LAS VEGAS – It’s time to run back through the exciting times that Amazon sellers, exhibitors, advisory council members and all other interested parties had at the Prosper Show earlier this month. Looking back at the logistics, the move to The Wynn was a major win. The expo floor layout was a significant upgrade over the Convention Center, allowing us to navigate the booth sections without feeling crunched.
I know it’s not always easy to get to the big keynotes when you’re networking, but overall, the effort put into this show paid off. I’m already continuing conversations with new clients and looking forward to 2027, which means this year’s Prosper worked for attendees and exhibitors alike.
One of the biggest takeaways from the show, and something Jeff Cohen (chief business development officer at Skai) hammered home in his keynote, is the disappearing “middle class” of Amazon sellers. We aren’t seeing a lot of room for the slow-growing 7-figure brand anymore.
You have to be “all-in” and plan to grow fast, not just to keep up with competition (who’s likely willing to invest a lot, too) but to eat away at their sales. Invest resources early and often, without any “set it and forget it” mentalities. Those days are gone.
Cohen’s main takeaway was crystal clear: The profit gap is widening and the data proves it. Amazon is still everyone’s biggest pie piece, but there’s a lot more to selling private label products now than simply throwing a listing up on Amazon and expecting your brand to fly with minimum attention or management. Sleeping on that fact means a rough and tumble Amazon year, and every brand needs to understand that well by this point.
Brands that anticipate market shifts will continue to accelerate their growth while ones that just react to them stagnate. In 2026, you cannot afford to be in the latter group. Making slow (or no) changes is a recipe for being left behind. This goes for things like managing operating expenses, ad spend, marketing budgets, and inventory management—along with, you guessed it, how much time and money you lose misunderstanding the appeals process when Amazon flags certain ASINs—or even entire accounts for investigation and potential suspension.
On the show floor, fellow former Prosper speaker Leah McHugh and I invested our time tackling the appeals challenges that keep sellers up at night. I found myself discussing account suspensions and escalation appeals more than I anticipated (which is saying something), proving that these issues remain a constant threat.
What makes Prosper great is that whether you’re in the exhibition hall, eating lunch next to brand owner attendees, or walking the hallways between talks, there’s plenty of time and opportunity to engage in detailed conversations. We love to share our knowledge and we need to hear seller stories, and ask follow-up questions, to clarify the best ways we can assist brands.
Prosper affords us those chances to collaborate on solutions and provides us with up close and personal client connections more than other large conferences that we attend.
What else is hot off this year’s Prosper press? AI-driven listing takedowns, which have become a double-edged sword. While they cause immediate chaos, we addressed how they can often be reversed in a matter of hours if you understand the specific triggers. Listing attributes and flat file management matters. Let us review and talk you through possible ASIN flags.
Leah had some fascinating conversations around international compliance and the “Build International Listing” tool. A lot of sellers are pushing products into Canada or Europe without realizing that regulations don’t move with the click of a button. They come to Prosper Show to locate expert insights into the problems Amazon won’t identify on calls or via emails.
The most common phrase we heard? “We never had a problem with this before, so Amazon must be making a mistake.”
Our response? “You just never got caught before.” Whether it’s pesticide claims or unallowable packaging content, enforcement is tightening. The gap is widening between the “pros” who audit their compliance and the “strugglers” who are waiting for the next hit to their account health.
We also spent significant time encouraging Amazon sellers to report abuse, but properly! Amazon’s systems for handling competitor attacks have matured, and we urged sellers to stop tolerating nonsense and start utilizing these reporting tools effectively to protect their revenue.
And of course, you couldn’t walk five feet in the exhibit hall without seeing “AI” plastered on a backdrop. If you’re playing AI catch up or seeking out new strategies for optimizing Amazon sales, or remedying Amazon account problems, the time is now. Don’t put it off, as many attendees and exhibitors told us repeatedly.
We focused on errant use of AI for appeals (a lot) and the consensus across all levels of Amazon expertise remains this: the tools are only as good as your inputs! Don’t make it a crutch you use to fill in some blanks on your side, due to a lack of knowledge or strategic methodology.
We’re seeing a massive influx of what I call “Golden Shovel” appeals, long, winded, important-sounding filler that says little to nothing. AI appears to add that material in to help sell it, or make it look like a real appeal. Yikes! Don’t do that. You just extend the appeals process, cost yourself cash, and make life overall worse.
As we build on client cases discussed during the Prosper Show, we look forward to continuing other conversations with brands trying to figure out all things Amazon this year, into next. Prosper 2027 is a long ways off right now, but it’s never too early to strategize. See you soon.
Chris McCabe is the founder of ecommerceChris.