In an exclusive interview with PYMNTS, Mary Beth Westmoreland, vice‑president of Worldwide Selling Partner Experience at Amazon, said the company has moved beyond a “smaller set of capabilities” to onboarding “hundreds” of sellers onto the expanded Seller Assistant platform.
The upgraded assistant does more than respond to queries; it can continuously analyze a seller’s catalog, track demand signals, evaluate pricing and advertising performance, and flag compliance issues. With explicit permission, the system can also execute actions such as updating product listings or adjusting ad spend.
Amazon frames the shift as a way to reduce the frequency with which sellers need to ask questions, freeing up managerial attention. Westmoreland explained that the AI builds a “personalized understanding” of each merchant’s goals, patterns and operating preferences, effectively creating a long‑term memory of the business.
Sellers can describe desired automations in plain language and let the assistant run them 24/7. For example, a home‑wares merchant could ask the AI to prepare for the fourth quarter; the system would evaluate current demand, historical performance and category trends, then propose changes to product descriptions, keywords, pricing and promotions. The seller reviews the visual scenarios and authorizes any changes.
Amazon is also integrating the assistant with its Amazon Quick tool and, in beta, with Anthropic’s Claude model, allowing sellers to access the AI without navigating the traditional Seller Central dashboard. Roughly 90 % of Amazon’s selling partners already use some form of third‑party AI, and the new plugin aims to bring Amazon’s own intelligence directly into those workflows.
A real‑world illustration came from sneaker‑accessories seller Proof Culture, which used an AI agent to spot an upcoming sneaker release, check Amazon inventory, recommend restocking, draft a purchase order and generate an internal email about expected demand. The chatbot itself was incidental; the underlying automation pipeline was the strategic asset.
Amazon emphasizes that sellers retain ultimate control. All data stays within Amazon’s infrastructure, and any action taken by the assistant requires explicit seller approval. Westmoreland noted that “the vast majority of our selling partners are now using Seller Assistant… not only are they using it, but they’re trusting it,” citing a 90 % acceptance rate for the assistant’s recommendations.
The move signals Amazon’s broader ambition to become the intelligence and execution layer for its marketplace, shifting the value proposition from generative AI that compresses individual tasks to an agentic commerce model that handles continuous operational work while preserving human oversight.