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Walmart adds marketplace data, deeper AI features to Scintilla insights platform. Walmart's first-party data platform for merchants and suppliers, Scintilla, is getting a big upgrade next year. As part of first-party data and analytics division Walmart Data Ventures' Inspire conference this week, the company announced several new Scintilla features coming next year, including access to marketplace data, customizable dashboards, custom alerts, a deeper version of its Marty agent for Scintilla, and a closer link between the Scintilla data platform and both the Scintilla In-Store supplier app and Walmart's replenishment systems. "We're having one consistent approach of working and collaborating with our suppliers, and eventually marketplace sellers, as well, giving them the full visibility so that we can actually push the right business or push the right experience to our customers wherever they are," Mark Hardy, head of Walmart Data Ventures, told Modern Retail. First-party Walmart suppliers who also sell on Walmart's marketplace will be able to see their marketplace data via Scintilla beginning next year. Hardy said by including marketplace data, Scintilla users will be able to see the full breadth of their Walmart.com business. Amit Dodeja, CMO of e-commerce accelerator Spreetail, said his team had been encouraging Walmart to open up more access to marketplace data as more proprietary data makes it easier for brands to understand what's working or not working in terms of advertising, pricing, etc. "It's a wise move for Walmart to head in that direction," Dodeja said. "It only strengthens the confidence that a third-party seller has on their platform." Scintilla is not yet available to those who solely sell on the Walmart marketplace, and there are no plans to make the platform available to them at this time, according to a Walmart spokesperson. The new dashboards will connect data sets together so users can see in the same place whether sales are growing or declining alongside how customer behaviors are changing and how the supply chain is behaving, such as if consumers are leaving the brand or if inventory isn't in the right place. Hardy said this "allows us now to provide visibility across all data sets, making individual data sets only relevant to subject-matter experts." The expanded AI functionality will allow Scintilla's Marty AI assistant to look across all data sets and alert users to help them understand what is happening in their business performance. Currently, AI within Scintilla is limited to use cases such as explaining what a metric means or the features and capabilities of Scintilla, or highlighting changes in a report, or summarizing findings, Hardy said. "What we're doing now is taking AI and moving from summarizing findings or highlighting key points to, now, [making] recommendations," Hardy said, adding that it may tell users why customers are lapsing and what they can do in areas such as supply chain or advertising to fix that. "It'll allow you now to... bring all those data points together and help you get to the conclusion of what you should do next." While not offering it to marketplace-only sellers quite yet, Walmart has been expanding access to Scintilla: Just last month, the company said it plans to expand the platform to Sam's Club suppliers in the U.S. next year. In February, Walmart launched Scintilla In-Store, a a new iteration of Volt, a platform acquired by Walmart in 2022, which gives supplier field representatives visibility to store-level data. Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on the company's second-quarter earnings call last month that Walmart Data Ventures "continues to drive meaningful growth," though the company doesn't disclose the division's revenue in its public financial statements. "Users value the platform's enhanced decision intelligence capabilities, which uncovered shared growth opportunities across Walmart's formats and markets." Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that sellers will only be able to see the full breadth of their Walmart.com customers via Scintilla next year, and they cannot see what all customers are purchasing at Walmart.

