are there no antitrust laws in the US, so that amazon could be split into marketplace, own products and aws?
Thats what should have been done long ago and no need to stop at amazon either.
Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
191–200 of 466 posts
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
What stores are you going to that have third party sellers? A better analogy is a mall.
Nearly every grocery store in the US has third party sellers. They pay the store for shelf space, provide their own stockers, etc. It's not as different as you'd believe, because you've 'heard' of the brand names doing it.
Yes, especially common in the bread and chip aisles. Third-party stockers come in and replace the inventory. Same with soda.
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#193Thought exercise because I legitimately struggle with this. Is this fundamentally different than Costco using sales data to choose which Kirkland products to launch/sell? If so, how? If not, then why do we not pursue Costco with the same gusto as Amazon? To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse, but I can't figure out why.
> To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse
only seems worse because amazon is so big, and so monopolistic, that a lot of people hold them to different standards.
It's the same idea that people expect a rich person to pay more taxes, or contribute more philothropically.
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#194Thought exercise because I legitimately struggle with this. Is this fundamentally different than Costco using sales data to choose which Kirkland products to launch/sell? If so, how? If not, then why do we not pursue Costco with the same gusto as Amazon? To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse, but I can't figure out why.
Imagine if a Costco sales rep offered to swap something in your cart with the Kirkland clone, or if they suggested the Kirkland product as you reached to grab something else off the shelf.
Are businesses in the business of increasing efficiencies (more revenue, more profit, lower costs) or are they in the business of doing what is in the best interest of consumers or both?
I don't think your example really holds weight. I goto Costco because they offer products I want at a price I like. If during shopping they were trying to give suggestions to better deals I'm not sure as a consumer I get to complain about it do I?
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#195Thought exercise because I legitimately struggle with this. Is this fundamentally different than Costco using sales data to choose which Kirkland products to launch/sell? If so, how? If not, then why do we not pursue Costco with the same gusto as Amazon? To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse, but I can't figure out why.
> To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse only seems worse because amazon is so big, and so monopolistic, that a lot of people hold them to different standards. It's the same idea that people expect a rich person to pay more taxes, or contribute more philothropically.
I'd rephrase this:
"only seems worse because amazon is so big, and so monopolistic"
as:
"only seems worse because amazon is so big, and so dominant"
I don't think monopolistic is a fair adjective because it has an implied legal connotation. Is Amazon a monopoly or just the largest e-commerce retailer today?
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#196Amazon should be nationalized. All these 3rd party companies want is a "farmers market", a stall to sell their wares. Give them the municipal software infrastructure they need to do so and maintain it as a public good.
Whenever someone suggests that something be nationalized, I ask myself "Why not create a public version of it?". If the answer is "it cannot compete with the private ones", maybe that's why running it privately is necessary.
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#197Thought exercise because I legitimately struggle with this. Is this fundamentally different than Costco using sales data to choose which Kirkland products to launch/sell? If so, how? If not, then why do we not pursue Costco with the same gusto as Amazon? To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse, but I can't figure out why.
[deleted]
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stallman said it too: https://stallman.org/amazon.html > We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market. If in a certain field a single dominant company is beneficial for society, that means it is a natural monopoly, and should be served by a regulated utility.
RMS is right about many things but not this one. Competition naturally leads to few companies capturing a market over a long period of time. What's however important is to prevent actively regulatory capture of said markets.
It's a lack of competition that leads to market consolidation.
This is a compounding problem as companies that grow big enough can just buy then out or predatory price them out - like, say, Amazon and diapers.com.
In the end the only way to take down mono/oligopolies out is to take them out from a direction they're not expecting and that can take 100 years.
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#199Thought exercise because I legitimately struggle with this. Is this fundamentally different than Costco using sales data to choose which Kirkland products to launch/sell? If so, how? If not, then why do we not pursue Costco with the same gusto as Amazon? To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse, but I can't figure out why.
> To me this behavior by Amazon seems worse only seems worse because amazon is so big, and so monopolistic, that a lot of people hold them to different standards. It's the same idea that people expect a rich person to pay more taxes, or contribute more philothropically.
> It's the same idea that people expect a rich person to pay more taxes, or contribute more philothropically.
This has to do with diminishing marginal utility of wealth and nothing to do with holding different people to different standards.
Re: Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales
#200They literally covered this in the book the everything store by Brad Stone. This is their game play. This is how they take over categories. Let over people to the sales and testing, then rip them off and undercut them.