The notion than Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) needs to worry about Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) launching blimps and dispatching delivery drones from them is ridiculous. Flying, package-ferrying vehicles are a bad idea to begin with (at least right now), but the idea of an airborne warehouse is downright ridiculous. But none of that makes AMZN stock safe.

And yet, while owners of AMZN stock may be understandably snickering at some of the recent suppositions about Walmart’s latest patent filing, those same shareholders may want to acknowledge the reality that its biggest threat has become so tired of losing out to the e-commerce giant that it’s finally getting serious about taking the offensive against Amazon.

Perhaps even worse, Amazon is about to see a key patent expire that will make it easier for all online shoppers to make their purchases somewhere other than Amazon.com.

Slowly But Surely

That wasn’t a joke. Walmart really did ask the U.S. patent office to give its stamp of exclusivity on the idea of delivering parcels from an airborne store. Doing so would likely cost more and be a far greater logistical nightmare than one could even imagine, but with Amazon having submitted similar patents already, it’s not wrong for the retailer to start putting up speed bumps for its competitor.

Still, a dirigible? If that’s the best Walmart can come up with, AMZN stock holders have nothing to worry about, right?

Thing is, that’s not all Walmart’s come up with. Some of its other recent ideas are far more potent and realistic.

Case in point: The addition of Dallas and Orlando to the locales where Walmart is using Uber to make deliveries of goods ordered online, the world’s biggest retailer gives consumers another same-day delivery option.

It’s still nowhere near as polished as what Amazon brings to the table, but it’s a start.

In the meantime, though Walmart will likely never dethrone Amazon.com as the kind of e-commerce, what it can’t offer in quantity it’s not afraid to develop in quality. Recent acquisitions of higher-end online retailers like Bonobos point to a mission of collecting several e-commerce venues that don’t necessarily align with Walmart.com’s value shtick.

Perhaps more than anything though, owners of AMZN stock may want to worry about the impending expiration of one of Amazon’s seemingly insignificant patents. That one-click “Buy now” button that makes it all too easy to purchase something from Amazon.com will soon be legally replicated at other online-shopping venues.

It sounds comical to even suggest an online-savvy world is impressed or swayed by super-easy shopping; most online shopping is quite easy. Give it a couple seconds of thought though… the one-click purchase isn’t even given a second thought anymore.

There’s no “good” way to value Amazon’s one-click technology, but Rejoiner’s Mike Arsenault has made a fairly cogent case that it drives an extra couple billion worth of revenue per year. It’s probably worth at least a healthy fraction of that for rival retailers that can now offer the same through their e-commerce venues.

Bottom Line for AMZN Stock

Don’t read the wrong message. Walmart’s use of a one-click solution wont’ destroy Amazon. Neither will a floating delivery blimp. Neither will an Uber-based delivery network or the establishment of premium online brands.

All those initiatives (and more), though, do make it clear that Walmart sees the writing on the wall. Amazon is willing to get into a lot of different business, knowing it’s apt to lose money on some of them but more likely to gain more than it loses as it’s further integrated into an individual’s daily routine. Up until this point Walmart appeared to want everything it does to be a profit center, and as such wasn’t willing to get into dead-end ventures. That’s changing, at least a little.

It will be years before Walmart becomes the “lifestyle” company Amazon already is, if it ever does. It’s moving the ball down that field though, slowly catching up with Amazon on that front.

That’s something that should at least annoy current and would-be owners of AMZN stock, which may already be hitting saturation headwinds and becoming overly-complicated to operate.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter.