AI Advertising in Ecommerce and How Sellers Can Use It

The Role of AI Advertising in Ecommerce 

Advertising in eCommerce has undergone a dramatic shift in the past few years. The old way of adjusting bids, picking keywords, and setting budgets was demanding work. Now, it has changed into something smarter: AI-driven advertising.  

Sellers on Amazon and Walmart can benefit from AI-powered advertising. It boosts ad performance, reduces wasted spending, lowers ACoS, and increases ROI. Best of all, it doesn’t need constant oversight.  

But how does AI advertising work? What practical benefits does it offer to sellers who don’t have the luxury of large marketing teams? How can small businesses use AI to stay competitive in a crowded market?  

This article explores how AI is shaping up in ecommerce advertising, with a focus on Amazon and Walmart sellers who are looking for cost-effective, hands-off solutions that deliver impactful results.  

The Advantage: Why SMB Sellers Need AI Advertising  

At its core, AI advertising is about leveraging machine learning to optimize eCommerce advertising campaigns. AI algorithms look at large data sets in real time. They analyze consumer behavior, competitive trends, and ad performance. Then use these insights to improve advertising decisions.  

How AI Advertising Improves Efficiency  

Advertising decisions were historically based on past performance and human intuition. As a small or medium-sized eCommerce business, your time is everything. You might not have enough employees, or the bandwidth to create and optimize campaigns. With AI, sellers can cut down on manual tasks. It takes away the need to spend hours on campaign optimization minutiae. So, what exactly does that optimization look like?  

Compared to manual adjustments, AI works in real time to optimize performance by: 

• Automating bid adjustments based on competition, conversion rates, and ROI potential. 

• Identifying the most effective keywords dynamically, rather than relying on static keyword lists. 

• Adjusting ad placements and audience targeting to maximize engagement and minimize wasted spend. 

• Continuously learning and adapting to trends, seasonal demand, and shifts in consumer behavior. 

For Amazon and Walmart sellers, these features lead to greater efficiency and improved performance.  

Additionally, with AI advertising you can control how involved you are. You can let the platform handle everything for you. Or, if you prefer some control, you can use your own keyword lists. You can also target other products, enable advanced settings, and fine-tune details to meet your business goals.   

The Disadvantage: What kind of businesses do not benefit from AI Advertising  

AI advertising may not be the right solution for every business. AI needs large data sets, constant tweaking, and clear trends to work well. But for some sellers, these benefits don’t lead to real results.  

Businesses with small ad budgets often find it hard to enjoy the full benefits of AI-driven optimization. Most AI tools need a significant level of ad spend to collect enough data for smart decisions. Sellers on a tight budget might find manual ad management cheaper. This way, they can control how they spend every dollar.  

Niche or seasonal sellers might find AI advertising less effective. This is often due to limited data and unpredictable demand cycles. AI optimization relies on past and current performance data for smart bidding and targeting. So, if a product sells only a few months each year or has uneven search volume, AI models may find it hard to provide useful insights. This challenge also impacts sellers in regulated areas. This includes CBD, alcohol, supplements, and adult products. Compliance rules can cause many ad rejections which leads to wasted money and even account suspensions. Since AI systems don’t always interpret advertising policies correctly, sellers in these industries often need manual oversight to navigate compliance hurdles.  

Additionally, businesses that rely primarily on organic traffic, influencer marketing, or community-driven sales may not benefit from AI-powered ads. For these businesses, investing in content creation, brand storytelling, and social media interactions may yield higher returns than AI-driven ad automation. While AI excels at optimizing paid advertising, it can’t replace the value of trust, loyalty, and organic brand-building. For sellers focused on PR, viral content, or influencer deals, AI advertising might be an unnecessary extra cost. By understanding when AI fits (and when it doesn’t) businesses can make smarter decisions.  

AI Advertising on Amazon and Walmart 

Amazon and Walmart both leverage AI-driven advertising to help sellers improve advertising. While they share similarities, their ad ecosystems operate differently, requiring tailored AI strategies. 

On Amazon, AI is deeply embedded in the advertising ecosystem, powering everything from bidding algorithms to dynamic ad placements. Machine learning models determine which ads shoppers see, how much advertisers pay per click, and which ad formats drive the highest conversions. Sellers who use Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Demand-Side Platform (DSP) benefit from AI’s ability to automate bids, refine targeting, and optimize ad creatives in real-time. AI ensures that high-performing keywords receive higher bids while preventing overspending on low-converting searches. It also enhances A/B testing, dynamically adjusting ad copy and images based on engagement data. 

Walmart’s AI-driven ad platform, Walmart Connect, operates differently by relying heavily on first-party shopper data. Unlike Amazon’s auction-based system, Walmart’s AI prioritizes predictive audience targeting; identifying which customers are most likely to buy based on their past behavior. AI also powers automated budget allocation, shifting ad spend toward the best-performing placements and adjusting bids based on peak shopping times. Additionally, Walmart’s omnichannel AI capabilities integrate in-store and online shopper data, helping sellers understand how digital ads impact brick-and-mortar sales. 

