Amazon finds itself in a precarious position amid the rise of AI shopping agents that threaten its market dominance. Despite months of blocking AI crawlers and suing startups like Perplexity for unauthorized purchases, CEO Andy Jassy has acknowledged the shift towards “agentic commerce.” In June, Jassy warned employees about the intrusion of AI agents into daily life, only to pivot in October, announcing plans for partnerships with third-party agents.
Now, Amazon is hiring a principal corporate development officer to oversee these strategic partnerships, indicating a necessary adaptation to the competitive landscape. The emergence of AI agents allows users to bypass Amazon altogether, utilizing platforms like ChatGPT for seamless shopping and transaction completion. This evolution poses a significant threat; with projections suggesting agentic commerce could generate $1 trillion in U.S. retail revenue by 2030, Amazon faces an urgent need to innovate or risk losing customer relationships and market share.
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