You think Amazon is getting easier.
Better tools.
Better data.
AI writing your listings.
Automation running your ads.
It’s not easier.
It’s just more crowded.
The Economic Concept Explaining Everything
There’s a concept called Jevons Paradox.
It’s simple.
When something becomes more efficient, we don’t use less of it.
We use more.
Originally, it explained coal.
Make coal more efficient to use, and instead of conserving it, society burned more of it.
Efficiency didn’t reduce demand. It expanded it.
Now apply that to eCommerce.
Jevons Paradox, But for Amazon
Amazon has never been more efficient.
You can:
- Launch products faster
- Optimize listings easier
- Access better keyword data
- Automate your ad account
- Generate content instantly
So what happens?
More sellers enter.
More listings go live.
More ads flood the auction.
Efficiency doesn’t make the system easier to win.
It makes the system bigger.
And more competitive.
Why It Feels Like You’re Doing Everything Right… and Still Losing Ground
This is where founders get frustrated.
Because on paper, you’re improving:
- Conversion rate is up
- CPC is down
- Listings are cleaner
- Creatives are stronger
But in reality:
- Competition increases
- CPCs rise again
- Margins tighten
- Growth slows
That’s Jevons Paradox playing out in real time.
Your gains don’t disappear.
They get absorbed.
The Marketplace Feedback Loop
Here’s how it actually works:
- Tools improve
- More brands enter
- Competition increases
- Costs rise
- Differentiation shrinks
Then it repeats.
Every improvement expands the system.
Every expansion resets the baseline.
The Sisyphus Reality of eCommerce
There’s a story from The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus.
A man pushes a rock up a hill. Every time he reaches the top, it rolls back down. Then, he has to climb down the hill, and start all over again. Forever.
That’s what running a brand on Amazon feels like.
You optimize.
You improve performance.
You gain ground.
Then the market adjusts.
And you start again.
Why This Isn’t a Problem. It’s the Game.
Most brands think something is broken.
It’s not.
This is what happens when a system becomes more efficient. Jevons Paradox guarantees it.
The more efficient Amazon becomes:
- The more sellers join,
- the more capital flows in,
- and the more sophisticated competition gets.
The hill doesn’t flatten.
It gets more crowded.
Why Camus Says Sisyphus Is Happy
Camus says we should imagine Sisyphus as happy.
Not because the work ends.
Because he accepts the work.
The meaning isn’t in finishing.
It’s in continuing.
Letting go of the rock and starting all over again is the point. You will never reach perfection. There will always be a listing to optimize, ad spend to reduce, something to improve.
Where Most Brands Get It Wrong
I’ve known my fair share of Amazon sellers. I’ve seen them trying to “solve” Amazon.
That is to reach a point where:
- Ads are fully optimized
- Listings are completely done
- Performance stabilizes… forever
That moment never comes and never will. Why? Because every time you improve, the market expands with you.
Where the Real Advantage Is Now
If efficiency is available to everyone, it stops being an advantage.
That leaves one thing:
Strategy.
Knowing:
- What actually drives growth
- What doesn’t matter
- When to scale
- When to protect margin
- How to differentiate beyond price
Because tools don’t separate brands anymore.
They compress them.
A Better Way to Think About Growth
Stop asking:
“How do we make this easier?”
Start asking:
“How do we keep winning as this gets more competitive?”
That’s the shift.
That’s how you stay in the game.
The Real Question
Amazon didn’t get harder. It got more efficient.
Which means more people showed up.
So the question, deep down, is reduced to whether your brand is built to win in a system where everyone else is optimizing too.
Are you building for efficiency… or for durability when the market expands around you?