The Event

Amazon unBoxed 2026 San Francisco · 28 to 30 September 2026

Amazon unBoxed is Amazon's flagship advertising conference, and the 2026 edition is confirmed for 28 to 30 September at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. Two headline products anchor the programme: Campaign Manager, a unified DSP and Ads Console, and a new AI Ads Agent.

Registration is open, and the organiser says it expects the event to sell out. The content is ads-product focused rather than operations focused, so come for advertising and listings strategy and plan a separate conversation for tax, compliance and fulfilment.

View event site → What this means for EU expansion

The Room

Who's expected at Amazon unBoxed 2026

Amazon unBoxed draws brands, agencies and advertising specialists working specifically on Amazon Ads, which makes it a different room from the broader seller-focused Amazon Accelerate. With Campaign Manager and an AI Ads Agent both on the 2026 bill, expect an audience already managing significant Amazon ad spend.

Most of the people you meet will be running Amazon as a serious growth channel at home. Conversations about taking the same advertising and listings approach into Amazon's European marketplaces start easily here, though the operational groundwork behind a European launch is not what this programme covers.

Amazon advertising specialists Brand marketing leaders Agency media buyers Retail media strategists

For a growing brand seeking the next step up, is Amazon unBoxed 2026 a good fit?

This event leans hard towards advertising and listings, so it suits brands whose next question is how to spend better on Amazon rather than how to get live in a new market. If your priority right now is VAT (value-added tax) registration, product compliance or European fulfilment, unBoxed is a weaker venue for that than a dedicated compliance or logistics event.

Amazon advertising specialists

In-house specialists running Amazon Ads day to day, comparing notes on what Campaign Manager and the AI Ads Agent change about their workflow.

Brand marketing leaders

Marketing heads at brands where Amazon is already a serious revenue channel, deciding how much budget moves into retail media next year.

Agency media buyers

Buyers managing Amazon spend across a portfolio of client accounts, who see patterns across categories long before any single brand does.

Retail media strategists

Strategists planning where retail media sits alongside search and social, including how a US advertising approach travels into other marketplaces.

Programme

What's on at Amazon unBoxed 2026

Three themes anchor the 2026 programme across three days at Moscone West. If Europe is on your roadmap, the sessions worth building a schedule around are the ones covering how a US advertising approach travels into other marketplaces.

01 Campaign Manager Launch

Sessions unpacking the new unified Campaign Manager, which combines DSP and Ads Console into a single advertiser workflow. Expect detail on how existing campaigns move across, which matters if you run separate account structures per marketplace.

Campaign Manager walkthrough
Migrating existing campaigns
Managing multiple marketplaces in one console

02 AI Ads Agent

A track built around the new AI Ads Agent and automated campaign management. For a brand running lean, automation is the difference between treating a second marketplace as a real channel and treating it as a side project.

Setting up the AI Ads Agent
AI-driven campaign optimisation
What automation does and does not decide for you

03 Retail Media Strategy

Broader sessions on where Amazon Ads sits inside a wider retail media strategy, including how that strategy carries into new marketplaces. This is the closest the programme gets to a cross-border conversation, and it stops at the advertising layer.

Cross-channel retail media strategy
Taking a US ad strategy into Amazon EU
Measuring incrementality across markets

Live Intelligence

What's being said about Amazon unBoxed 2026

These are the themes expected ahead of Amazon unBoxed 2026, drawn from gathered intelligence, and this block updates as coverage develops closer to the event.

Dates and venue now confirmed for San Francisco

ORGANISER SITE · SEP 2026

Amazon has confirmed 28 to 30 September 2026 at the Moscone West Convention Center, replacing the placeholder dates that had been circulating on third-party calendars. A confirmed venue and date window means travel and stand planning can finally be locked in rather than held open.

Campaign Manager confirmed as headline launch

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Amazon has confirmed Campaign Manager, a unified DSP and Ads Console, as a headline product for 2026. Bringing two previously separate tools into one workflow points to Amazon simplifying advertiser management at scale.

An AI Ads Agent joins the headline bill

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Alongside Campaign Manager, Amazon has confirmed a new AI Ads Agent for 2026. Automated campaign management lowers the operational cost of running a second or third marketplace, which changes the maths on European entry for a small team.

