Amazon Vendor | The End of 1P vs 3P: Building a Hybrid Portfolio That Works

Amazon Vendor | The End of 1P vs 3P: Building a Hybrid Portfolio That Works

In this episode of Marketplace Masters, Paul Sonneveld [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsonneveld/] takes on the oldest debate in the Amazon world: 1P or 3P. Joining him are Sebastian Barrios [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-barrios/] and Stephan Putter [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-putter-08b844148/] of Leadsphere, a Mexico-based agency and certified Amazon Commerce partner running hybrid vendor and seller setups for brands across Amazon and MercadoLibre. Their argument: the best brands stopped choosing. 3P is your risk, experimentation and demand-creation channel. 1P rewards proven products. The real work is deciding, SKU by SKU, where each product belongs. Sebastián and Stefan explain why hybrid became urgent (Amazon's ongoing waves of vendor terminations, the most recent just nine days before recording, and 3P unit share declining for two consecutive quarters for the first time on record), the four-step allocation framework covering forecastability, velocity, price point and MAP sensitivity, and why running the same ASIN on both sides invites conflict with your vendor team. They also cover one content standard but two completely different advertising strategies, upper funnel on 1P and lower funnel on 3P, how distributor leakage (not Amazon) breaks your pricing, when hybrid is the wrong answer, and live audience questions on seller account gating and how to get Amazon to stop ordering an unprofitable ASIN.

Agency Best Practice | The Compounding Catalog: Optimize Listings for Better Ranking, Ad Efficiency, and AI Shopping

In this episode of Marketplace Masters, Paul Sonneveld [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsonneveld/] sits down with Alasdair McLean-Foreman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alasdairmcleanforeman/], one of Amazon's earliest third-party sellers and founder and CEO of Teikametrics, to unpack Amazon's July 27 listing overhaul: titles cut from 250 characters to 75, a new 125-character Item Highlights field, and AI rewrites that went live automatically if brands didn't respond in time. Ten days in, the results are a mixed bag, with some sellers reporting sales drops and even brand names stripped from titles. Alasdair explains why this is much bigger than a formatting change: it's Amazon restructuring its catalogue into machine-readable content for Alexa for Shopping and the agentic commerce era. They cover how to split titles versus item highlights, why your ads data is now your best content optimisation signal, where the biggest wins sit (long-tail catalogues, with lifts up to 135% on reactivated SKUs), and how the same shift is playing out on Walmart's Sparky and TikTok Shop. If your content and advertising teams still operate in silos, this episode makes the case for tearing that wall down before Q4. If you're getting value from Marketplace Masters, hit follow and forward this episode to whoever owns your content and retail media.

Agency Best Practice | The Third Shelf: How Amazon's AI Assistant Is Rewriting Product Discovery

In this episode of Marketplace Masters, Paul Sonneveld [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsonneveld/]talks with Christian Umbach [https://www.linkedin.com/in/umbach/], co-founder and CEO of Autopilot, about Amazon's "third shelf": the AI Shopping Assistant. Christian's team studied 2,000 non-branded queries and around 70,000 ASINs to decode how Alexa picks products, and the results break the rules brands optimise for. The headlines: 64% of top Alexa picks sat outside the organic top ten, 40% appeared nowhere on the traditional results page, and advertising won't buy you in. What does matter: 4.0+ ratings, availability, sales and review velocity, and catalogue quality. They also cover why apparel showed the most diversified AI results, how ChatGPT sources 45% of its shopping carousel from Google Shopping, and why your Amazon data discipline is now an asset across every AI search surface. If your Amazon strategy stops at organic and paid, this is your wake-up call.

Amazon Vendor | Inside Amazon Direct Fulfillment: The Operational Playbook for 1P Vendors

In this episode of Marketplace Masters, host Paul Sonneveld [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsonneveld/] goes deep on the operational side of Amazon Direct Fulfillment with Chris Khoo [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-khoo-commerce/], founder of KhooCommerce and one of the most experienced operators in the Amazon vendor world. Most vendors treat Direct Fulfillment as "FBM for 1P," backup inventory, or a chargeback eraser. Chris explains why the reality is more demanding, and more valuable. Amazon calls it dual fulfillment internally, and used well it protects the buy box, bridges out-of-stock gaps, and captures demand spikes that traditional PO cycles simply can't respond to fast enough. Paul and Chris covered: * Which products are built for DF: bulky, high-value, multi-part, and seasonal items, and why small, low-value products rarely justify the handling cost * The real disqualifier: whether your warehouse can actually run direct-to-consumer fulfilment alongside palletised PO shipments * A day in the life of a well-run DF operation: order sync, batch picking, label automation, and carrier cutoff times * How Amazon measures DF performance, why on-time shipping compliance is the metric that can get you removed from the program, and who really controls the carrier (AOC vs VOC) * EDI vs SP-API integration, and why the inventory feed is the link most vendors overlook * How to think about margin and cost recovery when Amazon pushes DF in your annual vendor negotiation * Real cases: the vendor who went from one order a day to 400 in 48 hours unprepared, and the glassware brand shipping millions per month through a fully automated DF flow If you run a Vendor Central account, this is a serious upgrade to your operational playbook.

Amazon Vendor | Canada First: The 2P / Account-as-a-Service Model for Brands Entering Amazon North America

Is Canada the smartest—and most overlooked—gateway into North America for Amazon brands? In this episode of Marketplace Masters, Paul Sonneveld [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsonneveld/] is joined by Sebastien Masson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/s%C3%A9bastien-masson-amazon-guru/], Founder of Account as a Service (AAAS), explored why Canada offers a compelling opportunity for brands expanding internationally. They discussed the advantages of lower competition, cheaper Amazon CPCs, stronger review generation, and how a 2P/Account as a Service model can simplify market entry while reducing operational complexity.  Topics Covered: *  Why Amazon Canada is an attractive expansion market  *  Canada vs. US: competition, profitability, and CPCs  *  1P vs. 2P vs. 3P explained  *  How the Account as a Service (AAAS) model works  *  Managing bilingual requirements and Canadian compliance  *  Building momentum before expanding into the US  *  Common mistakes brands make when entering Canada