Instead of mirroring Amazon’s capital-intensive, fully-owned logistics network, MercadoLibre adopted a flexible hybrid model. It owns the core infrastructure but partners with local services for last-mile delivery, achieving speed and reliability without the massive capex burden.

While Amazon masters digital and Costco dominates physical retail, Walmart is uniquely succeeding by becoming fluent in both. By seamlessly integrating its massive physical footprint with a strong e-commerce and app experience, Walmart has created a powerful 'omnichannel' model that pure-play competitors struggle to replicate, driving its stock to all-time highs.

Instead of competing against the "buy local" trend, Amazon could incorporate it into its platform. By adding a "buy local" button that uses AI to source products from nearby stores, Amazon could generate revenue from local delivery or referral fees, turning a major point of criticism into a new business opportunity.

Tushy finds little sales cannibalization between its DTC site and Amazon because they serve different customer archetypes. Instead of forcing an 'Amazon shopper' to a .com site, brands should meet them where they are, focusing on mental and physical availability across all relevant channels.

To avoid being disintermediated by AI agents that could direct consumers elsewhere, retailers can leverage their physical assets. An AI agent will still prioritize retailers with extensive infrastructure and forward-positioned inventory to ensure fast and efficient delivery, creating a competitive moat against pure-play e-commerce.

Amazon's "Buy For Me" feature uses AI agents to purchase products from third-party websites, including competitor Shopify stores. This strategy allows Amazon to expand its product catalog by absorbing others' inventory while simultaneously blocking its own site from rival AI crawlers, creating a powerful competitive moat.

Platforms like Shopify have enabled small businesses to have faster, higher-converting, and more technically performant online stores than many large, established brands running on clunky, homegrown legacy systems.

Deliver's founder admits their logistics model (distributed inventory) wasn't a unique insight; Amazon had already mastered it. The true innovation was recognizing that the rise of Shopify created a new, underserved market of small merchants. By aggregating their inventory, Deliver could offer them Amazon-level fulfillment infrastructure.

The true advantage for new AI-native companies lies not in simply using AI tools, but in building entirely new business models around them. This mirrors how Direct-to-Consumer brands leveraged Shopify not just to sell online, but to fundamentally change distribution, marketing, and customer relationships, thereby outmaneuvering incumbents.