It's a bit of a trade. I'd say it comes down to market efficiency. We all understand why efficient markets are good. It allows large numbers of people to affor

It's a bit of a trade. I'd say it comes down to market efficiency. We all understand why efficient markets are good. It allows large numbers of people to affordably access a variety of goods and services. That said, people rarely discuss the downsides of extremely efficient markets. In an inefficient market, there are lots of opportunities for someone to step in and find a way to make money. For instance if shipping and storing goods is expensive to do in small quantities, and your area doesn't have enough access to tools, you could exploit that inefficiency and make some money by opening a hardware store. You would take on the cost of storing, transporting, and insuring a large quantity of goods, and you'd take advantage of economies of scale in a way that regular consumers can't. You make money, and your community is better off, because now they have a place to buy hammers, paint, and other hardware. In a highly efficient market, people have already found most of the obvious opportunities to make money. If shipping is cheap enough and online ordering is convenient and secure enough, it could make sense for one entity to become so large and efficient that they dominate all of retail. It's a lot harder to run a successful hardware store in 2018 than it was in 1978. You need retail space, employees, etc. Meanwhile your competition can exploit economies of scale in a way that was impossible a few decades ago. Is this a bad thing? It's hard to say. It gives lots of people cheap access to goods. It also makes it hard for small players to break into the scene, and local economies are probably not going to be able to adapt very quickly.