Dec. 08, 2016
Amazon is a bigger threat because of its anti-competitive tactics and the fact that it has corralled such a large share of the online shopping traffic that competing independent retailers face a difficult choice: they can either continue to try to sell online when fewer and fewer people are going to find them via search engines, or they can become sellers on Amazon, forfeiting all of their product knowledge and a big share of their revenue. Basically, they become something like serfs on a Medieval estate.
[L]ocal retailers succeed by having high-quality employees who know their products and know their customers. It’s often a more rewarding and, in many cases, better paying job. So from a job-creation standpoint, independent retailers and high-wage, union-friendly companies like Costco are the standard.
At least in local stores, in most cases, this work is also more meaningful: the employee is actually engaging with customers and helping them find the right toy, or book, or paint color. And for the customer, these interactions—with employees, with the neighbor you run into at the local store—are part of your sense of community and provide a measure of enjoyment and social connection…. we need to weigh the advantages of convenience against the costs of giving up more plentiful and meaningful jobs, as well as more plentiful and meaningful interactions.
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