The Institute for Local Self-Reliance recently released its 2019 Independent Business Survey. The key finding is small independent businesses see large corporations - and especially Amazon - as their main competitive threat.
They also feel government policies have not helped. Key quote from their article on the study:
Many public policy decisions in recent years have fueled market concentration and favored their big competitors.
As the study chart below shows (click to enlarge), the survey respondents listed Amazon as their biggest challenge.
Big companies, in general, also came in 2nd and supplier mergers and concentration came in 5th. So it's clear the respondents consider big firms and industry consolidation a major problem.
But as is shown in the study chart below, they see Amazon as the biggest threat. 91% say Amazon has hurt their business at least a little and over half say it has hurt their business significantly.
It's important to note that retail small businesses, who are in competition with Amazon, are heavily overweighted in the survey sample (it was a non-probability sample).
A sample more reflective of the overall small business sector of the economy would not be as negative on Amazon.
But these numbers are still stunning and show the power and reach of Amazon and its impact on small retailers.
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