Amazon ad revenue growth slows as AI shopping agents emerge

The author argues that AI shopping agents bypass retail advertising platforms like Amazon's by reading product catalogs directly over open protocols and directing customers to merchant checkouts. Unlike Amazon, which blocks outside agents and embeds ads within its own assistant, retailers like Walmart are opening their platforms to third-party agents. The author contends that adopting open standards such as MCP and UCP allows independent merchants to avoid heavy ad taxes and keep margins on their own storefronts. Open article →