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Well, years ago, when Amazon wasn't a monopoly, who had the choice to make it one? The final user. Personally, I've never used Amazon before seeing a friend o

Well, years ago, when Amazon wasn't a monopoly, who had the choice to make it one? The final user. Personally, I've never used Amazon before seeing a friend ordering a fairly huge amount of stuff from there. Prior to that, I was a not-so-obsessed-from-ecommerce eBay user, where I placed an order maybe every 4-5 months. I've started using Amazon because of its returning policy, which is better that eBay's, but by doing so, i've also increased the amount of stuff bought on the platform, because of time. Getting older and having more responsibilities, you've to save some time, then Amazon comes to rescue when it comes to generic stuff. I guess now it's really late to blame Amazon for the monopoly, as well as Microsoft did in 90s with PCs and Google is doing nowadays with Android+Chrome. Sure, there are alternatives, but the final decision on who gets the monopoly is the user

mrtksn 7y ago
Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become a monopoly? It's not really a choice if a company is giving you free stuff. Probably it's the same idea with Uber: We can have really nice rides at good prices because rich people are co-paying our rides. When it's only Uber out there, they can start testing our patience while maximising the profits. Amazon and Uber are not really selling some high margin tech products, their core innovations are not in the product but the business operations and strategies.
- dodobirdlord 7y ago
  > Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become a monopoly? No, they aren't. They publish their financial statement every quarter. Generally their revenue is very close to their expenses. Given that, it's impossible that "operating at loss" is an accurate characterization of their business strategy. Jeff Bezos has a saying; "Your margin is my opportunity." It lays out pretty clearly what Amazon's actual business strategy is, and it lines up well with their financial statements. Target a very small profit margin, move into every possible market by accepting a lower profit margin than incumbents, make money by leveraging scale and network effects to drive down costs in ways that other businesses can't replicate.
  - mrtksn 7y ago
    What I meant was pre-monopoly. The times when a company is constantly loosing money, like Uber. Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are too slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a charity these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires. Their potential competitors won't be able to say "your fat margins are my opportunity" because Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative things. Thanks god we have laws that keeps monopolies in check but sometimes these laws can move quite slowly and the damage may not be possbible to repair. Like with the case with Mocrosoft and Google.
    - dodobirdlord 7y ago
      > Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are too slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a charity these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires. If Amazon significantly raises their prices, then suddenly their prices aren't particularly hard to compete against. > Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative things I think we can cross this bridge when Amazon starts doing anti-competitive things.
efa 7y ago
Amazon hooked me when they rolled out Prime and free shipping. So now any time I think of something I need, I open the app on my phone and click buy. I feel guilty but it's just so easy. It's a pain purchasing across different sites (different IDs, thinking about shipping cost, return policy/procedure). I know shipping singles items is bad for the environment and a total waste. I keep telling myself I need to get off Amazon.

mrtksn 7y ago

Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become a monopoly? It's not really a choice if a company is giving you free stuff. Probably it's the same idea with Uber: We can have really nice rides at good prices because rich people are co-paying our rides. When it's only Uber out there, they can start testing our patience while maximising the profits. Amazon and Uber are not really selling some high margin tech products, their core innovations are not in the product but the business operations and strategies.

dodobirdlord 7y ago
> Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become a monopoly? No, they aren't. They publish their financial statement every quarter. Generally their revenue is very close to their expenses. Given that, it's impossible that "operating at loss" is an accurate characterization of their business strategy. Jeff Bezos has a saying; "Your margin is my opportunity." It lays out pretty clearly what Amazon's actual business strategy is, and it lines up well with their financial statements. Target a very small profit margin, move into every possible market by accepting a lower profit margin than incumbents, make money by leveraging scale and network effects to drive down costs in ways that other businesses can't replicate.
- mrtksn 7y ago
  What I meant was pre-monopoly. The times when a company is constantly loosing money, like Uber. Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are too slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a charity these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires. Their potential competitors won't be able to say "your fat margins are my opportunity" because Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative things. Thanks god we have laws that keeps monopolies in check but sometimes these laws can move quite slowly and the damage may not be possbible to repair. Like with the case with Mocrosoft and Google.
  - dodobirdlord 7y ago
    > Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are too slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a charity these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires. If Amazon significantly raises their prices, then suddenly their prices aren't particularly hard to compete against. > Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative things I think we can cross this bridge when Amazon starts doing anti-competitive things.

efa 7y ago

Amazon hooked me when they rolled out Prime and free shipping. So now any time I think of something I need, I open the app on my phone and click buy. I feel guilty but it's just so easy. It's a pain purchasing across different sites (different IDs, thinking about shipping cost, return policy/procedure). I know shipping singles items is bad for the environment and a total waste. I keep telling myself I need to get off Amazon.