Why don’t normal eCommerce stores follow up like Amazon does? (Saw something wild today)

Okay, random thought that hit me today and I’m genuinely surprised it never occurred to me this way before.

I was browsing Product Hunt and saw Markopolo AI sitting at the top of the leaderboard. The product basically does personalized follow-ups based on real behavioral signals.

And it instantly made me ask myself: Why don’t regular eCommerce stores already do this?

Think about it:

• Amazon follows up with you like it knows you personally.

• Netflix knows when you’re losing interest.

• TikTok, Meta, YouTube... they all push content and ads based on micro-behaviours, intent signals, tiny pauses and hesitations.

But walk into a typical Shopify / WooCommerce store? You leave, and… nothing.

Maybe a basic abandoned cart email. Maybe a generic discount SMS. That’s it.

Meanwhile, social platforms are serving you content based on the fact that you hovered for 0.2 seconds over a post. Social media companies built empires on behavioural intent.

But eCommerce? Still stuck with “flow automation” from 2015 templates.

And honestly, it’s not the store owners’ fault. This level of cross-channel personalization across email + SMS + WhatsApp + voice and in your own language just wasn’t possible before.

That’s what surprised me about Markopolo. Their whole pitch is basically: “You should be able to follow up with every shopper the way Amazon does automatically, personally, and at the exact moment they’re ready.”

The idea that your store could adapt in real time to each visitor’s behaviour wasn’t something I thought was doable for normal brands. But apparently now it is. Thanks to AI.

Anyway, this discovery today made me rethink how behind the rest of eCommerce is compared to big tech.

If platforms can predict what you want to watch next… why can’t your favourite store predict what you were hesitating to buy?

BTW, check it out here: https://www.producthunt.com/products/markopolo-ai

Tell me what you think in the comments :)