[TulliusCicero]

Of course not. To consumers, Amazon provides an excellent service.

(This is the point where everyone always kramers in with their personal beefs with Amazon)

Like many others, I use Amazon because it's extremely useful, overall it's simply a better experience than shopping at other places. I have nothing against small businesses, but when I shop, I don't treat businesses like charities. If small businesses want my money, they have to actually present a better service. If they can't do that, it doesn't overly bother me that they go away.

[throwaway2245]

> To consumers, Amazon provides an excellent service.

I'd rather say, like Starbucks, Amazon provides a consistent and adequate service.

Small businesses might provide a better service or worse service, but consumers can't easily know which in advance - so large conglomerates present less risk and less cognitive load. Amazon is the obvious choice, more than it is the best choice.

Presenting a better service is not enough, for a small business to survive against a monopolist. It's one of the monopoly advantages that Amazon has.

[thweor234324]

I'm surprised you're being downvoted for this.

I've consciously tried using Google Shopping to get around Amazon (an company with obnoxious employees IMO), but the experience is so much worse - no unified shipping, issues with returns, lack of trust... It's just not sustainable.

[kmlx]

amazon doesn’t seem to be a monopoly.

walmart is bigger than amazon.

amazon’s share of retail in the US is around just 5%.

maybe i missed something...

[throwaway2245]

you missed something, apart from giving intentionally misleading and old figures, and yet within that you're still able to identify Amazon's market share as a percentage of all retail as an industry? ok.

[kmlx]

nothing misleading about my comment.

it’s not all retail. it’s retail minus auto sales, travel etc etc basically anything that amazon doesn’t sell.

they have 5% of that pie.

offer a rebuttal if you can instead of attacking the commentator personally next time you leave a reply on this website.

i was actually curios as to why you considered it a monopoly when in fact the numbers are against you.

[throwaway2245]

Because your comment was so wrong it's hard to know where to start, it seemed like trolling. Here you go:

1. Monopoly (in law and in practice) is not just defined by what percentage of the pie they have; it's also about what power they have and what non-competitive behaviours they can and do engage in.

Claiming that Amazon is not a monopoly based on the technicality that they don't have 100% of all retail is an irrelevant claim.

2. It's possible to estimate Amazon's "addressable retail" in 2019 as a whole number percentage - that is already huge. There are few companies with that percentage in much smaller sectors.

3. You put it in competition with Bricks and Mortar stores in order to get to this figure, which makes your figure artificially low.

4. I understood your figures were from a 2019 estimate, although they were unsourced. Amazon revenue has been growing exponentially. There's now a pandemic on. Year-on-year sales have increased something like 50%.

[TulliusCicero]

Being a known quantity is an advantage, to be sure. But there are downsides to size, too; that's part of why every restaurant isn't a chain.

And as restaurants show, you can win off of a better service/product compared to a big company.

But do these small businesses people champion offer a superior service? Because mostly people just seem to urge you to buy from them for moral/ethical reasons, not because they're better.

[ma2rten]

I've seen starbucks branches that are dirty. I don't think I have been a dirty independent coffeeshop.

[Robotbeat]

McMaster-Carr provides a better service than Amazon does for what they do. It’s not the cheapest, but the experience is insanely good, and they’re even faster than Amazon. 3000 employees vs over 1 million.

[dunefox]

That's exactly the point I bring up in discussions with friends. Amazon provides almost everything in one store - so I don't have to buy at half a dozen shops - combined with great customer service. I can even buy used books from many sellers via Amazon. That doesn't mean that I don't want to support regular shops but as a customer Amazon is just the most convenient option.

Example: a local book chain sells me a book for 10% more money and takes 4 weeks to order it - Amazon sells it cheaper and it's delivered 2 days later.

[ArtDev]

I started ordering from Amazon marketplace companies directly.

It feels better and yet its the exact same company.