Amazon also has its hooks in consumers even deeper with Prime. Sure, another store might be willing to sell me an item for a couple bucks cheaper, but then when

Amazon also has its hooks in consumers even deeper with Prime. Sure, another store might be willing to sell me an item for a couple bucks cheaper, but then when I factor in the extra shipping costs, Amazon comes out ahead - and they defray that cost for the consumer with value-added services like Prime Video and Twitch Prime, so that I don't really feel like I'm paying for the shipping, but rather for a bundle of services that happens to include the free shipping that keeps me tied to Amazon over other e-commerce sites. It's also interesting because this means that it's not only less convenient, but also more expensive to use other platforms - and in a Capitalist society, anti-giant-corporation ethics can't really stand against the need to not live on the street and the desire to own nice(ish) things.