Amazon to End Commingling Program After Years of Complaints Author: Allison Smith Date: September 17, 2025 Source: Modern Retail, The Amazon Effect --- Overview Amazon announced at its 2025 Accelerate seller conference that it will discontinue its controversial "commingling" program by the end of the year. This decision comes after years of complaints from brands and sellers about counterfeit and expired products being mixed with authentic items. --- What was the Commingling Program? Commingling pooled identical products from different sellers under one barcode. Purpose: Speed deliveries and save warehouse space. Issue: Allowed counterfeit or expired goods to mix with genuine ones, harming brands' reputations and making tracing difficult. Example: Johnson & Johnson pulled many products from Amazon in 2013 due to concerns over counterfeit and damaged goods. --- Reasons for Ending Commingling Amazon's logistics have improved, enabling storage closer to customers, reducing the speed advantage of pooled inventory. Brands spent approximately $600 million re-stickering products in the last year to combat counterfeit issues. Amazon aims to protect brands better and reduce seller frustrations related to counterfeit risks. --- Implications for Sellers and Brands Marks a shift away from resellers toward direct brand owner partnerships. Aligns with Amazon's recent moves like renewing direct sourcing partnerships with major brands such as Nike. Creates a tougher environment for third-party resellers on the platform. Sellers showed strong positive reactions to the announcement, more so than to other updates like new AI tools. --- Additional Amazon Initiatives Introduction of a new AI-powered "agentic" seller assistant to: Resolve support tickets. Optimize inventory and storage. Recommend business operation improvements. --- Related Context Amazon recently expanded its logistics services to competitors like Walmart, Shein, and Shopify. The decision underlines Amazon's strategy to strengthen trusted brand relationships and control over product authenticity on its marketplace. --- Summary Amazon's decision to end commingling addresses longstanding concerns about counterfeit goods harming brand reputations while leveraging advances in logistics technology. This move reinforces Amazon’s focus on brand protection and direct partnerships, reducing the presence and influence of independent resellers. --- Additional Reads from Modern Retail - Operations Modern Retail Podcast: Affirm’s Apple Pay strategy, Kroger’s coupon revival, and retail media networks. (Sept 20, 2025) Walmart's Surprise Expense: $400 million unexpected claims expense in Q2. (Sept 19, 2025) Marketplace Briefing: Amazon’s third-party logistics expanding to competitors like Shein and Walmart. (Sept 18, 2025) --- For more insights and updates, visit Modern Retail's Operations section.