Amazon Launches Brand+ to Target Customers ⚡!

Wouldn’t it be nice if AI could handle all the legwork—targeting your customers, making business calls, and even getting your prescriptions delivered? Well, we’re getting there faster than you think 🫣.

Hey there, and welcome to another edition of The Ecom Press 🗞️!

This week, there's news about Amazon taking AI-driven ads to the next level while Google wants its AI to make business calls for you. But that’s not all…

Walmart is kicking off same-day pharmacy delivery nationwide, and we think it’s going to be the new normal 😉.

Buckle up—it’s a big one. If you’re ready, let’s begin ☄️!

In a rush? Here's the juice🤭:

⚡ Amazon launches Brand+ to target customers!

🤖 Google’s “Ask for Me” lets AI call businesses.

🚚 Walmart rolls out same-day pharmacy delivery nationwide.

📚 Case Study: How Teikametrics Uses AI to Drive E-commerce Success 🚀

⚡️Worthy Mentions

⚡ Amazon launches Brand+ to target customers!

Amazon Ads has introduced Brand+, a cutting-edge AI-powered ad solution that automates and optimizes brand awareness campaigns. The tool analyzes trillions of data points across Amazon’s ecosystem to target consumers actively considering a product or service.

With this intelligent audience modeling, advertisers can deliver video ads with higher conversion potential while maintaining full control over budget, targeting, and reporting.

Available now in Amazon DSP, Brand+ makes running video ad campaigns as easy as four clicks, expanding Amazon’s AI-driven advertising ecosystem.

Here’s the lowdown 📌:

🔍 AI-Powered Targeting: Brand+ shifts from broad audience targeting to AI-driven predictive modeling, reaching consumers based on real-time browsing, shopping, and streaming behaviors.

📺 Cross-Platform Ad Placement: Ads will be placed across Prime Video, Twitch, and third-party sites like Buzzfeed and Fox, ensuring broader exposure for brands.

📈 Proven Performance in Beta Testing: Advertisers using Brand+ in beta tests reported a 10%+ increase in sales and a 70%+ rise in website traffic, proving the effectiveness of AI-driven ad targeting.

⚡ Seamless Campaign Setup: Advertisers can launch AI-optimized TV ad campaigns in just four clicks, allowing for easy adoption and execution.

🎯 First-Party Data Integration: Brands can upload their own customer insights, letting AI refine targeting for higher relevance—for example, a travel brand targeting consumers researching flights, booking hotels, and watching travel content.

🔄 Continuous AI Optimization: Unlike static ad campaigns, Brand+ automatically adjusts in real time, ensuring ads stay relevant as customer behaviors evolve.

Why it matters 🧐

With access to such tools, this means more intelligent advertising. Instead of guessing who your customers are, AI now actively identifies high-intent buyers and serves them video ads at the right moment. And the fact that it’s doing this in real-time means you can track, adjust, and refine campaigns with little to no effort on a minimal budget. 

🤖 Google’s “Ask for Me” lets AI call businesses. 

Google Search is testing a new AI-powered feature called “Ask for me”, which allows users to have AI call local businesses on their behalf to check pricing and service availability. The feature is currently available through Search Labs and is being tested with auto repair shops and nail salons.

Built on Google’s Duplex AI technology, which previously facilitated restaurant reservations and business updates, “Ask for me” could be a game-changer for service-based businesses by automating customer inquiries.

Here are the deets:

✅ AI-Driven Calls: Instead of calling a business yourself, Google AI will do it for you, retrieving service pricing and availability details.

🔍 How It Works: Users who opt in through Search Labs can trigger “Ask for me” when searching for services like “oil change near me.” A box will appear, allowing Google AI to handle the call.

📞 Using Duplex AI: This isn’t Google’s first attempt at AI-powered calls. It’s built on Duplex, the same technology used for restaurant bookings and business data verification on Google Maps.

📌 Who It’s For (For Now): The initial test includes auto shops and nail salons, but it could expand to other service-based businesses if successful.

⚠️ Limited Availability: Users might hit a waitlist as Google gradually rolls out the feature, and businesses can opt out of receiving AI-generated calls if they choose.

How to use it

1️⃣ Join the Experiment: Opt in via Search Labs and enable the feature.

2️⃣ Search for Services: Look up a service like “oil change near me.”

3️⃣ Trigger the Feature: If eligible, you’ll see an “Ask for me” box to let Google AI make the call.

