the overall stability of the digital ecosystem. At present, Amazon Web Services controls approximately one third of the global cloud market, placing it far ahead of its closest competitor, Microsoft’s Azure, as well as Google Cloud.

This enormous customer base resulted in net revenues for AWS rising by 19% year-over-year to $107.6 billion for Amazon during fiscal year 2024. 

The problem with global dependence on AWS

As previously mentioned, AWS’s worldwide popularity means that any type of unforeseen incident can substantially compromise the proper functioning of numerous websites across the globe. This was clearly demonstrated, for example, in December 2021, with the six-hour interruption of AWS services.

On December 11, Amazon’s cloud services provider experienced an outage that disrupted several of the company’s operations throughout parts of the United States. The outage lasted approximately six hours, affecting a range of websites, applications, and digital tools associated with the platform. Among those affected were smart products such as roombas, home assistants, security systems, and others. According to the company’s statement, the situation was caused by an error in an automated process.

“An automated activity intended to scale the capacity of one of the AWS services hosted on the primary AWS network triggered unexpected behavior from a large number of clients within the internal network. This resulted in a significant surge in connection activity that overwhelmed the networking devices between the internal network and the AWS primary network, causing delays in communications between these networks.”

According to the company’s report, the outage even affected Amazon’s own ability to identify the root cause at the time, as their monitoring tools and primary internal controls were themselves experiencing the effects of the outage.

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