From the creation of Amazon in 1994 to present day, Amazon has been a major competitor in the retail business. Originally starting as an online bookstore, Amazon became Barnes and Noble’s competition. Four years later, Amazon expanded to more than just online books, selling merchandise like toys, tools, and electronics. Ever since, Amazon has become a predator towards retail stores.
Recently, more than 2,800 stores have shut down across the U.S due to Amazon. Some of these stores include: Bed Bath & Beyond with 896 stores, Foot Locker with 545 stores, CVS with 300 stores, Walmart with 23 stores, and Target with 18 stores.
Additionally, Party City and Bed Bath & Beyond have recently filed for bankruptcy.This is incredibly upsetting because some of my best memories are shopping with my family and friends in an actual store. Amazon is rapidly killing the retail industry, and it is devastating to see.
We live in a generation where everyone expects everything to be done with a click of a button, including shopping. Although I love a good online shopping spree from time to time, going shopping in a real store makes the purchase all the more exciting. Some of my best memories were made while shopping. Sometimes, I won’t even buy anything, I mainly just go for the atmosphere.
Is this issue really in Amazon’s control, or is it just being enabled by the U.S? Well, just last September, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Amazon for “Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power.” Allegedly, Amazon has been lowering prices, so people will buy their products, rather than buying what they need from a real store.
Personally, if I needed or wanted something from the store, but found the exact same thing on Amazon for way cheaper, I would probably get it through Amazon. However, they’ve also been discovered to be using cheaper quality products, allowing them to achieve lower pricing. Since they are using cheap material, they more than likely bought it for cheap, leaving more room for profit. I personally feel like this is incredibly wrong because not only are they deceiving their customers, but also destroying businesses around the U.S.
Ironically, Amazon is also currently hurting itself. Recently, Amazon has decided to close down several Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go locations due to financial cuts and they are struggling to get customers to use and enjoy these locations. Amazon is currently trying to work on a business strategy to better their grocery brand. In my opinion, this is great news to grocery stores like Kroger and HEB, since Amazon can barely keep their grocery brand going.
All in all, the in-person retail stores need to be protected from Amazon. We need to stop enabling their attempt at creating a retail monopoly, before it is too late.