"Fellow travelers in the world of technology" - these diplomatic words of Tobi Lutke from Shopify made me laugh out loud in the last earnings call. No mention of competition, tension, or even arming the rebels -- as Harley is more apt to say.

The rebels fighting who exactly? Everyone knows who the "Empire" is in this narrative intuitively - Amazon, which is why it works as a story.

I wrote about it shortly after earnings, and Eugene Kim reached out to discuss - thanks Business Insider for the mention!

Ultimately it's a battle of worldview.

On one side is the consumer convenience of a marketplace. Marketplaces are "eating the world," and garnering > 50% of purchases in almost any locale you can think of.

The omnichannel brand hub model on the other side - be where the consumer is anywhere, with a consistent brand experience.

Where do they go from here? Ironically, into each other's turf.

• Amazon, the supply chain master, is the king of consistent service experience. Where it needs to evolve is serving authentic brand experiences, not just private-label shlock.

• Shopify, the simple brand experience ruler, is the king of representing your brand well at a disruptive price/performance position.

Where it needs to evolve is a more consistent service experience.

In response to this article, Stephen Jones posed an interesting question:

Do you think Shopify haven't placed an emphasis on consistency in the end customer experience because they are more 'behind the scenes'? (Although, they do seem to be more involved in the back end processes recently, such as the introduction of Shopify Email and Shopify Shipping.) Would you say that if you purchase something on Amazon and have a negative/positive service experience then you're more likely to attribute that experience to Amazon than the individual seller? Clearly with Shopify you're more likely to associate the service experience with the merchant, most of the time not even realizing that the purchase is being facilitated by Shopify or taking into account which carrier has been used, etc.

It's not that Shopify hasn't placed emphasis on consistency, it's just not the first thing they worked on. Originally, I believe Shopify viewed itself as a software/technology company. I think that is evolving with their investments in payments and fulfillment, for instance. That is about consistent experience. Amazon is built to smooth out the rough edges/differences between sellers with its ranking, metrics, and supply chain. Boosting top sellers, and demoting others. (I am talking about ideally here). Whereas on Shopify, each brand is a unique snowflake. That is on purpose and desirable to retain.

He added further, saying “You could probably actually argue that Shopify are very concerned with consistent service experience; but they aren't consumer-facing so their service experience optimization has been directed towards their main customers: merchants. As you say, they see themselves as a software company - Amazon probably don't anymore! Huge app store, world class support, reliable performance and uptime, 24/7 support being a requirement for all apps listed on the Shopify Plus App Store, etc. While Amazon have been making themselves "the most customer-centric organization in the world," Shopify have been busy making it easier, faster and a more pleasant experience for merchants. I don't think I've spoken to a single business owner that's delighted to be selling on Amazon - it's a necessary unpleasantness for most 😂”

Great observations - it seems another way to look at this is that one giant is customer-focused while the other is merchant-focused. Can anyone be both?