4 ms·

The False Tale of Amazon's Industry-Conquering Juggernaut

35 points by yarapavan 8y ago

empath75 8y ago
> In fact, I can’t think of a single industry, other than bookselling, that Amazon has entered with significant negative repercussions for the incumbents in that industry. uh.. aws?
- AJ007 8y ago
  AWS is arguably an original category. Unfortunately this is really just an opinion piece. I’d like to see some empirical work examining Amazon’s impact on different markets.
- tanilama 8y ago
  AWS creates its own market...Only until recently it became to eat pies from IBM/Oracle...etc.
- Lazare 8y ago
  That was covered later in the article: > Amazon is great at inventing new categories, from online bookselling to cloud-computing services to voice-commanded personal assistants. The author is categorising AWS as a new category more-or-less created by AWS, rather than an existing category they entered and disrupted. I'm not sure I 100% agree, but it's still a reasonable position to hold. VPS providers existed before AWS, but AWS is much more than just another VPS provider.
- aisofteng 8y ago
  In 2017, IBM cloud revenue surpassed Amazon’s: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2017/07/28/ibm-beats-amazon-in-12-month-cloud-revenue-15-1-billion-to-14-5-billion/#6b400ee39d64 https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2017/07/28/ibm-beats-...
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
That reads like a paid PR piece.
- mcphage 8y ago
  For whom? And to what end? What are they even selling?
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    PR, public relations. Not selling anything but promoting the image of Amazon. Netflix aren't the incumbent in TV so claiming they aren't really damaging Netflix seems to be intentionally missing the point. Amazon are having a similar, but slightly lesser effect, to Netflix by dint of their somewhat smaller streaming market share. Not to forget they bought out Lovefilm, imdb, and probably a bunch of others I forgot.
    - mcphage 8y ago
      Trying to convince people not to be afraid of Amazon? Because the general thrust of the article is “Amazon is big, but they’re not very good at anything but books”
  - cannabisceo 8y ago
    I had the same reaction when I read it. This is an Amazon PR piece with the goal of making them seem not like a monopoly. Monopolies try to hide the fact that they're monopolies.
sulam 8y ago
This piece has a monopoly on the use of the word monopsony.
sehugg 8y ago
Amazon’s book monopsony is valuable, but it also comes at significant reputational cost Does it really? Except maybe from defunct book publishers and ebook publishers that get on the wrong side of KDP's inscrutable approval process. Even DOJ sided with them in 2012.
- cafard 8y ago
  My wife worked for a publisher that had terms dictated to it by Amazon. Since then, we have not bought through Amazon. I got the hairy eyeball for ordering a $10-book through Alibris, and had to explain that I was not aware that Amazon had purchased it.
atonse 8y ago
My understanding of diapers.com is different. What I read was that Amazon got in a price war with them and sold diapers at a loss until diapers.com was forced to sell because they could no longer compete. And once amazon bought them, they just shuttered them. So that’s a PERFECT example of how they could throw money at the problem and kill the competition.
- rangersanger 8y ago
  I'm sure theres a direct source out there, as the former CEO of diapers does not hesitate to discuss his aim to crush amazon. https://collaborativegain.com/the-diaper-war-amazon-whole-foods/ https://collaborativegain.com/the-diaper-war-amazon-whole-fo... https://www.recode.net/2017/3/29/15112314/amazon-shutting-down-diapers-com-quidsi-soap-com https://www.recode.net/2017/3/29/15112314/amazon-shutting-do...
phobosdeimos 8y ago
Amazon isn't all that special. The rest of corporate America just fucked up. Fast delivery and low overhead is frankly something any webshop could have delivered but the dinosaurs were set in their ways.
achow 8y ago
Also, Amazon did not succeed in China; is second in India - is throwing $$ for last many years to be number one but victory is nowhere in sight. Amazon is utlimately collection of good, mediocre and bad PMs, Devs, Designers.
- avemuri 8y ago
  Um. They've overtaken flipkart in market share and revenue
  - achow 8y ago
    Source?
petra 8y ago
Weird article, kinda like a pick-n-choose game. Amazon does control 50% of e-commerce. And yes it uses merchants to get there, while charging them a nice fee. And does it really ,fairly compete with merchants, while having full control(owning the buy box and the "sold by Amazon" brand) , full visibility into their business, and much better capabilities ? Or instead of competition , they just let merchants carry the risks of the import business ?

