You Don’t Know What It’s Like

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In early 2020, before COVID hit, I presented at an NCM Dealer 20 group meeting. I was invited by a Ford dealer I know.

Like in many meetings, I wanted to tell a different story and share some unique information with the group.

So I put together a deck, a cautionary tale, about the dangers of either ignoring or aligning with Amazon.

When I worked at Chapters/Indigo, I thought about how we might keep Amazon at bay every day.

Amazon spent nearly 200 times as much as we did on software development and technology.

Even then, Amazon had exponentially more warehouse capacity.

It was a real David-and-Goliath situation.

Indigo survived.

But where Indigo has grown its business to just over $1 billion in annual revenue (before the company was taken private and delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange), Amazon has grown its Canadian business to approximately $10 billion in retail sales and over $17 billion total.

In Amazon’s 30-year history, there has been a common refrain regarding how it cannibalizes and destroys other businesses.

First, it convinces the unassuming business to partner with them to sell their products on Amazon’s platform.

Then, Amazon absorbs the “partner’s” customer data through transactions on its platform, and uses that sales data as inputs to shape future product direction or pricing strategies to cripple its partners by either forcing them to depend indefinitely on Amazon for lower margin sales or by eliminating them entirely.

The phenomenon even has a name: “The Amazon Effect.”

In a 2019 survey, three-quarters of independent retailers ranked Amazon’s dominance as a significant threat to their survival, and only 11% of those selling on its platform described their experience as successful.

Because Amazon offers such a nearly flawless, frictionless experience, when presented with the option to purchase through Amazon versus other channels, Amazon consistently wins.

The list of retail casualties that suffered during the “Amazon Era” is extensive.

Toys R Us, Diapers.com, Circuit City, CompUSA, Payless ShoeSource, not to mention every bookstore on the planet, and nearly all major logistics companies like FedEx and UPS have all lost market share, struggled to remain profitable, or gone bankrupt in the face of Amazon.

As Amazon enters a new product category, it will eventually dominate that category.

There is only one company that had a higher Net Promoter Score or higher customer satisfaction ratings than Amazon in Internet history.

That company was the online shoe seller, Zappos.

What was Amazon’s response? They acquired Zappos outright.

For nearly a decade, Target partnered with Amazon, leveraging Amazon’s technology, fulfillment capabilities and ecommerce chops to sell its products online. However, Target managed to escape the throes of Amazon. In 2017, Target announced that it would invest $7 billion to improve its physical and digital experiences. Reading between the lines, this was an effort to hold off the Amazon juggernaut.

When I see automakers like Hyundai and Ford announce partnerships with Amazon, I think to myself, I wish the automotive industry well in its future war against Amazon.

Amazon issued a press release about their new partnership with Ford.

Ford did not.

Amazon is number three on Interbrand’s list of top global brands.

Ford and Hyundai don’t even register in the top 100.

What part of Hyundai’s and Ford’s business does Amazon want to cannibalize?

The answer: ALL OF IT.

You don’t know what it’s like to compete with Amazon.

They have nearly limitless resources, are meticulously data-driven, and have unrivalled logistics and warehousing capabilities.

Amazon is on a mission to make all products available for sale online, and they have decided that the automotive industry is the next victim of the Amazon Effect.

Autoflight, a Chinese eVTOL startup backed by CATL, unveiled its electric water-based vertiport to deploy electric air taxis from the sea. cnevpost.com

Chery’s Fulwin X3L failed miserably when the company attempted to recreate Land Rover’s famous “Stairway to Heaven” climb up China’s Tianmen Mountain. arstechnica.com, youtube.com

Chery’s Exeed Exlantix ES7 GT wagon debuts with 1,700 km of range. carnewschina.com

GAC will build its electric AION V model at a Magna facility in Austria. A plan that should help GAC avoid the EU’s tariffs on China-made EVs. reuters.com

Forget Musk’s latest pay package; his last one could wipe out years of Tesla profits. reuters.com

Tesla was sued over a fiery crash in Washington state that left one person dead and another seriously injured after rescuers allegedly struggled to open the vehicle’s doors, the latest in a growing body of litigation scrutinizing the company’s electrically powered handles. bloomberg.com

Tesla is improving its reporting of Full Self Driving crash data. However, the numbers are still misleading. theverge.com

Tesla gets green light to launch robotaxis in Arizona. techcrunch.com

One of Tesla’s safety drivers fella asleep during a passenger’s robotaxi ride. arstechnica.com

Over 1,204 Starlink satellites are no longer functioning, with hundreds of the dead devices being deorbited. bgr.com

Uber will offer sidewalk robot deliveries in Europe for the first time through a new partnership with Starship Technologies Inc., starting with parts of the UK in December. bloomberg.com

Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that the startup’s robots could fracture a human skull. cnbc.com

Bone AI raises $12M to challenge Asia’s defence giants with AI-powered robotics. techcrunch.com

The Chinese humanoid robot Android A2, developed by Shanghai-based company Agibot, set a new Guinness World Record by walking more than 106 km non-stop between two eastern cities. mezha.net

Oil and gas companies are falling back in love with Canada, one multibillion-dollar deal at a time. theglobeandmail.com

Nunavut leaders say it was an exciting day to see a hydro project in Iqaluit on the Canadian federal government’s fast-track list. cbc.ca

Western Canadian provinces’ patience is wearing thin over the lack of an Alberta pipeline plan. nationalpost.com

Oil prices eased about 1% on Friday to settle at one-month lows as the US pushed for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal that could boost global oil supplies. reuters.com

Exxon has paused plans to build what would be one of the world’s largest hydrogen production facilities due to weak customer demand. reuters.com

Norwegian battery company to build $3.2 billion synthetic graphite plant in Ontario’s “automotive alley”. financialpost.com

Porsche crowns their Cayenne Electric SUV the most powerful production Porsche of all time. theverge.com

The new Cayenne can be charged wirelessly. newsroom.porsche.com

The Genesis Magma GT Concept is the brand’s first pure sports car and kick-starts a more performance-focused future for the Korean luxury automaker. caranddriver.com

The Gravity Touring is now available, with 337 miles of range and a native NACS charging port. It will start at $79,900. That puts Lucid’s SUV in direct competition with a host of luxury EVs, including the Rivian R1S, BMW iX, Polestar 3, and Tesla Model X. theverge.com

The BMW iX3 just smashed 1,000 km on a single charge and still had some juice to spare. electrek.co

Another fire breaks out at the aluminum plant that supplies Ford. techcrunch.com

The Jeep Recon, an all-electric SUV with an estimated 250 miles of range, is finally here. techcrunch.com

Toyota said it will invest $912 million across five US factories to expand hybrid vehicle production to meet increasing demand. cnbc.com

Kia has a fuel tank problem. reuters.com

Google is rolling out its Gemini AI assistant to Android Auto users. theverge.com

Waymo will expand its robotaxi operations to Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans in the coming days. reuters.com

Waymo removes safety drivers in Miami ahead of 2026 launch. techcrunch.com

Zoox is getting closer to a full launch of its robotaxi service in San Francisco. theverge.com

Joby has sued rival Archer Aviation in California state court for allegedly stealing its trade secrets. reuters.com

The US Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious. apnews.com

BC has abandoned its EV rebate program and is scrapping its mandate that every new vehicle sold in the province must be zero-emission by 2035. autonews.com

Zero-emission vehicle sales in Canada reached their highest level of the year in September, but remained down by nearly 50% compared to 2024. autonews.com

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I hope you are having a fantastic day!