Two of Amazon’s major advantages are delivery speed and range. Major moves by Target and Big W could change that.
Has Amazon just lost its biggest competitive advantage?
Australian retailers are bringing toys, clothing and homewares onto the apps we once associated with takeaway food. I think this could become an important battleground in their competition with Amazon, which now makes up approximately 9% of online sales in Australia (based on comparing Roy Morgan and Australia Post data from 2025).
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Target recently added more than 25,000 products to Uber Eats through selected stores. Big W has now launched more than 35,000 products on DoorDash across 156 stores. Both of these retailers are offering delivery in as little as one hour.
Two of Amazon’s major advantages are delivery speed and range. Amazon in Australia can currently deliver eligible products in as little as five hours to Sydney and Melbourne locations, while Target on Uber Eats and Big W on DoorDash offer delivery in as little as one hour from participating stores nationally. That difference could decide who gets the largest market share of urgent purchases.
The key element here is physical stores. Physical stores that some once considered a disadvantage against online retailers could become one of their strongest competitive advantages.
For years, retail marketplace conversations centred on Amazon, eBay, Catch, MyDeal and Kogan. Delivery marketplaces extend that into a different shopping situation. Before these big moves on DoorDash and Uber Eats, Big W and Target already offered rapid delivery. So it’s not just about speed, it’s about being available in the place you expect to get something quickly. Getting what you need when you need it.
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The move by Big W and Target, and Uber Eats and DoorDash, captures purchases that otherwise would have gone somewhere else or never happened.
For some purchases, that difference might not matter, but for others it could determine who gets the sale. For example, if you forget a birthday present, an item you need but can’t leave home to get it, or something needed before guests arrive.
I have seen how fulfilment changes the competitive landscape. At The Party People, I introduced click and collect in 1999, becoming Australia’s first retailer to offer it. Later, we were first in our category to introduce express and same-day delivery. Each helped drive substantial growth. Let’s just say people leave planning a party to the last minute a lot, and there are many scenarios in which you might need something urgently.
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Traditional retailers already have stores, stock and staff close to customers. Connecting those stores to food delivery networks gives them another way to compete for urgent purchases.
But extra volume is only valuable if the economics stack up. Marketplace commissions, rush picking costs and delivery costs need to be weighed against the margin. Retailers also need to understand whether these purchases are incremental or simply moving volume into a more expensive channel. Execution with things like stock accuracy and timely picking are also critical to meet the delivery promise.
I am sure this is also just the start for DoorDash and Uber Eats, and we will see Target and Big W expand their range and stores on the platforms. But more importantly, I think we will see more retailers onboarded to the food delivery marketplaces further marginalising Amazon’s delivery speed and range advantage.
Amazon will keep improving but maybe the physical stores we thought Amazon would disrupt might be the same competitive advantage that disrupts Amazon.