Senators seek review of Amazon AI origin claims: A seller evidence checklist. September 18, 2026 Amazon What happened. On September 17, Senators Tammy Baldwin and Rick Scott called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Amazon and Walmart over alleged suppression of American-made products in AI shopping results and failures to address misleading origin labels. Their letter identifies Amazon's Alexa for Shopping and Walmart's Sparky, and cites a report alleging that the assistants could identify product-origin information but did not consistently surface it. These are the lawmakers' allegations and a request for investigation - not an FTC finding of wrongdoing. [1] For marketplace sellers, the immediate operational issue is narrower than the political debate: can each origin claim on a listing be supported, and does the customer see the same claim across text, images and product variations? What this does - and does not - change. The letter asks the FTC to investigate potential suppression and strengthen enforcement against false "Made in USA" claims. It does not announce a new Amazon seller requirement, a compliance deadline or a confirmed change to shopping rankings. Nor should the chatbot responses quoted in the letter be treated as independent proof of either company's internal motives or policies. [1] The underlying compliance standard already exists. FTC staff guidance says an unqualified "Made in USA" claim requires final assembly or processing in the United States, all significant processing there, and all or virtually all ingredients or components made and sourced there. Marketers need competent and reliable evidence, and must review their substantiation as sourcing changes. Qualified claims must also be truthful and supported; adding a qualification is not a universal safe harbor. [2] The guidance also distinguishes a U.S. brand or business address from a product-origin claim and warns that imagery can create an implied claim depending on the overall impression. Sellers should therefore assess the whole offer, not merely a country field. [2] Seller analysis: audit the claim before optimizing discovery. The following is its operational analysis, not an additional platform rule or legal advice. * Build a SKU-level evidence file. Record the manufacturer, production and assembly locations, relevant component information, supplier statements and the date reviewed. Do not substitute a supplier's U.S. mailing address for manufacturing evidence. * Check every customer-facing surface. Compare the title, bullets, description, image badges, packaging and variation-specific information. If one variation has a different supply chain, review it separately rather than inheriting a family-wide origin claim. * Separate service location from product origin. For computer and electronics sellers, describe local testing, configuration or support precisely when substantiated. Do not turn those services into a blanket statement that the underlying device was manufactured in the United States. * Correct unsupported language first. Pause disputed origin advertising while obtaining documentation and appropriate compliance review. Do not add patriotic badges or stronger claims merely to make an AI assistant recommend the item. * Test discovery with a reproducible log. Save the query, date, product identifier, answer and linked listing when an assistant gives contradictory information. Submit a focused correction request through the relevant platform channel. A screenshot helps document an output; it does not prove intentional suppression or guarantee a ranking remedy. The commercial takeaway. Treat origin accuracy and AI discoverability as separate workstreams. Evidence should determine what the seller can claim; observed search behavior should determine what needs testing or escalation. Combining the two into an attempt to "please the chatbot" risks making the listing less defensible without establishing any dependable sales benefit. The useful response to this week's request is an auditable catalog, not a speculative forecast of penalties, traffic losses or new platform restrictions. Sources. * Office of U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin - September 17, 2026: Baldwin, Scott Lead Bipartisan Call for Investigation into Amazon and Walmart for Hiding Made in America Goods. Official release and full letter; allegations attributed to the lawmakers. * Federal Trade Commission - guidance accessed September 18, 2026; publication date not specified here: Complying with the Made in USA Standard. Existing staff guidance on unqualified and qualified claims, substantiation and implied representations.

Bipartisan push for FTC investigation of Amazon and Walmart over 'Made in USA' fraud. They added that they believed "consumers who seek out Made in the USA products should be able to rely on accurate country-of-origin information when making purchasing decisions." Published: September 17, 2026 7:08pm Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter Thursday to the chairman and a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding alleged anticompetitive practices by Walmart and Amazon with "Made in the USA" products. "We write to request that the Federal Trade Commission... investigate alleged anticompetitive practices by Amazon and Walmart involving suppression of Made in the USA products when customers use their AI shopping chatbots," the senators wrote. "As well the companies' apparent failure to report products fraudulently labeled Made in the USA." "As two of the largest retail companies in the world, Amazon and Walmart's potential noncompliance with federal standards and their explicit promotion of overseas and potentially fraudulent sellers on their online marketplaces and through their AI shopping chatbots is deeply concerning," they continued. The senators cited a study from researchers at Columbia Law School's Center for Law and the Economy that found that Amazon and Walmart "have the technical capability to detect and flag 'Made in USA' fraud" but "the companies choose not to police this fraud - and in many cases allow these deceptive claims to persist," according to The Hill. "Following a robust investigation, we strongly encourage the Commission to consider additional enforcement measures to deter such behavior going forward," Baldwin and Scott wrote. They added that they believed "consumers who seek out Made in the USA products should be able to rely on accurate country-of-origin information when making purchasing decisions." "New technologies such as AI shopping chatbots must preserve that fairness," Scott and Baldwin wrote. The FTC and President Trump have taken actions this year targeting companies that have fraudulently used the "Made in USA" label. President Trump signed a March executive order that cracked down on such false claims advertised on the digital marketplace or by foreign manufacturers and sellers.