The organiser expects the event to sell out

ORGANISER SITE · SEP 2026

Registration is open, and Amazon's own event FAQ states that it expects unBoxed 2026 to sell out. No official attendance figure has been published for 2026, so treat the 6,000+ who attended the first Austin edition in 2024 as directional rather than a forecast.

The bigger picture

Better ad tools do not open a European market

A unified Campaign Manager and an AI Ads Agent will make Amazon advertising more efficient, but neither gets a brand registered, compliant or stocked in Europe. The room at unBoxed is already sold on Amazon as a growth channel, which makes the advertising conversation the easy one. The harder conversation is what has to happen first: VAT (value-added tax) registration wherever you hold stock, product compliance, and fulfilment close enough to the customer to hold a delivery promise.

Amazon Ads runs per marketplace, so a European advertising strategy is set up country by country rather than inherited from your US account.
VAT registration and product compliance have to be in place before advertising spend on a European Amazon marketplace can return anything.
Amazon is Expandly's Recommended E2E Expansion Partner for marketplace launches, and it works best on top of a compliance and VAT foundation that is already done.
Better tooling amplifies a compliant, well-stocked listing. It does not substitute for one.

If unBoxed sharpens how you advertise, treat European advertising as the second step. The first is the operational groundwork that makes the spend worth making.

Headline launches

Amazon unBoxed 2026 carries two headline products, Campaign Manager and a new AI Ads Agent, both aimed at simplifying and automating advertising management.

2 headline products

Stock triggers VAT

Storing stock in an Amazon Pan-EU country creates a VAT (value-added tax) registration obligation in that country from the moment the stock lands, however the advertising is managed.

Day 1 of stock storage

One method, not a stack of vendors

Expandly has supported 2,000+ US brands into European markets using the Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™), running VAT, compliance and fulfilment as one operation.

GEP™ one method, compliance to fulfilment

Good to Know

Questions about Amazon unBoxed 2026

When and where is Amazon unBoxed 2026?

Amazon unBoxed 2026 runs from 28 to 30 September 2026 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, CA. The dates and venue are confirmed on the organiser's own event site, and registration is open.

What is Amazon unBoxed?

It is Amazon's flagship advertising conference, focused on Amazon Ads products and strategy for the brands and agencies advertising on the platform. It is a different event from Amazon Accelerate, which is aimed at sellers and seller operations.

What is new at Amazon unBoxed 2026?

Two headline products lead the 2026 edition: Campaign Manager, which brings DSP and Ads Console into a single advertiser workflow, and a new AI Ads Agent aimed at automating campaign management. Amazon has not published an attendance figure for 2026, and says on its event site that it expects the conference to sell out.

Can I just sell on Amazon in Europe rather than my own store?

Yes, and it is usually the smart first channel. Amazon EU gives you an established audience and fulfilment, but each marketplace country needs VAT (value-added tax) registration where you hold stock, listings localised into the language, and product compliance. Many brands run marketplace and their own store together for reach and margin.

Which marketplaces matter most for selling in Europe?

Amazon is not automatic across Europe. Amazon UK, Germany, and others are strong, but local marketplaces often lead: Bol dominates the Netherlands, Zalando leads fashion, and Allegro leads Poland. The right mix depends on your category and market, and stock entering a marketplace's local fulfilment triggers VAT (value-added tax) obligations there.

Why are US brands expanding into Europe now?

The main reasons are rising US advertising and acquisition costs, marketplace and tariff volatility, and the risk of depending on a single channel or market. Europe offers large, less-saturated markets as a growth and diversification play. The brands that succeed treat it as a structured operation, not a listings exercise.

Make Your Move

Heading to Moscone West this September?

Three days of new advertising tooling is worth the trip if Amazon is already a serious channel for you. What the programme will not cover is what has to be true before that tooling can work in a European marketplace.

Expandly can brief you on the market specifics before you go: which European marketplace fits your category, what VAT (value-added tax) registration and product compliance look like there, and how fulfilment runs from our Netherlands warehouse. Afterwards we can turn what you heard in San Francisco into a sequenced plan through the Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™), with Amazon as our Recommended E2E Expansion Partner where marketplace entry comes first. If unBoxed has put Europe on your list, let's talk about the order of operations.

Global Expansion Pathway™

Where to Expand