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As governments seem slow to action, would coordinating consumers shopping help combat the monopoly power of some industry? For example, having an app that notif
by acover 7y ago
As governments seem slow to action, would coordinating consumers shopping help combat the monopoly power of some industry? For example, having an app that notifies you to try and buy from a competitor like walmart for a few days to pressure amazon into bargaining?
- mvid 7y agoWouldn’t that kind of behavior make a company seem less like a monopoly, and extend the time to government intervention?
- acover 7y agoNo, I believe it will make them appear like a monopoly and the consumers as a monopsony. For example, imagine if amazon caves to the consumer group and makes toothpaste $1. Then suddenly the other sellers of toothpaste all charge $1. That would show amazon had pricing power over the market and that amazon is in fact a monopoly. Further it would show that amazon was using it's monopoly power to gain excess profits. Note: I'm not an expert in economics and have a habit of being wrong.
- URSpider94 7y agoWhat you have described is an oligopoly. Think airlines, or gasoline, or soda. All airline tickets from point A to point B in coach are basically interchangeable, so if one airline has a fare sale, everyone else has to follow or risk flying empty planes. Same, if one gas station on the corner is $.05 cheaper than the other one, they’ll get all the business. Airlines and gas stations are most, most definitely not monopolies.
- kevinsundar 7y agoAnd why would consumers coordinate against a company that is benefiting them with lower prices, great customer service, and insanely fast shipping now (I live in a small town of 40,000 - 3 hours from any major metropolis and get 1 day shipping)? Honestly I'm pretty impressed how such a massive company still seems to do a majority of their customers good, without even making them pay more. I'd say most of the people I know who use amazon are pretty happy with the service they are getting. To the average consumer whose looking out for their own personal bottom line, whats the benefit of coordinating against them?
- acover 7y agoThere wouldn't be! However, if your assumptions that consumers are all happy with amazon are incorrect and there are things they would like changed at amazon then there would be an advantage to collective bargaining to combat amazon's monopoly power. Also, such collective bargaining could be used to bargain with companies other than amazon.
- kevinsundar 7y agoFair point. I'm not saying that all consumers are happy. But for collective bargaining to work you pretty much have to be the majority or its hard to do much.
- tracker1 7y agoIn many ways, they've out Walmarted Walmart.