Watch Out! Amazon Is Coming To Get You!
December 4, 2013
With the recent news that Amazon is considering using Drones to deliver purchases to customers, it’s worth considering what effect Amazon has had on the American retail market. While getting your orders delivered by Drones is seriously cool (Will they be able to come down the chimney at Christmas?) there has certainly been a downside to Amazon’s market dominance.
One estimate of the “Amazon Effect” is that the company has created 5,000 warehouse jobs while eliminating 50,000 retail jobs. There’s no doubt that Amazon has created an excellent online customer experience and they continue to redefine and develop new online shopping experiences, but they’re leaving a trail in retail corpses in their wake.
Borders Bookstore disappeared a few years back and Barnes and Noble may only have a temporary respite, with more likely to follow.
The true test of Amazon may come only if there is a customer backlash against the company. There is a simmering of discontent in some areas as to how the company treats its hourly workers. Walmart gets a lot of bad press for this (food drives for their own workers, for example!). Drones or not, the continual drive to keep down prices (and hence wages) may prove to be Amazon’s Achilles heel!