4️⃣ Receive Results: The AI gathers pricing and availability details and delivers them to you.

Why it matters 🤨

For businesses, this could mean more leads with less effort—customers can get pricing and availability details instantly, potentially leading to faster conversions. If it expands beyond auto shops and salons, it could become an essential tool for local businesses offering services without online booking.

On the flip side, it raises questions about AI interacting with businesses. Will businesses be comfortable fielding AI-driven calls? Will it reduce personal interactions or enhance efficiency?

🚚 Walmart rolls out same-day pharmacy delivery nationwide.

Walmart is making pharmacy shopping as easy as ordering groceries. Customers in 49 states can now get same-day prescription delivery, bundled with groceries and household essentials in a single order—a first for the retail giant. This expansion builds on an AI-powered logistics system designed to streamline healthcare access while offering more convenience.

Here’s the scoop 🍨:

🛒 Expanded Nationwide: After launching in six states in October 2024, the service is now reaching hundreds of millions of customers across the U.S.

💊 More Than Just Pharmacy: Customers can bundle prescriptions with groceries and household essentials in the same order—no separate transactions needed.

🚚 AI-Powered Delivery: Walmart’s Spark platform uses geospatial technology to define delivery zones more efficiently, allowing the expansion to 12 million more households.

🧑‍⚕️ Backed by 15,000+ Pharmacists: Walmart’s in-store pharmacy teams will continue handling prescriptions, refills, and immunizations while offering this new convenience.

💰 Free for Walmart+ Members: If you’re subscribed to Walmart+, pharmacy delivery is included at no extra cost. Non-members will pay per delivery based on their chosen speed.

Why it matters

Walmart is easily playing into the busy lives of customers, making healthcare as accessible as online shopping. And let’s be honest—if Walmart is making same-day pharmacy delivery a standard, it won’t be long before customers expect the same everywhere. Definitely something to consider in a non-distant future. 

🛎️ The Ecom Press Insider

Ecom Fact: Over half (51%) of e-commerce businesses are already using AI, and a whopping 84% are either in the process of integrating it or have it high on their priority list (Source: BusinessDasher).

AI in e-commerce isn’t just the future—it’s the now. If your competitors are leveraging AI to optimize ads, automate customer service, and personalize shopping experiences, the real question is: can you afford not to? Maybe it’s time to let the bots do some of the heavy lifting!

📚 Case Study: How Teikametrics Uses AI to Drive E-commerce Success 🚀

Like it or not, we’re in a fast-paced world, and staying competitive means constant optimization, which is exactly what Teikametrics is mastering with AI. Led by Sandie Hawkins (former head of TikTok Shop), Teikametrics helps brands crush their competition through smart automation. Let’s see how they do it.

The Challenge ⚔️

With intense competition on platforms like Amazon and TikTok Shop, brands constantly need to update product content, manage pricing, and optimize ad performance. Doing all that manually would take endless hours and a team of people.

The AI-Driven Solution 🤖

Instead of throwing manpower at the problem, Teikametrics turns to AI to do the heavy lifting. From analyzing thousands of data points to making real-time keyword updates, AI-powered tools optimize ad campaigns, pricing, and product visibility across platforms like Amazon and Walmart.

One example? A client saw a 75,000-keyword adjustment powered by AI—yes, 75,000! This wasn’t a guessing game. AI analyzed customer trends, competitor pricing, and search data, automatically tweaking keywords to boost ad performance and sales.

The Lesson 💡

AI isn’t just faster; it is smarter. By constantly updating product content and ad strategies, brands stay ahead of opportunities, resulting in higher visibility and better ROI. If you’re an ecommerce seller drowning in data, AI can be your secret weapon to stay ahead.

⚡️Worthy Mentions

• Meta’s new feature transforms lead generation with Messenger.

• DeepSeek unveils Janus Pro 7-B, surpassing DALL-E in image generation.

• Google Ads releases a bunch of major updates to Demand Gen campaigns.

• OpenAI launches Deep Research tool to revolutionize online research.

• JCPenney rolls out new e-commerce platform tailored for business clients.

Wrapping up…

Would we ever go a week without talking AI? Probably not 🤷‍♂️!

Last week, OpenAI’s Operator made waves, and now we’ve got AI optimizing ads, making calls, and even handling pharmacy deliveries. The playing field is wide open, and small brands that embrace AI now will definitely play long in the game.

Betting we’ll see more AI buzz next week, but until then, stay curious—and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button ⛷️!