Amazon
is an amazing company, one to admire even if you disagree with how they treat
the book industry. They’ve become the company people love to hate—but it hasn’t
hurt their business. They just keep getting bigger and bigger. Now they want
you to see them as a smart phone company, as they are about to start selling
phones shortly. They also want to become your default wallet, as they take on
PayPal with the launch of their own third-party digital payment system. There’s
no end to which industry or line of business Amazon not only wants to break
into, but just simply break.
How
long will it take before the government takes action against the company that
wants to sell all things to all people? Amazon is too big not to fail. As much
as I fear a world where Amazon continues to treat the planet like Mr. Potter
sought to control an entire town in the class movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, I wonder what a post-Amazon book marketplace and consumer landscape would look like.
Even
as I wonder how we live with—or without Amazon—they are releasing new products
and services. They have taken on Netflix with video streaming and now are
challenging Apple with music streaming. Aside from their spat with Hachette
over book pricing, they now tussle with Warner Home Video. Amazon refuses to
sell movies like The Lego Movie and 300. Is there no end to this?
I
simply don’t think Amazon plays by the rules, especially when you look at how
it has not been charging sales tax so it can undermine physical retailers, and
how it prices books and products at below cost, hoping to use the loss leaders not
just to attract business but to put other businesses and entire industries out
of business. Its stock is hugely overpriced compared to any standards used to
evaluate value, and its increased use of robots to replace workers is troubling.
For all that, they are burdensome.
It is further troubling that they treat books and publishing like a commodity, and not a valued art form. But above all else, I fear Amazon because they are so good at what they do and have consumed a lot of power in a lot of industries. They are the biggest threat to capitalism since the Red Scare in the 1950’s.
It doesn’t surprise me that some love Amazon.
As a consumer, why wouldn’t you? Low prices, immediate availability, free
shipping. There are even some authors and publishers that like Amazon, though
they are shortsighted and somewhat clueless when one looks at the big picture.
To stop Amazon, and one day they will fall mightily, it will take consumer
backlash and industry boycotts.
It remains to be seen when and how these will
unfold, but eventually, people will say enough is enough.
CHECK THIS
LINK OUT: How to quit amazon and shop in a real bookstore
Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him
on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels
more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted
by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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