Marketplaces earn their money when you browse, not when you buy. An AI assistant that shops for you skips the browsing. Ad revenue vs operating income (2025): - Amazon retail: 2x - DoorDash: 1.9x - Instacart: 2.2x AI assistants don't need to rebuild Amazon's warehouses to hit
a16z: AI shopping skips browsing monetization
a16z argues marketplaces monetize browsing, not checkout; agentic AI shopping skips that surface and pressures ad-driven commerce margins.