Flipping The Disruption Script

THE FORTUNE 500 SHOULDN’T REST ON THEIR LAURELS OF HAVING A FIRST-TO- MARKET ADVANTAGE.

- Dave Knox

In December 2014, Amazon launched Prime Now, its same-day shipping option. Just a short three years later, the service is in 40 different markets and has set the standard for shopping convenience and instant gratification in ecommerce.

What many forget—or didn’t even realize in the first place—is that Amazon was not the innovator when it came to same-day shipping. That honor goes to a host of startups launched around 2012 that includes Deliv, Zipments and Postmates that raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital around the idea. In fact, Deliv received a strategic investment from three of the largest mall operators in the world (Simon Property Group, Westfield and GGP) in 2014 and followed that up with another strategic investment from the shipping behemoth UPS in early 2016. 

While these companies were the innovators in the space, Amazon has ultimately been able to disrupt the disrupters. They did so with an approach that can be a lesson for any Fortune 500 that is looking to respond to innovations in their industry.