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When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

theatlantic.com

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Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#11

Post by tzs »

rgbrenner wrote: post #7
tzs wrote: post #5

> Amazon basically bought the country’s sixth-largest grocery store for free. For the curios, the five bigger seem to be, in descending order: Kroger, Albertsons, Ahold USA, Publix, and H-E-B Grocery. (Walmart is #7). Ahold owns Giant, Martin's, Stop & Shop.

where did the walmart number come from? By several sources, they are the largest grocery retailer in the US. In 2012, this article puts grocery revenue at $255b (over twice krogers revenue): http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/news/companies/walmart-groce... And this article says they have 25% of the 700b grocery market: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/will_wal_mart_replace_the_su... And this article says "Wal-Mart's big…

https://www.statista.com/statistics/197899/2010-sales-of-sup...

Different sources give different rankings, often very different. I picked that one because it was the only one I found at the time that put Whole Foods at #6, so at least might be the ordering the article author was thinking of.

It's also not clear how largeness should be measured. Some lists seem to be by sales. Some seem to be by number of stores. Some seem to be by number of employees. It's not always clear which a given list is using.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#12

Post by adamnemecek »

rgbrenner wrote: post #8

this article is, at best, years too early. Walmart is the worlds largest retailer, and largest grocery retailer in the US. 55% of their 480b in revenue comes from food, and their revenue from food is over twice that of Kroger (the #2 grocer). Acquiring the #6 grocer doesnt change that.. And Amazon, even if you include 3rd party sellers, still has not reached 480b in revenue. You cannot be the number two player and ha…

Amazon is bigger by cap size.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#13

Post by rgbrenner »

tzs wrote: post #11
rgbrenner wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where did the walmart number come from? By several sources, they are the largest grocery retailer in the US. In 2012, this article puts grocery revenue at $255b (over twice krogers revenue): http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/news/companies/walmart-groce... And this article says they have 25% of the 700b grocery market: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/will_wal_mart_replace_the_su... And this article says "Wal-Mart's big…

https://www.statista.com/statistics/197899/2010-sales-of-sup... Different sources give different rankings, often very different. I picked that one because it was the only one I found at the time that put Whole Foods at #6, so at least might be the ordering the article author was thinking of. It's also not clear how largeness should be measured. Some lists seem to be by sales. Some seem to be by number of stores. Some…

that site displays a lot of statistics, but has no references. its anyones guess where that data came from (and how long ago)

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#14

Post by rgbrenner »

AznHisoka wrote: post #10
rgbrenner wrote: post #8

this article is, at best, years too early. Walmart is the worlds largest retailer, and largest grocery retailer in the US. 55% of their 480b in revenue comes from food, and their revenue from food is over twice that of Kroger (the #2 grocer). Acquiring the #6 grocer doesnt change that.. And Amazon, even if you include 3rd party sellers, still has not reached 480b in revenue. You cannot be the number two player and ha…

What about internet retailers? Amazon is practically the leader there with 90%? of all ecommerce sales.

43%: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-accounts-for-43-of-us-...

Which is a lot, but it would be hard to argue that consumers dont have choices, when the same goods are available in hundreds of other stores, both online and off.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#15

Post by rgbrenner »

adamnemecek wrote: post #12
rgbrenner wrote: post #8

this article is, at best, years too early. Walmart is the worlds largest retailer, and largest grocery retailer in the US. 55% of their 480b in revenue comes from food, and their revenue from food is over twice that of Kroger (the #2 grocer). Acquiring the #6 grocer doesnt change that.. And Amazon, even if you include 3rd party sellers, still has not reached 480b in revenue. You cannot be the number two player and ha…

Amazon is bigger by cap size.

and what does that have to do with whether a company is a monopoly or not?

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#17

Post by meditationapp »

jnordwick wrote: post #6

There is no such thing as a vertical monopoly. That is the dumbest idea I've heard this month probably from somebody who should know better. Monopoly by definition is a single (or overwhelming) supplier. Vertical integration is about the exact opposite since it opens the business up to competition all along the supply chain. Amazon now competes with almost everybody. We've had larger firms in retail and other industr…

I was under the impression that using your dominance in one market to secure dominance in another is considered monopolistic behavior—for instance, shipping IE with windows.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#18

Post by maxharris »

meditationapp wrote: post #17
jnordwick wrote: post #6

There is no such thing as a vertical monopoly. That is the dumbest idea I've heard this month probably from somebody who should know better. Monopoly by definition is a single (or overwhelming) supplier. Vertical integration is about the exact opposite since it opens the business up to competition all along the supply chain. Amazon now competes with almost everybody. We've had larger firms in retail and other industr…

I was under the impression that using your dominance in one market to secure dominance in another is considered monopolistic behavior—for instance, shipping IE with windows.

So how does a successful company continue adding things their customers want, but avoid getting accused of being a monopoly?

From what you're saying, it seems as though the company is damned either way. If you have earned a lot of market share, it doesn't matter whether you charge a high price or the lowest price ($0). Or is the answer just that when you reach a certain size, you should just be killed, never mind the cost to everyone else (including customers that depend on the products being offered as well as employees who have built careers working to make the company successful)?

Large companies don't do everything well, to be sure. But who is going to go out on a limb and fund the big bets, like Xerox PARC, Bell Labs, MSR, etc. if we keep cutting down the tall poppies? Academics have a place, but there are structural organizational and social reasons why they were not able to invent everything we enjoy today.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#19

Post by RijilV »

> In the near term, the Whole Foods purchase worries some analysts most because it immediately gives Amazon another infrastructural advantage: more than 400 small warehouses, spread out across some of the most affluent (and Amazon-using) neighborhoods in the United States. They fret that Amazon’s logistical advantages—its network of warehouses, delivery routes, and cargo jets across North America—have given it an unbeatable advantage over other firms.

Super disagree with that one. WF stores pay a premium for location and are full of, you know, food. Amazon has opened up a in-city distribution center in my city - not surprisingly in a closed down Sears location. Its in a crappy part of town, by railroad tracks and the home depot. They use it for some limited pickups and uber-style delivery drivers. There's no reason they'd need the kind of setup WF has in our area - either ultra urban locations or suburban with tons of parking when they can just pickup closing brink and mortars in undesirable locations.

Grocery is hard for a bunch of reason, one of key ones being location. Why you'd give up that location to use to dispatch items out of it beyond me, and I suspect not what Amazon is intending here.

Re: When Does Amazon Become a Monopoly?

#20

Post by Nomentatus »

maxharris wrote: post #18
meditationapp wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was under the impression that using your dominance in one market to secure dominance in another is considered monopolistic behavior—for instance, shipping IE with windows.

So how does a successful company continue adding things their customers want, but avoid getting accused of being a monopoly? From what you're saying, it seems as though the company is damned either way. If you have earned a lot of market share, it doesn't matter whether you charge a high price or the lowest price ($0). Or is the answer just that when you reach a certain size, you should just be killed, never mind the…

Bell was forced to spend a large amount on research and not keep the patents to themselves, or charge much for them, by the govt, because it was a natural monopoly. Ever heard of the transistor?
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