Retailers’ websites have chipped away at search engines’ dominance during the discovery and consideration stages of the buyer journey. In Mexico, multicategory websites like Amazon, Mercado Libre, and Linio were now on equal footing with mainstream search engines, such as Google or Bing, according to January 2022 data from the Asociación Mexicana de Venta Online (AMVO).

Some analyses present these players as major threats to Google and Meta, and in the US many refer to a “triopoly” already, with Amazon included. However, that narrative has more relevance inside the US than it does globally. As far out as 2024, Amazon, ByteDance, and Alibaba combined will still not have as much worldwide ad revenues as Meta does by itself. And Google will remain far ahead of Meta.

Discovery, and Amazon—paused or closed operations in Russia, but these moves won’t have a major impact on their bottom lines. Netflix, for example, lost 700,000 Russian subscribers, amounting to less than 1% of its 221.6 million worldwide paid subscriptions.

The news: The US Department of Justice is advocating legislation that stops Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon from unfairly giving preferential treatment to their own products, per Bloomberg. Why it’s worth watching: The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, proposed by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen.

Tech companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple are leaning on salary increases to retain talent now that incentives like stock options and equity may not be as attractive due to Big Tech’s era of uncertainty. Trendspotting: Employees who feel they are valued and supported during tougher economic times are more likely to remain and have better job satisfaction.

Amazon Alexa can alert users about whether there’s a person or a package waiting at the door. New software that can reportedly differentiate objects from people integrates with video doorbells and security cameras from Ring, Google Nest, and Adobe. Ambient.ai has a computer vision intelligence platform that monitors the physical security of entire buildings.

Many consumers are now beginning their consumer journeys directly on ecommerce websites and apps like Mercado Libre, Amazon, Americanas S.A., and Magazine Luiza—rather than on search engines like Google. Smart retailers will build out retail media networks to capture this interest and create a new revenue stream. First-party data will be crucial to targeting audiences and driving sales.

Google and Amazon have treasure troves of first-party data and incredible reach. Because they don’t rely on tracking users across apps, they can largely guarantee the same level of granularity as pre-IDFA, which is raising costs on those platforms. It’s a bit more complicated for platforms like Meta.

Amazon is making big strides in expanding its beauty offerings:. A dedicated Premium Beauty program gives high-end brands the coveted Buy Box and restricts third-party sales of these brands. Amazon also offers placement for beauty brands through its Luxury Stores and support for independent labels.

Disruptor brands will find aggressive courting by Amazon hard to resist. Amazon’s Buy with Prime, aimed at D2C brands that have traditionally resisted selling on Amazon, is the perfect Trojan horse strategy to lure attractive smaller brands into the Amazon ecosystem.

For example, Toyota and Lexus recently partnered with Cerence to deploy its Browse voice search engine in their cars. Healthcare and eldercare. As telehealth services enter the mainstream, providers will implement more voice tools in patient care. Notably, Amazon just launched an eldercare subscription service on its smart speakers and other Alexa-enabled devices. The metaverse.

Following the rise of Clubhouse, companies including Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, Slack, Reddit, Discord, and LinkedIn cloned its features. Tech giants copying an app doesn’t necessarily doom an upstart: Snapchat survived Instagram’s copying its stories and TikTok weathered YouTube’s imitations.

Meanwhile, the European Commission launched antitrust cases into Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google, and it is expected to crack down on the industry even harder once the Digital Markets Act comes into play. Here’s How Banks Should Embrace Super Apps. All banks will have to find a niche for themselves in the super app ecosystem, but their path will differ based on their size.

In addition, Microsoft has to contend with Seattle-area rival Amazon to attract and retain local talent. In February, Amazon announced it would more than double its maximum base salary to $350,000, up from $160,000, for all corporate workers in response to the tight labor market, per CNBC.

More features could follow this year: Venmo is launching Amazon support and Zelle may take its small-business focus in-store. Adding use cases will drive business for providers in the following ways:. Increase Engagement. Providers can tighten ties with users by giving them more scenarios in which to use P2P apps.

Why it’s worth watching: Tech workers seeking to unionize are seeing a groundswell of success but face pushback from Big Tech companies looking to stall employee efforts. 1,500 Amazon employees at a Staten Island, New York, facility are eligible to vote in the election that ends Friday night, per NPR. An Amazon warehouse across the street, with 8,300 employees, unionized earlier this month.