Thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs convened September 14-15 for Amazon’s annual seller conference, Amazon Accelerate 2022. The third annual event, held virtually and in-person in Seattle, is dedicated to accelerating sellers’ success—whether they are already selling in Amazon’s store or are aspiring entrepreneurs. The event is designed to inspire, engage, educate, and connect sellers with each other and with the Amazon teams dedicated to their success.

Sellers participating in Buy with Prime can now utilize new marketing solutions to increase sales and help attract more engaged shoppers to their brand’s store.

New innovations announced at the conference

Amazon is continually innovating to build new and expanded capabilities to empower its selling partners. During the conference, we announced many new and improved products, tools, and services to support small business success. Those announcements included:

  • Amazon Customer Engagement’s Tailored Audiences
    New tools to help brands build loyalty through expanded email marketing capabilities, empowering brand owners to reach and re-target their recent, repeat, and high-spend customers—for free.
  • Analytics and data capability improvements
    New features and enhancements to Amazon’s industry-leading tools, including Manage Your Experiments and Search Analytics Dashboard, that make it easier for sellers to tap into rich customer insights and powerful analytics to help them launch amazing new products and increase their sales.
  • Buy with Prime Marketing solutions
    Five months after launching Buy with Prime, we are excited to offer new marketing solutions for participating sellers, including Sponsored Brands ads on Amazon, Amazon-funded social media ads, and the Buy with Prime Marketing Toolkit, which lends Prime branding to seller marketing.
  • Veeqo
    A multi-channel shipping solution that simplifies managing and fulfilling orders. Acquired by Amazon earlier this year, Veeqo helps sellers cut shipping costs while increasing the speed of fulfilling customer orders. Veeqo is launching in the U.S. and is now available for free.
  • Customers ask Alexa
    A new Alexa capability that makes it easier for brands to connect with customers to help answer common questions and better inform their purchase decisions.

Insights from guest speaker, Venus Williams

Legendary tennis champion Venus Williams—also a successful entrepreneur with her own line of athletic apparel called EleVen by Venus—was among the guest speakers at the conference. She shared her perspective on launching a brand, facing adversity, and building a successful online business.

An image of Venus Williams interviewing on a conference stage
Amazon Worldwide Selling Partner Services Vice President Dharmesh Mehta speaks with legendary tennis champion and entrepreneur Venus Williams.

“I don’t see challenge as an issue. I see it as something that will never stop me, and even if it stops me temporarily—and I have, so to speak, failed—it’s just a moment for me. I will never accept failure, ever,” Williams said. “If you’re doing something positive, someone else is going to see that, someone else is going to be motivated by that. Someone else is going to see themselves in you and say, ‘Wow, I can do that too.’”

Williams is one of the nearly 2 million selling partners selling in Amazon’s store, and she highlighted some of the ways Amazon has accelerated her selling journey.

“[Amazon] gives you an opportunity to start, get immediate feedback, and be able to understand how you can improve—and then do more of what’s already happening that you’re doing right,” she said.

What Amazon sellers had to say

Throughout the Accelerate 2022 conference, entrepreneurs and small business owners connected with one another and Amazon leaders to share their stories and experiences building their businesses in Amazon’s store, reinforcing the value of Amazon’s selling community.

Images from the Accelerator 2022 Amazon seller conference
One of the thousands of sellers who attended Amazon Accelerate 2022.
Images from the Accelerator 2022 Amazon seller conference

“Every time I talk to somebody, I always learn something new about how they’re running their business, something I haven’t thought of before, an idea that maybe completely blows my mind,” said Colin McIntosh with Sheets & Giggles. “And that’s the best part about networking with other consumer brands, is you really start to understand the areas you’re missing—and then you get to teach them things too.”

“I was just excited to be here,” added Shambrekía Wise from Sightseeing with Sandy. “Being around warm, like-minded people who want to see you succeed, from your partners at Amazon to other partners that are here and present, to just sellers. It’s really nice to be in a community that gets it, and we want to see each other win.”

Building a community for sellers on Amazon

Amazon’s investments in the success of its thriving seller community fuel business growth for its selling partners, as well as a better customer experience, as Amazon Worldwide Stores CEO Doug Herrington explained.

“Without our sellers, the Amazon store's experience that our customers know and love would not exist. And we are blessed to have 2 million selling partners working with us to serve our customers,” Herrington said.

Two men sit on a conference stage talking
Amazon Worldwide Stores CEO Doug Herrington speaks with Amazon Worldwide Selling Partner Services Vice President Dharmesh Mehta.
Images from the Accelerator 2022 Amazon seller conference
Amazon Vice President of Brand Protection Mary Beth Westmoreland, speaks with Claire O'Donnell, director of Selling Partner Empowerment, Communities, and Trust.

The majority of Amazon’s selling partners are small and medium-sized businesses and are responsible for more than half of Amazon’s physical product sales. Sellers in our store have also employed and provided jobs for more than 1.5 million people across the U.S.

For sellers who missed this year’s event or want to re-watch their favorite session, all keynotes and breakouts from Accelerate 2022 are available on-demand for free.

Amazon Accelerate 2022 Highlights | Amazon News