Tariffs suspended for 90 days, Amazon proactively cuts off maximum external traffic, causing significant decline in seller sales
Date：2025-08-01 10:41:00 View：
Recently, there has been a new trend in the trade between China and the United States, which has finally calmed down the hearts of many cross-border sellers who have been hanging in suspense for a moment. However, behind this stability lies a new hidden worry.
It should have been the peak season for sales in summer, but the sales of cross-border platforms are like encountering a sudden cold winter, with a chilling atmosphere. Especially after the shopping frenzy of Prime Day, the lively sales scene that should have continued did not appear, but instead fell into the embarrassing dilemma of a double line decline in traffic.
The so-called double line shrinkage of traffic:
On the one hand, there has been a significant decline in natural traffic within the platform, resulting in a decrease in proactive search and browsing behavior among potential customers on the platform
On the other hand, the effect of external traffic attraction is not as good as before, and the traffic attracted to the platform through social media, advertising and other channels is also continuously decreasing.
According to authoritative foreign media reports, from July 28th to 29th local time, high-level economic and trade officials from China and the United States held a highly anticipated latest round of talks in Stockholm, Sweden. In this meeting, both sides had in-depth and candid exchanges and consultations on the issue of tariffs.
After some discussion, both sides finally reached an important consensus: the suspension of the 24% portion of the US tariffs on China, which were originally scheduled to expire soon, as well as China's corresponding countermeasures, will be postponed for 90 days according to the original plan.
This decision was like a 'reassurance pill', which temporarily relieved the market. This means that the enormous pressure brought about by the globally concerned "equivalent tariffs" will not escalate sharply in the short term, providing a valuable buffer period for Sino US trade and related industries.
On the weekend of July 27th, many sellers operating on Amazon US seemed to have suddenly been pushed into an ice cellar and encountered an unexpected "sales Waterloo", with their performance plummeting.
According to the feedback from sellers, the order volume of products in multiple categories has shown a sharp decline, and the conversion rate has been cut in half. The once bustling stores have become deserted. Industry insiders have conducted in-depth analysis and believe that the recent sharp decline in seller sales is mainly attributed to two key factors.
1. Consumer purchasing power decline
Several experienced sellers have pointed out that during Prime Day, consumers' shopping enthusiasm was fully ignited, and consumer demand showed a concentrated and explosive release, which directly led to temporary weakness in purchasing power in the future.
There is research data that provides strong evidence for this viewpoint. According to Coresight's latest survey, during this year's Prime Day, 48% of surveyed consumers stated that they had completed their major shopping plans, which is significantly higher than last year's 38%. Meanwhile, 43% of consumers spent more than the same period last year, compared to only 31% last year.
2. Platform 'interception': Google ad portal closed
What shocked sellers even more was that Amazon recently suspended Google Shopping advertising on a large scale globally, including core markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. This measure is like a heavy bomb, causing a huge uproar among the seller community.
The data from industry monitoring agency Smarter E-commerce clearly reveals this huge change.
Between July 21st and 23rd, Amazon's average display share of Google Shopping ads on its US, UK, and Germany sites plummeted from around 60%, 55%, and 38% respectively to almost zero!
This means that the channel for sellers to obtain traffic through Google Shopping Ads has been suddenly cut off, resulting in a significant reduction in the exposure and traffic of the store, and sales have naturally been severely affected.
It is worth noting that Amazon's move was not a last-minute or hasty decision. According to a previous report by foreign media Insider, internal sources indicate that Amazon has been gradually reducing Google's advertising budget since the first quarter of 2024 and plans to maintain it at a low level throughout the year.
As early as May, Amazon had significantly reduced its Google Shopping advertising spending in the US market by 50%. This series of actions indicates that Amazon is systematically adjusting its advertising strategy, while sellers have become "victims" in this transformation.
Faced with the profound changes that may occur in the traffic pattern, sellers cannot sit idly by and must actively adjust their strategies to cope with this sudden challenge. On the one hand, we need to accelerate the development of external traffic channels such as social media (TikTok Shop, Pinterest, Meta), content marketing, and affiliate marketing, and reduce dependence on a single source of traffic.