I follow both US and Chinese seller communities, and I’ve noticed a pretty consistent theme this Q4 that might be worth sharing.

The sentiment I’m seeing across Chinese seller groups:

A lot of sellers are frustrated with organic traffic this year. The common complaints:

Organic visibility feels weak across most SKUs

Ad spend is eating into margins

Account managers are mostly pushing ad budgets rather than offering visibility support

A few “hero items” with strong account support are crushing it — the rest are struggling

One data point that came up: Walmart’s Q3 showed 33% ad growth. That aligns with what sellers are feeling — more of Walmart’s revenue is coming from seller ad spend rather than organic growth.

What’s interesting: This mirrors what I’m hearing from US sellers too. It seems like a cross-market trend, not just a China seller thing.

A few sellers did push back though:

Some said traffic is still there, but it’s concentrated on hero items

Others mentioned that building strong account manager relationships still pays off

A few saw strong Q4 without heavy ad spend — but those were established listings with solid review counts

What I’m curious about:

Are US sellers seeing the same pattern?

Is this a platform shift, or just a tougher competitive landscape?

Anyone finding ways to get organic visibility without burning ad spend?

Just sharing what I’m seeing across markets. Curious to hear how it compares to your experience.