Nziske posted the question: “Do you predict that Amazon will monopolize and put a majority of companies out of business in the future?”
Amazon has become a very efficient, reliable, and profitable company which is easily the largest business in its industry of delivery. It has made its company founder, Jeff Bezos, one of the most popular and richest entrepreneurs. While industries as large as Amazon have been brought down such as Sears, it seems very unlikely that this will be the case. Amazon when first starting had a business practice of reinvesting most of its profits back into the company which has allowed it to grow into what it is today, and it has kept that mentality of putting the company first ever since.
Amazon also uses many strategies that intend on weeding out any competition. Many corporations such as Walmart also use some of these strategies to run others out of business and grow their company in its place. One strategy Amazon uses is incorporating smaller businesses into their own. If you are a small company that makes very popular water bottles but can’t seem to sell very well due to no one knowing your company, Amazon may offer you a deal that allows you to sell your product on their website in exchange for some of the profit. This essentially absorbs the company into Amazon, and Amazon doesn’t risk anything by doing it.
Another strategy involves amazon creating replicas of a small company’s product. Say that you decide not to sell your water bottles on Amazon because you don’t want to limit your sales. Amazon may instead make a replica of your water bottle that is cheaper and it will outsell your company and may even cause your business to fail. This is similar to a strategy both Walmart and Amazon use to run a small company out of business. Walmart will introduce a store in a town that sells everything your local grocery store does but at a reduced price. This will cause many customers of that grocery store to shop at Walmart instead which will eventually cause that store to go bankrupt. Walmart will more than likely not be turning a profit on that store for years just to make sure that their store is the most popular in that area. This is no different from amazon who will do the same thing with replica products by putting the products they want to sell at the top of the webpage and at a better price than other products on that webpage.
These tactics will make companies such as Amazon very difficult to bring down even with government interference. However, even government interference is unlikely since many politicians benefit from Amazon's position. While such a downfall is possible it is more likely for the company to fail due to internal conflict rather than external business where they are in control.
