Amazon and Walmart are at the forefront of this push, with a rivalry that is ultimately no longer just about who sells more to households. It is about who shapes the infrastructure of commerce itself.
Amazon is increasingly betting on a future where artificial intelligence intermediates nearly every business transaction, from ordering pens to acquiring fleets. Walmart has come to envision a future where its scale, stores and logistics form the backbone of a more open marketplace that lures sellers with reach and reliability.
The retail wars of 2025 are less about the checkout counter and more about who controls the layers beneath. And that has put platform plays and marketplace innovations at the center.
Read also: 10 Years Later, Platforms Still Define the Connected Economy
Amazon Makes B2B Moves Beyond Consumers’ Shopping Carts
Amazon’s ambitions have always been larger than retail, and its latest initiatives in AI and B2B commerce underscore that trajectory. The company has minted a B2B heavyweight, with Amazon Business now supporting over 8 million organizations across 11 countries and generating more than $35 billion in annualized gross sales. Its client roster reads like corporate royalty: 97 Fortune 100 companies, 66 FTSE 100 firms and 38 from Germany’s DAX-40 index.
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The platform, once seen as a natural extension of Amazon’s consumer-facing marketplace, has grown into an enterprise procurement ecosystem used to consolidate vendor management, streamline purchasing and tap into Amazon’s logistics backbone.
What differentiates Amazon Business is scale paired with infrastructure. Unlike traditional distributors, Amazon can offer real-time availability, transparent pricing and fast fulfillment on millions of SKUs.
More strategically, the platform is becoming a proving ground for Amazon’s AI ambitions. Intelligent agents, or software capable of making decisions and handling transactions, are being deployed to go beyond search-based shopping. These AI systems can anticipate needs, compare supplier contracts and trigger purchases autonomously. For corporate customers, the promise is efficiency; for Amazon, it’s lock-in.
Beyond B2B, Amazon is accelerating into durable goods. A partnership with Hertz announced this month enables Amazon Autos to list and sell used vehicles directly sourced from Hertz’s inventory.
Yet, challenges remain. Despite years of investment, Amazon’s grocery business continues to lag. The company has struggled to replicate the Prime model in fresh food, where local sourcing, spoilage and last-mile delivery create obstacles.
For all its technological prowess, Amazon is still learning the realities of perishable retail, a space where Walmart holds distinct advantages.
See also: 84% of Shoppers Want One-Click Checkout
Walmart Builds Out Its Own Platform
If Amazon is positioning itself as the AI-driven enterprise backbone, Walmart is reshaping its physical and digital assets to woo third-party sellers. Long cautious about opening its shelves to outside vendors, Walmart is now experimenting with ways to showcase marketplace sellers directly in stores, piloting physical displays that feature products from its online marketplace partners, blending the digital long tail with the tactile credibility of Walmart’s aisles.
Walmart is also forging novel financial partnerships. In Canada, the company became Klarna’s largest retail partner, expanding buy now, pay later options to more customers. It’s a move that represents Walmart’s pragmatic streak. While Amazon invests in AI agents and vertical experiments, Walmart is focused on removing friction for sellers and buyers in immediate, tangible ways. Faster delivery, more payment flexibility and in-store visibility all reinforce Walmart’s pitch to help merchants reach millions of shoppers on- and offline.
Walmart is also positioning itself as a platform, not just a retailer. Amazon built its marketplace dominance by aggregating third-party sellers and monetizing them through fees, fulfillment services and advertising. Walmart, late to the game, now sees marketplace expansion as the fastest path to digital scale. By using its 4,600 stores as fulfillment nodes and marketing channels, Walmart can offer a hybrid model where third-party sellers benefit from eCommerce reach and brick-and-mortar presence.
Neither path is without risk. Amazon’s challenge lies in execution and trust. AI agents that automate procurement could trigger backlash if they are perceived as steering decisions unfairly toward Amazon’s own products or if they introduce opaque biases.
Walmart, meanwhile, must navigate the delicate balance as its stores, long a symbol of consistency, could become cluttered or confusing if marketplace integration is not carefully executed.
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