Is Amazon Essential or a Monopoly?

Amazon has always been in competition with every delivery platform, most notable Ebay.

And recently with launching its Amazon essentials line, its own vendors, and the fact that its size, reach and practices can make or break Amazon’s profits, have made Amazon a priority for antitrust scrutiny by Congress and the Federal Trade Commission over the past year. Yet  the position of Amazon during this crisis, the good and the bad, may mean for regulatory oversight is not yet clear.

But first what is antitrust scrutiny?

Typically, the size of a corporation is what draws the most antitrust attention, as being so big that it transforms into market leverage that it uses to deter competition from forming. The willingness of a corporation to increase rates is used by the key check regulators to determine if it has this pricing strength.

And what is seen as a violation under antitrust?

Basically violating legislations intended to protect markets and commerce from unfair practices such as price manipulation, sanctions, price discrimination and monopolization.

The key concern is that even in tragedy Amazon managed to grow over 20%.

The Amazon spokesman declined to comment on this.

The business did also do well through the recession, in part simply by doing as it usually does: making products from the biggest retail collection in the US available for online buying and getting them arrive at the customer’s door in a matter of days.

This has recently restricted the selling of N95 masks and other medical supplies solely to hospitals and government departments, removing the fee that would usually be taken from such purchases to seek to attract more retailers to sell such products on the Amazon.

Sure, the company has dealt with distribution glitches for general goods, price tags on the most on-demand items, and an overburdened food delivery industry that leaves several consumers scrambling on delivery slots hundreds of times a day. Yet it’s hard to believe that Amazon’s hundreds of millions of consumers will be better off through the pandemic if Amazon weren’t around.

Will the strong Amazon be pushing policymakers and regulators to grant the company a pass?

Thus far, the top congressman in charge of the House antitrust investigation into Amazon and the other Big Four internet companies have said that his probe will proceed, but the publication of the study expected by the end of March is postponed. The FTC has already been probing Amazon informally, although there is no evidence that it has ceased.
Thus far, the top congressman in charge of the House antitrust investigation into Amazon and the other Big Four internet companies have said that his probe will proceed, but the publication of the study expected by the end of March is postponed.

The FTC has already been probing Amazon informally, although there is no evidence that it has ceased.
Amazon also claimed that it competes with internet and brick-and-mortar stores and accounts for less than 4 per cent of total US retail revenue, as well as less than 4 per cent of the country’s overall food market. The organization also believes that its retailers are key allies, responsible for about 60 per cent of sales on Amazon retail pages.

And if Amazon’s influence is rising, where are the conventional retailers going from here?

This is common knowledge in the supermarket industry that the US has more outlets than it wants, and in some situations the recession would simply intensify losses that should have occurred regardless.

The Fed is trying to allow midsize and big corporations access to more credit. Small businesses do have ways of receiving any financial aid through the acts, although early problems have been resolved in the key loan system.

What does this mean for you as a consumer?

The larger  companies have been “dubed”  as essential since they are the only ones that can afford to be in business while expanding, although it provides hundreds of thousands of jobs it slowly pushes smaller businesses to the brink of bankruptcy.