Fascinating news after my prediction 2 days ago | Joanna Williams

Fascinating news after my prediction 2 days ago According to Bloomberg, Amazon just experienced a 41% year-over-year drop in Prime Day sales Soon will we really need to use Amazon as the store anymore? I'm starting everything with an AI chat for new and on trend things and agents for my basics Instead of visiting amazon, my agents automatically replenish "soy milk for under $3” or I ask my agent to “find me the newest Ugg type shoes everyone's wearing - the slip-on platform ones in a neutral color that go with everything, highest quality only and alert me when they're half the price" Amazon loses the entire transaction b/c AI is instantly more convenient and personal They can't compete on this trendy item with their marketplace full of $19 knockoffs that muddy the search results This is where AI agents really shine in fashion: cutting through the fake/authentic confusion and going directly to trusted sources for trending but durable and accessibly priced items THe impact is that Amazon and Walmart become invisible infrastructure Consumers never see their UIs or ads That threatens to wipe out tens of billions in pure-profit ad revenue plus marketplace take-rates of 12 to15% The shift from direct retailer interaction to AI-mediated commerce could be transformative When consumers delegate purchasing decisions to AI assistants, it creates a new layer of abstraction between brands and buyers - instead of Amazon's algorithm deciding what products to surface, your AI agent becomes the gatekeeper I don't use Google search at all anymore and everything I do starts in a chat I can't be alone in this behavior This could fundamentally alter the economics of retail Those advertising revenues and marketplace fees I mentioned represent massive profit centers that depend on controlling the customer discovery process If AI agents start making purchase decisions based on objective criteria rather than paid placement, it could force a race to the bottom on both price and retailer margins Retailers becoming pure fulfillment networks while AI handles the customer relationship might actually benefit consumers through better prices and more objective product recommendations, but it would require retailers to compete primarily on logistics and cost efficiency rather than marketing spend Interesting timing when Perplexity and OpenAI both announced they will release web browsers to compete with Google's Chrome So much for all the new ai copy paste ad machine startups Suppliers will have a huge advantage if they stop acting like order takers... I'm glad I still work with the best manufacturers I've partnered with since 1996! The opportunities for entrepreneurs is staggering | 65 comments on LinkedIn