Ryan Radia is research fellow and regulatory counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Rewarding Amazon for its success by denying it the freedom to grow based on imaginative predatory pricing scenarios will not help consumers one bit.Īntitrust officials should allow this transaction to proceed. Hopefully the startups of tomorrow will follow in Amazon's footsteps. grocery sales, dwarfed by national chains such as Safeway and Kroger.Īmazon reached its current position by taking risky bets, engaging in constant experimentation, and persuading its shareholders to let it keep prices low and reinvest profits into new innovations. Even with Whole Foods in its portfolio, Amazon will account for a relatively small portion of U.S. Although Amazon does represent two-thirds of the e-book market, Amazon practically created that market from scratch. It sells roughly four in 10 books sold in the country. But we're far better off letting Amazon try to reshape the retail sector through innovation instead of thwarting the firm's evolution through governmental restraints justified by hypothetical fears.Įven in markets where Amazon is an especially major player, it is hardly the only game in town. Through impending innovations like on-demand drone delivery, Amazon surely aspires to make online shopping more popular still. Although the retail industry has experienced declining employment in recent years, and many stores have closed their doors, Americans still spend far more money in physical stores than on the Internet. But traditional retailers, from Walmart to Home Depot to Best Buy, aren't going anywhere for the foreseeable future. But buying Whole Foods gives Amazon a one-stop shop, enabling the company to avoid acquiring retail space one parcel of land at a time.Ĭritics of Amazon fear that as the company continues to grow, it will eventually put retail competitors out of business, allowing Amazon to pursue profits by raising prices. Of course, Amazon could expand its physical footprint without a major acquisition, much like how the company recently launched its own cargo airline, Prime Air, to avoid costs associated with FedEx and UPS shipping. Whole Foods locations might also begin stocking popular Amazon items such as the Echo. How will Amazon leverage Whole Foods to deliver a better experience? One can only speculate at this point, but affordable home delivery of fresh foods is a likely prospect. This may scare incumbent firms used to earning healthy profits - but as far as consumers are concerned, lower prices merit celebration, not regulation. Even in 2016, despite Amazon's impressive scale and popularity, it earned a measly 1.7 percent profit margin overall. In its first 20 years of existence, the company actually lost money roughly half the time. Federal intervention will only hurt consumers and undermine innovation.Īmazon's profitability, or its lack thereof, is the most glaring problem with accusing it of exercising monopoly power. But the antitrust case against Amazon is deeply misguided. Government scrutiny of this deal is already bringing Amazon critics out of the woodwork demanding a pound of flesh from the Internet retailer. Slate has called Amazon the most important problem in antitrust law, while the think tank New America argues in an op-ed in the New York Times that regulators should reject the transaction outright. First, however, the acquisition must receive the green light from antitrust regulators. The company's largest proposed transaction to date, it would give Amazon a physical presence throughout the nation - especially in the country's most affluent cities. This profile was generated with the help of OpenAI GPT-3 and reviewed by Rappler Research for accuracy.Amazon announced a deal last week to purchase the grocery chain Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion. A municipal council member is responsible for approving ordinances and passing resolutions for an efficient and effective municipal government, generating and maximizing resources and revenues for the municipality’s development plans, program objectives, and priorities, granting franchises, enacting ordinances authorizing the issuance of permits or licenses, enacting ordinances levying taxes, fees, and charges, regulating activities related to the use of land, buildings, and structures within the municipality, and approving ordinances ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of basic services and facilities. This candidate is running for the position of Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) member. Radia will appear on the ballot as "46 RADIA, RYAN (LAKAS)" on election day. He is running under the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats banner and is hoping to be elected to a seat in Binidayan, Lanao Del Sur. Radia, Mohammad Ryan Datumulok is running for office as a member of the Sangguniang Bayan in the 2022 Philippine elections.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |