Amazon may be using empathy for small businesses to help large businesses
I discovered a page on Amazon’s site proclaiming that Amazon supports small businesses. That is news to me and many small businesses which have been attacked by Amazon, its deep pockets, and its army of millions of delivery people and thousands of warehouses. Amazon’s page says it helps small businesses, which it defines as having under 100 employees and less than $49 million in sales. (It says it uses Gartner’s definition.)
I checked: only 9% of small businesses have revenue exceeding $1m. If that’s the case, how many have revenue north of $10m, much less $48m? I work with about 1,600 small businesses. None or very few that I know of have staffing or revenue that fall at the upper end of Amazon’s definition. The average staffing and revenue are massively lower than these Amazon numbers—likely 50-75% lower. My local, small retail businesses in the East Village do not have 100 employees. The often have five. The fact is: the vast majority of small retail businesses don’t fit Amazon’s definition.
Why is Amazon doing this? By Amazon using these unrealistic numbers, it is able to cast a wider net and say it helps more small businesses. They are able to output the “Small Business” label on a dog toy product from a business with $48m in revenue and sell it to some Kentucky-based shopper as ‘shopping small.’
There is also intentional confusion by Amazon between shopping small and shopping local. Many customers infer that shopping small means shopping local. Amazon’s small business page even has a a “Shop Local” link. Yet, Amazon’s small business products are not truly local to the customer. Amazon allows any business in the U.S. to qualify. According to that, a Seattle shopper is buying local when it shops 3k miles away in Savannah. Amazon’s “small business” and “shop local” terms therefore may be misleading consumers. (Amazon has recently been accused of misleading consumers and sellers in multiple states and countries; it recently reached a settlement with the European Union.)
Amazon may be misleading consumers about small businesses in order to: help large businesses sell more and thereby boost Amazon’s sales commissions.
I propose that Amazon update its definition for small businesses that receive the small business label. I propose the max be 50 employees and $25m in revenue. I propose it only show shop local terminology if the shopper lives within 200 miles of the seller.
If Amazon cares about small businesses, it won’t use their situation as a marketing gimmick to boost sales via its platform of multi-million dollar, distant entities. If Amazon cares about indie shops, it won’t encourage people to get home delivery from it vs. visit: their local, small business.