a16z charts: e-commerce floods agents with 403s; Gen Z out-earns millennials by 20-40%
a16z · x · 2026-10-17
a16z's weekly charts letter ("Agents Denied") covers agentic commerce hitting resistance: big retailers like Amazon are instablocking agent shoppers. Cloudflare data shows the share of 403 Forbidden responses hitting agents and bots has roughly doubled since summer.
Retailers understandably fear disintermediation—losing both customer relationships and ad-generating eyeballs. Fraud and returns add to the apprehension: NRF data shows return rates roughly doubled and total return costs tripled since 2019, with "dispute abuse" the top fraud concern.
A separate chart: adjusted for inflation, Gen Z earns 20-40% more than millennials did at the same age, across every income level.
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