Summary:
12 European startups achieved unicorn status in 2025, with valuations exceeding $1 billion.
Amazon and Walmart are competing to shape the future infrastructure of commerce through AI and platform innovations.
Amazon Business serves over 8 million organizations, generating $35 billion in annual sales and leveraging AI agents for autonomous transactions.
Walmart is expanding its marketplace by integrating third-party sellers into physical stores and partnering with Klarna for flexible payments.
Both companies face execution challenges: Amazon in grocery and AI trust, Walmart in store integration and marketplace balance.
The Yardstick of Retail Success
The measure of retail success is shifting towards who can best deliver anticipatory and frictionless commerce, not in isolated channels but as orchestrated services.
Amazon and Walmart are leading this charge, with their rivalry no longer just about sales volume but about shaping the infrastructure of commerce itself.
Amazon is betting heavily on a future where artificial intelligence intermediates nearly every business transaction, from ordering office supplies to acquiring fleets. Walmart envisions a future where its scale, stores, and logistics form the backbone of a more open marketplace, attracting sellers with reach and reliability.
The retail wars of 2025 are less about the checkout counter and more about who controls the underlying layers, placing platform plays and marketplace innovations at the center.
Amazon Makes B2B Moves Beyond Consumers’ Shopping Carts
Amazon's ambitions extend far beyond retail, with recent initiatives in AI and B2B commerce highlighting this trajectory. The company has established Amazon Business as a B2B heavyweight, now supporting over 8 million organizations across 11 countries and generating more than $35 billion in annualized gross sales. Its client list includes 97 Fortune 100 companies, 66 FTSE 100 firms, and 38 from Germany's DAX-40 index.
What sets Amazon Business apart is its scale combined with infrastructure. Unlike traditional distributors, it offers real-time availability, transparent pricing, and fast fulfillment on millions of SKUs. Strategically, the platform is becoming a testing ground for Amazon's AI ambitions, with intelligent agents that can anticipate needs, compare supplier contracts, and trigger purchases autonomously.
Beyond B2B, Amazon is expanding into durable goods, such as through a partnership with Hertz to sell used vehicles via Amazon Autos. However, challenges persist, particularly in the grocery sector, where Amazon struggles with local sourcing, spoilage, and last-mile delivery, areas where Walmart holds advantages.
Walmart Builds Out Its Own Platform
While Amazon focuses on AI-driven enterprise solutions, Walmart is leveraging its physical and digital assets to attract third-party sellers. After being cautious about opening its shelves to outside vendors, Walmart is now experimenting with in-store displays for marketplace products, blending digital offerings with the credibility of physical stores.
Walmart is also forming financial partnerships, such as becoming Klarna's largest retail partner in Canada to expand buy now, pay later options. This reflects Walmart's pragmatic approach: removing friction for sellers and buyers through faster delivery, payment flexibility, and in-store visibility.
By using its 4,600 stores as fulfillment nodes and marketing channels, Walmart positions itself as a platform, not just a retailer, offering a hybrid model where third-party sellers benefit from both e-commerce reach and brick-and-mortar presence.
Both companies face risks: Amazon must ensure its AI agents are trusted and unbiased, while Walmart needs to carefully integrate marketplace offerings to avoid cluttering its stores.
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