Other than the books category in every category Amazon has entered with a big announcement that crashes the stock prices of competitors it has thusfar been a stock buying opportunity for the likes of Walmart, Target, Kroger, Walgreens Boots, CVS, etc.
Target has made billions selling their private label brands just like Amazon.
If they are copying the ad stuff online then that's going to be basically free money for the offline retailers.
“We’re making sure that when consumers are typing in ‘ketchup’, our product is really above, that it comes up into that first screen,” Nina Barton, Kraft Heinz president of global online and digital growth, told Reuters in an interview.
Won't those who make such comments ultimately end up bidding against themselves?
What is the point of the category-leading brand building investment over many years if you also then have to pay again on every search?