As the second-largest private sector employer globally, Amazon's strategic decisions often serve as bellwethers for broader market trends.
Looking at layoffs
Amazon's recent decision to cut 14,000 corporate jobs has raised eyebrows, especially considering the company's robust financial performance.
The tech giant reported $180 billion in revenue for Q3 2025, up 13%, alongside $21 billion in net income, a nearly 40% increase. This apparent contradiction between strong financial results and significant workforce reduction has created cognitive dissonance for many observers.
"I think part of it is a bureaucracy thing. Amazon has talked a lot about how they just have too much bureaucracy, too many people getting in the way of doing stuff," said Wolff.
Analysts say the timing of these layoffs coincides with broader economic factors, including government job cuts, employers waiting out uncertainty over tariffs and inflation, and typical business churn from store and plant closures. While headlines may suggest immediate AI-driven job displacement, the reality appears more nuanced.
"They say it's not financially driven, it's not AI driven," said Wolff. "But they have talked a lot in the past about how AI is going to make the company more efficient and reduce the need for all of these management layers and just enable faster innovation.
AI-powered commerce
Amazon is rolling out new AI features to enhance the shopping experience, including a "Help Me Decide" button that appears when shoppers browse comparable products without making a purchase. Experts say the tech additions help bring consumers to the bottom of the funnel.
"Amazon is experimenting with all of these little AI enhancements to the customer experience," Wolff noted. "Customers who use Rufus [Amazon's AI shopping assistant] are 60% more likely to complete a purchase. And so you tack on products or features like Help Me Decide, and one can only imagine that these tools are just going to be even more effective at nudging customers to check out."
However, Amazon's approach to AI shopping contrasts sharply with its stance on third-party AI agents. The company recently sued Perplexity for allowing its agent to make purchases on Amazon's website and has blocked Google and OpenAI from similar capabilities, a stark contrast to Walmart's partnership with ChatGPT for agentic commerce.
"If more people are using ChatGPT or Perplexity to do product research on their behalf, that takes Amazon out of the equation a bit more, and they lose ad revenue and customer data," said Wolff. This represents a significant strategic challenge as AI increasingly mediates consumer purchasing decisions.
Smart glasses for delivery workers
Amazon has unveiled prototype AI smart glasses called "Amelia" for its delivery drivers, featuring a camera, built-in display, and pairing with a button in a waistcoat. These glasses aim to help drivers locate packages in their trucks, provide turn-by-turn directions to delivery addresses, and automatically capture photos of successful deliveries.
However, the rollout raises privacy questions.
"You get a tremendous amount of data from these drivers going from door to door, and that can all be used to help Amazon build out their geospatial strategy for fulfillment," said Wolff. "But it is a lot of data that people may not be comfortable giving up."
These smart glasses may represent a stepping stone toward broader consumer adoption of such technology.
"How many Amazon workers are going to be using these, presumably a pretty sizable amount. And they might see the benefits in other areas of their lives as well," said Wolff.
The technology also potentially foreshadows further automation in delivery processes, as the glasses effectively systematize tasks that could eventually be performed by autonomous delivery vehicles.
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