The US e-commerce ecosystem today is clearly dominated by a few giants, often making it harder for startups to innovate. Here’s an example, with each quarterly earnings call, Amazon continues to conquer US commerce and steamroll its competitors. Today, Amazon’s e-commerce market share in the US is nearly 50%. That’s more than three times the market share of its two nearest competitors, eBay and Walmart, combined. In its wake, hundreds of retailers and startups have fallen or been acquired. Another giant, Facebook, continues to dominate online marketing, with more than 2.2 billion active users last quarter. Along with Google, these two giants continue to dominate the critical online advertising market. The mobile shopping experience hasn’t changed in the last 20 years and these tech giants together act as gatekeepers to the e-commerce market. It’s currently difficult to imagine how a new disruptive player in the US could become mainstream and transform the way Americans buy on the internet.