Amazon has grown exponentially during the pandemic while small businesses were forced to shut down by power-hungry politicians. As a result, small businesses are struggling to compete against the retail giant, and survive the pandemic.
In response, Small Business Rising, a coalition consisting of independent businesses and associations, is calling on policymakers to break up Amazon.
Their full list of demands include:
- Stop tech monopolies, like Amazon, from cornering the online market by breaking them up and regulating them.
- Block dominant corporations from engaging in abusive tactics by making our antitrust laws stronger and easier to enforce.
- Adopt bright-line rules outlawing mega-mergers and setting a higher bar for allowing other mergers, including vertical acquisitions.
- Establish rules to create a level playing field, promote competition, and spur innovation.
Why it matters:
- According to Wall Street Journal, Amazon has been found breaking its practice by using third-party retailer data to develop its products. Moreover, it has spent more than $18 million on lobbying on Antitrust law in 2020.
- Small Business Rising is not the only coalition hoping to break up Amazon. Institute for Local Self-Reliance, representing more than 60,000 small businesses, is also advocating for the same goal, Al Jazeera reported.
- Despite many critiques, Amazon has been releasing advertising campaigns promoting its successful relationships with other small businesses.
What they’re saying:
Coalition co-director Stacey Mitchell stands firm that “small businesses are in crisis:”
- “As one bookseller said to me, ‘It says Covid on the death certificate, but the underlying condition was Amazon.'” said Stacey Mitchell, ILSR’s co-director.
- Amazon’s spokesperson released a statement claiming the coalitions “are suggesting misguided interventions in the free market that would kill off independent retailers and punish consumers by forcing small businesses out of popular online stores, raising prices, and reducing consumer choice and convenience.”