For sellers choosing between Amazon and Walmart (or running ads on both) understanding these AI-driven differences is key. Amazon’s real-time AI optimizations are essential for highly competitive product categories, while Walmart’s predictive AI targeting helps brands reach engaged, high-intent buyers across its ecosystem. Sellers who tailor their AI advertising strategies to fit each marketplace’s unique AI capabilities can see greater performance while reducing inefficiencies. 

How to Choose the Right Tool  

Picking the right AI tool means balancing automation, control, and data insights. Both Amazon and Walmart have AI-driven advertising solutions. However, third-party platforms offer more flexibility, customization, and better optimization options. This helps sellers improve their ad performance. The key is selecting a tool that aligns with your business size, budget, and advertising goals.  

Helium 10 Ads is perfect for sellers seeking an AI tool for Amazon PPC. It provides a hands-off but customizable way to manage ads. Its AI constantly checks bid efficiency, improves keyword strategies, and boosts ad performance to get the best return on ad spend. Helium 10 Ads automates bid adjustments in real time. It also finds high-converting keywords and filters out wasteful ones. This way, your ad budgets are spent efficiently. The platform offers sellers a mix of automation and control. You can set custom goals and make manual tweaks which boosts your strategy without taking over your decisions.  

Sellers should look at more than just automation. They need to think about how easy the tool is to use. Also, consider how transparent the data is and whether it works well across different platforms. A strong eCommerce AI advertising platform gives clear insights into ad performance to help sellers understand how their budgets are spent, and which strategies work best. If a seller is advertising across both Amazon and Walmart, choosing a tool with multi-platform integration is important for ensuring a cohesive advertising strategy across different marketplaces. The right AI tool should save time and help sellers grow. 

Advanced AI Ecommerce Advertising Strategy  

Amazon sellers who want to go beyond basic automation can use AI. It provides strong strategies that adjust spending, improve targeting, and optimize conversions in real time. One of the most impactful tactics is AI-driven budget reallocation, where machine learning continuously shifts ad spend toward the highest-performing campaigns and keywords. AI helps set dynamic budgets by finding the best ads, placements, and audiences. This way, it stops wasted spending on ads that don’t work and boosts investment in those that do. This makes sure your ad dollars work efficiently. It lowers ACoS and boosts conversions.  

Additionally, AI can arrange ads based on how shoppers behave. This helps guide potential buyers through a personalized funnel. Rather than repeatedly serving the same ad, AI adapts messaging and format based on engagement history. First-time visitors may see a Sponsored Display ad highlighting product benefits. Meanwhile, shoppers who left items in their carts might get a time-sensitive discount through Sponsored Brands ads. AI delivers ads at the right time and with the right message. This boosts conversions while keeping costs low. Also, inventory-aware AI advertising stops wasted money on low-stock items. It automatically pauses ads for nearly sold-out products. Then, it redirects the budget to in-stock, high-converting options.  

To further drive profitability, AI-powered bid stacking refines bids dynamically across different campaign levels. Instead of treating all keywords equally, AI raises bids on long-tail, low-competition keywords while reducing spend on expensive, high-competition terms during peak bidding hours. AI can spot when competitors lower their bids, like late at night or during slow sales. Then, it can raise its own bids to grab cheaper traffic. Sellers aiming to grow beyond Amazon can use AI-driven cross-channel optimization. This approach retargets Amazon visitors on platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok. It helps re-engage high-intent shoppers wherever they go online. Using these AI-driven strategies, sellers can improve their ad performance. They can cut costs and build a smart, data-driven Amazon ad plan that increases ROI.  

Now is the Time to Adopt AI into Your Ecommerce Strategy

AI advertising is no longer a futuristic concept; it’s a practical, accessible tool that sellers can leverage today to optimize performance and scale efficiently. However, AI is only valuable if it aligns with your business model, budget, and advertising goals. The key is monitoring performance closely, especially in the first 60 days, to assess whether AI-driven automation is delivering meaningful improvements for your campaigns. Understanding how AI impacts your ACoS, keyword efficiency, and conversion rates will help determine whether it’s the right fit for your products. 

With Helium 10 Ads, eCommerce sellers can tap into the same powerful AI-driven advertising strategies used by Fortune 100 brands. This means gaining access to innovative automation, AI-powered optimizations, and ongoing retailer innovations. All within an intuitive platform designed to simplify campaign management while maximizing return on ad spend. 

Next Steps for Sellers Looking to Implement AI Advertising  

1. Evaluate AI-powered ad platforms based on your specific needs  

2. Test AI-driven bidding and targeting strategies to see how automation improves performance  

3. Monitor and refine your AI-powered campaigns using data-driven insights  

Integrating AI into your advertising strategy can increase profitability by cutting waste and improving efficiency. Sellers who embrace AI-driven advertising today position themselves for smarter, more scalable growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace.