AI and the future of marketplace economics

Digital marketplaces have long relied on a familiar playbook to drive growth: discounts, coupons and promotional credits. These tools are effective in the short term, often delivering rapid spikes in user acquisition and transaction volumes. However, beneath this apparent success lies a deeper economic problem. Excessive dependence on incentives inflates customer acquisition costs, erodes profit margins, and encourages opportunistic behaviour such as coupon misuse. As platforms mature, this model begins to show its limits, exposing the tension between rapid expansion and long-term sustainability.