Amazon used that strategy to figure out which furniture manufacturers to carry. Drop-ship selling of furniture was quite big a few years back and when Amazon re

Amazon used that strategy to figure out which furniture manufacturers to carry. Drop-ship selling of furniture was quite big a few years back and when Amazon realized that they invited furniture retailers to join the marketplace. Once they had an idea of which items sold well, the return rates on those items, margins, etc. they formed relationships with the manufacturers and undercut the retailers by selling the same items themselves at lower prices. So it is both brilliant and very true.