The Rise of Amazon: The effect of Amazon on traditional retailers in America. 

Persuasive Essay

The rise of Amazon has been both negative and positive for retailers in America. The massive rising tide of Amazon has had a dual effect on the global economy. While some companies have been completely disrupted, others have benefitted. Small traditional brick and mortar stores physically have been disturbed; however, they have found ways to grow through selling online with Amazon. Amazon's growth has had a negative impact on traditional brick and mortar businesses, but a positive impact on many small business retailers. Amazon has a large amount of power over not only online business, but on more substantial traditional brick and mortar businesses as well. 

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Amazon has taken on the role of selling food, electronics, books, and more, thus selling these items has had a significant impact on companies that strictly focus on and only sell these products. Amazon does it all. Amazon has hurt a large amount of business but also has worked on helping small businesses. When Amazon was originally started, they strictly sold books online. This resulted in bookstores independent of Amazon being the ones to struggle first (Lebowitz). Since Amazon began as a bookstore, its first victim was Barnes & Noble (Brumley).  "Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble and Joseph-Beth Booksellers were the first major victims of the rise of Amazon” (Brumley). As Brumley writes in his article “49 Compaines Amazon Could Destroy”, “Initially, Amazon.com was an online bookstore, and the advent of e-readers – then tablets – made ebooks commonplace, further displacing physical bookstores" (Brumley).  More recently, Amazon began working in the market of food/home-cooked meal delivery services like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. Brumbley also discusses Amazon's success in pre packed meals and food delivery services: "No one disputes Amazon.com has mastered the art of delivering anything and everything that isn't perishable, but what about pre-packaged meals?” (Brumley). Brumley goes on to say, “Yep, it can do that too. Amazon got into the business in 2017, and it has continued to improve its game ever since" (Brumley). Amazon's partaking in food/home-cooked meals made the company a top competitor of other similar companies. Brumbly gives an example of the companies that Amazon originally threatened when entering this market: "its entry into the race is a direct threat to the likes of rival meal kit outfits Blue Apron (APRN), HelloFresh and Plated" (Brumley). A common new trend in our online market is food subscription boxes. The buyer can receive these boxes by subscribing to a meal plan through one of these companies. The customer can sign up to receive a home-cooked meal box once a week. The buyer also could sign up to receive a box of home-cooked meals every day of the week. In your box you will receive all the ingredients and directions needed to make a delightful home-cooked meal. Amazon, with Whole Foods has made a subscription box of its own, becoming competition for the other food services. Amazon being able to cover such a large number of markets is what has made them capable of hurting so many brands and retailers (Brumley).

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Amazon itself has not been what actually hurts other businesses; what is hurting the different brands and businesses is the consumers who are purchasing from Amazon. Amazon has been so powerful and successful because it has converted consumers to a new way of shopping that caters to the buyers. People know that, overall, Amazon is the fastest and most efficient way to buy whatever it may be that shoppers need. The more convenient Amazon becomes, the more power the company gains. The reason why Amazon is able to be convenient for its buyers is because of its large size and market and fast delivery that other businesses and brands are unable to match (Dayton). Dayton states what Amazon's goal was when creating the company: "Our vision is to be Earth's most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online. This is Amazon's mission statement" (Dayton). Amazon has the vision to be a company and a place where people want to come when purchasing items from online.

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Yes, Amazon has hurt other businesses; however, it has helped small companies because it is a marketplace where they can advertise their products. Mrinalini Agrees with me in her article that Amazon helps small businesses quoted here "Amazon's logistics infrastructure doesn't just help it ship to consumers all across the globe; it also aids another group of people: small businesses ”(Mrinalin). Mrinalin Krishna in her article goes on to explain, “Listing their products on Amazon helps them increase their customer reach, and the delivery essentially becomes Amazon's headache" (Mrinalin). Amazon has hurt many average brick and mortar businesses and brands along with more prominent companies; the smaller companies are able to resort to Amazon, which in the long-run has helped them grow. Amazon helps these small companies grow by becoming a source of advertisement and by making their products easier to buy. Ethan McAfee, is CEO of the company, Amplify, is a company which manages small brands that sell on Amazon's marketplace. McAfee explained an example of a bagpipe business. Before Amazon, if a person wanted a set of bagpipes, the instrument was very hard to find and purchase. Now with Amazon, there is an easy and direct way to buy a nice trusted pair of bagpipes. Amazon helps small and unknown companies thrive and sell their products at a high rate. Any brand or personal rep companies, no matter what they sell, can take their product and sell it on Amazon's marketplace, allowing the company's products to be more accessible to shoppers and consumers (McAfee).

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Although Amazon has threatened traditional brick and mortar businesses, as Ethan McAfee agrees, Amazon benefits business today. In his opinion, Amazon has been very beneficial to other retailers. Mr. McAfee explained to me that Amazon the company has hurt business, but at the end of the day, it really is the consumers. Consumers have given Amazon the materials to grow and prosper. Consumers are the ones who find Amazon to be the most convenient; therefore, many use Amazon, giving it a large amount of power. Amazon grew its company to the size it is today by becoming one of the most convenient ways of shopping for average consumers. Consumers gave Amazon the power to grow where they are today (McAfee).

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Amazon helps the consumer overall. Amazon pleases its customers, resulting in a large number of Amazon users. Amazon has many features for its company, causing it to be beneficial to the consumers. For example, fast delivery options are very pleasing to Amazon's customers. Amazon has rocket fast shipping options, which allow the customers to have their product in possession in the matter of a day. Each year Amazon grows the company becomes more convenient for the average consumers. Amazon continues to add branches to their company, and every branch they add is convenient and highly liked by consumers. For example, Amazon added electronics to their online store causing Best Buy to go under because Amazon was overall better. Amazon has had so much growth in such a short amount of time due to how they appeal to consumers. (Lebowitz) “In a mere decade, Amazon has become the world's most valuable company, exceeding a $1 trillion valuation, Business Insider reported” (Lebowitz). Amazon has perfected the ability to be very likable and convenient for average consumers.

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Amazon is a company that has had a major effect on retailers in America. The result has proven to be both beneficial and destructive to other retailers in America. Amazon has been damaging to some companies because Amazon has expanded its company to many different areas. Amazon has become a top competitor to companies like Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, and more. (Brumley) Amazon is a very convenient company that appeals to consumers. Amazon is easy and efficient allowing them to be more liked. Amazon has not only caused other companies to struggle but has helped other companies.Amazon helps small businesses by giving them a platform to sell on. Amazon is a very large company with large amounts of power; the company started from nothing and has grown to one of the biggest companies in the world: "On the course of a single generation, Amazon has grown from a fledgling online bookseller to one of the most valuable and powerful corporations in modern history" (Statt). Amazon is loved by everyone because of the way they catered to their audience allowing them to be one of the most powerful companies in the world.