How Amazon Became a Giant Platform Full of Frustrations and Bad Deals

In a detailed critique, Cory Doctorow examines Amazon’s transformation from an innovative logistics company to a massive online platform marked by poor user experience and exploitative business practices. Initially, Amazon’s strategy focused on attracting users with low prices, a Prime membership model, and convenient shipping. However, over time, the company has progressively worsened its service to customers and merchants. Amazon’s business practices, such as using predatory pricing and charging high fees for prominent search placements, have forced both merchants and users to bear the brunt of its growing dominance. The company’s ‘flywheel’ effect – attracting users, securing merchants, and extracting ever-larger discounts from them – has created an environment where the platform thrives at the expense of fair competition. The article further explains how Amazon’s practices, including exploiting merchant data to create knock-off products and pushing up prices for consumers, reflect a broader trend of ‘enshittification’ that is taking over many online platforms. Doctorow calls for systemic change to regulate monopolies like Amazon and protect consumers and workers from unfair practices.