They run the dominant online marketplace. There are competitors like eBay and Shopify, but unless you can build your own store and fulfillment system at scale, you either have to stay small or accept that Amazon can put you out of business in a heartbeat. They can delist you without so much as a word of explanation and there is no clear process for finding out what happened let alone getting reinstated. They can simply start selling their own set of products modeled on yours and undercut you on price and deprecate your listings. Even if you are a big company with lots of lawyers and an established brand, Amazon will allow other vendors to sell counterfeit versions of your products for extended periods and your brand will take the knocks if those products are inferior.
I do see some competitors out there. Shopify is the most visible for smaller outfits, but there are also specialty groups like Goldbelly for food items. There are definite counterforces, but Amazon has a huge market presence and lot of resources. A formal antitrust case may not be necessary, but a serious threat of one would make a difference.
They run the dominant online marketplace. There are competitors like eBay and Shopify, but unless you can build your own store and fulfillment system at scale, you either have to stay small or accept that Amazon can put you out of business in a heartbeat. They can delist you without so much as a word of explanation and there is no clear process for finding out what happened let alone getting reinstated. They can simply start selling their own set of products modeled on yours and undercut you on price and deprecate your listings. Even if you are a big company with lots of lawyers and an established brand, Amazon will allow other vendors to sell counterfeit versions of your products for extended periods and your brand will take the knocks if those products are inferior.
I do see some competitors out there. Shopify is the most visible for smaller outfits, but there are also specialty groups like Goldbelly for food items. There are definite counterforces, but Amazon has a huge market presence and lot of resources. A formal antitrust case may not be necessary, but a serious threat of one would make a difference.