Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Fortune
Fortune
Nick Lichtenberg

From 'reinvention exhaustion' to 'friction absorption': the e-commerce elves who make your groceries and clothes appear are worn out

coo (Credit: Kristy Walker/Fortune)

You tap your phone and a stranger appears at your door with your groceries. You click through a cash back portal and a package of clothes arrives two days later. These transactions feel effortless—and that effortlessness is entirely manufactured by a layer of operational leaders whose actual job is to make sure you never think about them at all.

But right now, those leaders are telling a different story, and that’s because they’re exhausted.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.