The XCELERATE Journal
Practical analysis of marketplace advertising, catalogue, account health and operations on Amazon, Walmart, eBay and TikTok Shop, written by the team that runs them.
All articles
Loading Article image
Amazon Ads' AI Creative Tools After unBoxed 2026: What They Make, and What a Brand Still Has to Supply
On 29 September 2026 Amazon Ads put its generative creative tools inside Amazon Ads Agent and quoted up to 71% more product coverage for the brands using them. What the four generators produce, what they read to produce it, and the creative work that has to exist before any of it is worth switching on.
Branded Conversations: What Alexa for Shopping Will Say About Your Brand, and What to Write Down Before January 2027
Amazon Ads announced Branded Conversations on 29 September 2026: from January 2027, US brands can give Alexa for Shopping their own expertise to use when a shopper keeps talking. What it reads, what a brand supplies, and the brand guidelines that have to exist before a machine speaks for you.
Your Amazon Brand Store Is Now Something Amazon's AI Reads: What It Looks For, and How to Build a Store That Reads Right
Amazon's Branded Conversations and Creative Agent both draw on the Brand Store, and Amazon's section-level insights show which parts of it shoppers use. What the Store has become since 2026, what Amazon's own tools take from it, and the structure that makes it legible to a shopper and a machine at once.
Tagging AI-Generated People in A+ Content and Listing Images: Amazon's Rule, What Counts, and What to Do
Amazon now requires a metadata tag on any listing image, A+ module or video that shows a photorealistic AI-generated person, in every store. The rule in Amazon's words, the four exclusions, the A+ checkboxes, the questions Amazon has not answered, and how to run lifestyle content under it.
TikTok Shop's AI-Generated Content Rules, Effective 2 September 2026: What a Listing Image or Video May and May Not Be
TikTok Shop updated its AI-generated content rules for US sellers, creators and affiliates on 2 September 2026. What must be labelled, what AI may never change about a product, the uses TikTok says are fine, the image rules that sit underneath, and what it means for a brand building its listing images and videos.
TikTok Shop Main Image Rules from 1 September 2026: Front View, White Background, and the Five-Image Good Tier
TikTok Shop's Product Listing Policy took effect on 1 September 2026 with a tighter main image rule, and its listing quality guidelines of July 2026 put a floor of five images under the Good tier. The spec in TikTok's words, how it differs from Amazon's, what the tiers change, and a main image process that passes both.