35 points by yarapavan 8y ago

> In fact, I can’t think of a single industry, other than bookselling, that Amazon has entered with significant negative repercussions for the incumbents in that industry. uh.. aws?

AJ007 8y ago
AWS is arguably an original category. Unfortunately this is really just an opinion piece. I’d like to see some empirical work examining Amazon’s impact on different markets.
tanilama 8y ago
AWS creates its own market...Only until recently it became to eat pies from IBM/Oracle...etc.
Lazare 8y ago
That was covered later in the article: > Amazon is great at inventing new categories, from online bookselling to cloud-computing services to voice-commanded personal assistants. The author is categorising AWS as a new category more-or-less created by AWS, rather than an existing category they entered and disrupted. I'm not sure I 100% agree, but it's still a reasonable position to hold. VPS providers existed before AWS, but AWS is much more than just another VPS provider.
aisofteng 8y ago
In 2017, IBM cloud revenue surpassed Amazon’s: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2017/07/28/ibm-beats-amazon-in-12-month-cloud-revenue-15-1-billion-to-14-5-billion/#6b400ee39d64 https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobevans1/2017/07/28/ibm-beats-...

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

That reads like a paid PR piece.

mcphage 8y ago
For whom? And to what end? What are they even selling?
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  PR, public relations. Not selling anything but promoting the image of Amazon. Netflix aren't the incumbent in TV so claiming they aren't really damaging Netflix seems to be intentionally missing the point. Amazon are having a similar, but slightly lesser effect, to Netflix by dint of their somewhat smaller streaming market share. Not to forget they bought out Lovefilm, imdb, and probably a bunch of others I forgot.
  - mcphage 8y ago
    Trying to convince people not to be afraid of Amazon? Because the general thrust of the article is “Amazon is big, but they’re not very good at anything but books”
- cannabisceo 8y ago
  I had the same reaction when I read it. This is an Amazon PR piece with the goal of making them seem not like a monopoly. Monopolies try to hide the fact that they're monopolies.

sulam 8y ago

This piece has a monopoly on the use of the word monopsony.

sehugg 8y ago

Amazon’s book monopsony is valuable, but it also comes at significant reputational cost Does it really? Except maybe from defunct book publishers and ebook publishers that get on the wrong side of KDP's inscrutable approval process. Even DOJ sided with them in 2012.

cafard 8y ago
My wife worked for a publisher that had terms dictated to it by Amazon. Since then, we have not bought through Amazon. I got the hairy eyeball for ordering a $10-book through Alibris, and had to explain that I was not aware that Amazon had purchased it.

atonse 8y ago

My understanding of diapers.com is different. What I read was that Amazon got in a price war with them and sold diapers at a loss until diapers.com was forced to sell because they could no longer compete. And once amazon bought them, they just shuttered them. So that’s a PERFECT example of how they could throw money at the problem and kill the competition.

rangersanger 8y ago
I'm sure theres a direct source out there, as the former CEO of diapers does not hesitate to discuss his aim to crush amazon. https://collaborativegain.com/the-diaper-war-amazon-whole-foods/ https://collaborativegain.com/the-diaper-war-amazon-whole-fo... https://www.recode.net/2017/3/29/15112314/amazon-shutting-down-diapers-com-quidsi-soap-com https://www.recode.net/2017/3/29/15112314/amazon-shutting-do...

phobosdeimos 8y ago

Amazon isn't all that special. The rest of corporate America just fucked up. Fast delivery and low overhead is frankly something any webshop could have delivered but the dinosaurs were set in their ways.

achow 8y ago

Also, Amazon did not succeed in China; is second in India - is throwing $$ for last many years to be number one but victory is nowhere in sight. Amazon is utlimately collection of good, mediocre and bad PMs, Devs, Designers.

avemuri 8y ago
Um. They've overtaken flipkart in market share and revenue
- achow 8y ago
  Source?

petra 8y ago

Weird article, kinda like a pick-n-choose game. Amazon does control 50% of e-commerce. And yes it uses merchants to get there, while charging them a nice fee. And does it really ,fairly compete with merchants, while having full control(owning the buy box and the "sold by Amazon" brand) , full visibility into their business, and much better capabilities ? Or instead of competition , they just let merchants carry the risks of the import business ?