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Good morning.
And who said fall was only for pumpkin spice and apple pie?
0/10 would not try. Fun thing to see on the timeline though… Anyways, let’s get into it.
🤖 Amazon puts Seller Central inside Claude
Amazon launched a Selling Partner plugin that connects Seller Central data and actions directly to Claude and Amazon Quick.
Sellers can analyze live sales, inventory, listings and performance data, then approve actions such as pricing changes or restocks without leaving their AI assistant.
Seller Assistant also gained persistent memory and automated workflows that can monitor ratings, account health, and competitive pricing around the clock. Sellers set the rules and receive a full audit trail.
The announcement comes days after Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse from shopping on its marketplace, suggesting Amazon is open to outside AI agents when they connect through Amazon’s rules and infrastructure. The plugin is now in beta for U.S. sellers.
🛑 Nobody wants to talk about bidets. TUSHY's customers won't shut up about them.
Getting a skeptical shopper to try a bidet is one challenge. Getting them to come back and recommend it to their friends takes a strong retention program.
On September 29, Ren Fuller-Wasserman, VP of Customer Experience at TUSHY, is breaking down how the brand built theirs, including:
Join Okendo and Ren on Tuesday, September 29 at 2 PM ET for the full breakdown and a live Q&A.
Can’t make it live? Register anyway and Okendo will send you the recording.
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🛍️ Google brings Shopify checkout into AI Mode
Google is notifying eligible Shopify merchants that customers can purchase their products directly inside AI Mode and Gemini.
Eligible U.S. stores may be enrolled automatically when Shopify and Merchant Center are connected. Merchants keep the customer and order relationship, although some checkout blocks, bundles, custom pixels, and client-side Google Analytics tracking are not supported.
The rollout arrives as Google’s AI search features become more common. Comscore found that AI Overviews appeared in 39.4% of U.S. desktop searches in June, up from 25.8% in July 2025.
Check Sales channels > Agentic in Shopify, confirm whether checkout is enabled, and review how orders will be measured.
đź‘€ Google AI Mode adds product comparisons
Google AI Mode has begun showing products side by side in comparison tables that include images and reviews. See the screenshot here.
The format gives shoppers a faster way to evaluate several options before purchasing while giving Google more influence over which product details receive attention.
Review the information supplied through Merchant Center and your product pages. Titles, images, specifications, review data, and differentiating attributes should make each item’s value easy to understand.
🛑 Pattern interrupts still work
@majzulic spotted an Atria creative using the “sorry our designer is on vacation” trend that circulated on social media a few months ago. Despite being an older format, it is reportedly the brand’s second-best ad.
The MS Paint interface, handwritten copy, and intentionally rough layout interrupt the polished feed, while the offer and 24-hour deadline remain easy to understand.
Trend-based creative can still work after its initial peak when the joke fits the execution and the promotion stays clear.
đź’ˇ 3 paid media plays to test this BFCM
Q4, or Q$ as we like to call it, is right around the corner. Even if you haven’t been preparing all year, there is still time to run a few focused tests before BFCM.
Here are three plays from a Pilothouse senior strategist to help brands prepare their paid strategy for Q4.
1. Use Micro-Holidays to Test Your BFCM Offer
Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Halloween, and the lead-up to Thanksgiving may not all justify a major promotion, but they can give you smaller opportunities to test your BFCM offer.
Compare structures like tiered discounts, free gifts with purchase, free shipping, or percentage-off thresholds. Use conversion rate, average order value, contribution margin, and customer response to see which offers are worth carrying forward.
You can also use these campaigns to test broader sale and urgency creative before BFCM. Messages like “Sitewide Sale,” “This Is It,” and “Last Chance” can start collecting delivery data, engagement, and social proof ahead of the main event.
When BFCM begins, relaunch the strongest versions and compare them against newly introduced creative.
2. Build Your Early-Access List Before BFCM
Paid media costs often rise during Q4 as more advertisers increase their BFCM budgets.
Pilothouse recommends testing lead-generation campaigns in the week before BFCM, using early access to the sale as the incentive to sign up.
A lead will generally cost less to acquire than a customer, giving brands a lower-cost audience they can reach through email or SMS once the promotion begins.
3. Stay Active During BFCM
Some brands pause paid media during BFCM because of seasonality or historical performance. Others focus primarily on retargeting existing customers and driving repeat purchases.
Across Pilothouse accounts, an average of 70% of BFCM sales came from new customers.
November can still create a meaningful acquisition opportunity. Consumers expect major promotions during BFCM, and many are actively planning holiday purchases.
That can apply even to brands outside their usual peak season. Some Pilothouse clients operating outside their traditional peak have recorded more than 150% year-over-year growth in November, with gains continuing into the following year and their respective peak seasons.
Use the weeks ahead to test offers, build an early-access audience, and identify the creative most likely to carry into BFCM. Then stay active during the event and let the results guide where you scale.
🛍️ Your product category should shape your website and email design
There’s no universal formula for a high-converting ecommerce experience. A hat shopper has different questions than someone buying underwear, a $1,000 coat, or groceries online.
On this TWBERP episode, Jordan breaks down how four brands adapt their emails and websites around the specific challenges of what they sell.
Lack of Color: Choice matters when shoppers are particular about fit and style, so the brand leans into product-heavy emails and category pages that surface more of the assortment.
Devon + Lang: If paid traffic lands directly on a PDP, treat that page like a shoppable homepage. Their product pages combine reviews, sizing, bundles, education, video, and even information about the artists behind the patterns.
DÔEN: Luxury shoppers need a different experience. Editorial layouts, carefully selected imagery, and even sold-out products help reinforce exclusivity around higher price points.
Nutrition: A huge catalog creates a discovery problem. Its emails organize products through new arrivals, recommendations, dietary goals, food categories, and educational content to give shoppers more ways in.
▶️ Watch here | 🎧 Listen on Spotify
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