Amazon Blocks Meta's Muse While Shopify Embraces AI Shopping

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is aggressively pushing its new AI agent, Muse, which has already amassed over 5 million downloads since its launch on Sept. 8, according to Sensor Tower estimates. Muse is designed to assist users with tasks like shopping, canceling unused subscriptions, and finding unclaimed property. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has highlighted its potential to make users money, particularly through smarter online shopping.

However, not all e-commerce giants are embracing Muse. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), the world’s largest online retailer, has blocked Muse from crawling its platform. In contrast, Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP), which helps brands build their own e-commerce sites, has fully embraced agentic commerce and is among Muse’s partners. This divergence in approach highlights the differing priorities and business models of these companies.

Shopify stands to benefit from Muse by making integration easy for small retailers, increasing the value of its platform. Additionally, more transactions through ShopPay, its payment platform, could boost its revenue. Amazon, however, risks losing advertising opportunities if AI agents reduce the need for shoppers to interact with its ads. Amazon’s high-margin advertising business generated $76 billion over the last 12 months, making AI agents a significant threat.

Despite the challenges, Amazon holds several competitive advantages, including a massive logistics network, vast shopping data, and tens of millions of Prime members. These factors could make it more valuable to AI agents than vice versa. Amazon may also push more users to its own agentic platform or strike deals with AI agents to include sponsored listings, ensuring it maintains control over the user experience.