As we approach 2025, let us be the first to say: What a year 2024 is!
From jaw-dropping innovations to moments that had us saying “Wait, Amazon did what?”, this year gave us a lot to talk about.
So, let’s talk about them, shall we?
IT'S A WRAP
With only a few days away from 2025, we have an important question for you: Are you ready to face the new challenges and embrace the new year's changes?
We hope so because we can only expect a fiercer competition. But before diving into 2025, let’s take a moment to reflect on the biggest Amazon headlines that defined 2024—and the lessons and leverage they gave.
🧰 New features and innovations
- Retailers embraced conversational commerce. Businesses enhance customer engagement through more human-like conversational commerce tools, improving user experience. Of course, Amazon’s AI was quick to lead this evolution.
- Amazon launched Rufus. Amazon partnered with Anthropic to launch Rufus, an AI-powered shopping assistant.
- Amazon rolled out 5 new visual search features to enhance shopping experience and achieved a 70% YoY increase in visual searches.
- Visual suggestions
- Text-to-image searches
- “More Like This”
- Product videos;
- “Circle to Search”
- Virtual try-on race. Walmart and Amazon enhanced their digital try-on features with augmented reality.
- Walmart expanded its virtual try-on options for beauty products.
- Amazon offered virtual try-ons for apparel.
💼 New programs and services
- Sustainability pledge expansion. Amazon launched the Sustainability Exchange to grant free access to proprietary decarbonization resources. This aims to accelerate global supply chain sustainability and share insights from the company’s net-zero journey.
- Amazon's inventory restocking service: Amazon Business introduced an inventory restocking service, streamlining the supply chain for businesses and ensuring product availability.
- Amazon's Veeqo profit analyzer. Amazon introduced the Veeqo profit analyzer, which provides sellers with tools to analyze profitability and make informed business decisions.
- Amazon Haul. The ecommerce giant launched a low-cost online storefront that features products under $20. While not explicitly said, Amazon Haul is its main weapon against discount retailers like Shein and Temu.
📣 Record-breaking events
- Amazon Accelerate 2024 Conference: Amazon’s annual Accelerate conference announced multiple new products and services for selling partners, including a fully managed supply chain solution.
- Prime Day 2024. Amazon's Prime Day generated a record-breaking $14.2 billion in sales, with Amazon seeing a 136% increase in sales. On the other hand, competitors like TikTok and Walmart experienced smaller boosts.
- Prime Big Deal Days 2024. Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days 2024 kicked off on October 8–9, offering major savings to start the holiday season. The event emerged strong with a 42% increase in sales compared with 2023.
- BFCM 2024. Black Friday saw record online sales approaching $11 billion, up 10% from last year. In-store traffic fell 8%, reflecting the continued shift toward e-commerce and mobile shopping.
🤝 Never-before-seen collaborations
- Buy with Prime x Paypal. At Amazon Accelerate 2024, Amazon announced that Buy with Prime now supports PayPal at checkout for API-integrated brands.
- Starting next year, Prime members can link their Amazon account to PayPal for automatic access to Prime shipping benefits.
- Amazon x TikTok. Amazon announced a collaboration with TikTok, integrating shopping features to reach a broader audience and enhance the shopping experience.
✨ Looking ahead to 2025
What a ride 2024 has been!
From groundbreaking innovations to the expansion of sustainable practices and enhanced shopping experiences, this year has truly set the stage for what's to come. And as we close the book this year, we can't help but feel excited for 2025.
With even more tech and forward-thinking solutions on the horizon, it's safe to say that the future of ecommerce looks brighter than ever.
