Jeff Baysosos likes to say that at Amazon it is always day one.

His company may be about to turn 26, but he argues it should always be hustling like a young startup.

Day two is stasis followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating painful decline followed by death.

The coronavirus pandemic

has elevated Amazon into one of the world's most essential firms as the ability to order almost anything online became a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people.

But as day two dawns, can Amazon still deliver?

You're listening to Money Talks from Economist Radio.

I'm Tamsen Booth, The Economist's Technology and Business Editor.

In pulling forward the retail world's digital future,

the pandemic has highlighted Amazon's strengths, but also revealed some vulnerabilities.

At the end of the day, who could be against what Amazon is offering you know wide selection decent prices and fast delivery all those are great things but there is a cost

The company is finding that old tricks would always work in new markets

It can have warehouses, but it can't have inventory.

You know, there's just impediment after impediment after impediment.

And it's facing young competitors with bold new visions

for the future of e-commerce.

We're trying to democratize technology that's typically only reserved for very large enterprises

and we want to make that available to everyone. The pandemic has precipitated a mind-boggling

digital search as lockdowns forced closures of physical stores, many companies that had only

dabbled in e-commerce had to focus all their efforts online. I've always looked

for a tipping point for our online business. My name is Ann Cantrell and I own

Annie's Blue Ribbon General store in Brooklyn, New York. We sell fun, fun and

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