Amazon's recent earnings report reveals its fundamentally different approach to artificial intelligence compared to Shopify's platform strategy. Amazon predominantly builds AI to optimize the experience of its customer – the shopper, whereas Shopify builds AI to optimize performance for its customer – the merchant.
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Five years after COVID-19 shocked the world into digital shopping, U.S. e-commerce has finally crawled back to the summit it briefly scaled in the spring of 2020.
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China-based e-commerce platforms built multi-billion dollar businesses by exploiting a customs loophole. That loophole – Section 321 'de minimis' thresholds – is now closed, and with it, the current era of ultra-cheap direct-from-China retail.
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In 2024, Amazon again had a record-breaking year despite growing criticism from workers, sellers, governments, and shoppers.
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If AI chat is the future of shopping, Perplexity just took the lead. And because it already integrates with Amazon, it has an infinite supply of products.
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Four months after Target and Shopify teamed up to expand Target's third-party marketplace, it didn't make much progress. Target's invite-only marketplace has only added 500 new sellers this year.
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Shopify's almost-marketplace Shop app is approaching a $1 billion GMV run rate. It's not a shopping destination but drives sales as a by-product of the Shopify ecosystem.
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Thousands of brands adopted Buy with Prime two years after Amazon launched the fulfillment and one-click checkout service in April 2022.
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Walmart is Amazon’s only competitor. Everyone else is too small, too niche, or not a good substitute. A bigger Walmart means a better alternative to Amazon, which means a better e-commerce market.
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Fifteen years ago, Jeff Bezos said, "I can't imagine that ten years from now [our customers] are going to say, 'I love Amazon, but if only they could deliver my products a little more slowly.'" That is the inspiration for the sixth edition of the Year in Review.
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