[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.