Quote:
Originally Posted by plib
Can you give me an example of a retailer who has achieved a preponderance of market share, there's really no such thing as a monopoly in retail, and then subsequently jacked up prices?
|
Well, first of all, Amazon isn't a pure retailer, it is increasingly a publisher. It's like WalMart fully owned the companies that make its private brand merchandise.
Since the breakup of medieval guilds, there haven't been a lot of retail near-monopolies. One obvious example is state-run alcohol monopolies. But retail monopolies are indeed rare, which is why I take examples from other industries, like transportation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgaiser
Amazon is not a monopoly.
|
Important point here: You don't have to be a complete monopoly to have pricing power. If Amazon gains, as seems plausible, half the book market, publishers would be instantly destroyed if they refused to market through Amazon. So Amazon could require them to provide goods to them at much lower prices than other vendors, perhaps by insisting on special advertising allowances. New entrants to the eBook market would thus be unable to undercut high Amazon prices.