Denise Daquilanea

Padgett
ENGL 102
September 13, 2016
The World of Amazon
Context
Thanks to the internet, people no longer need to leave their homes to go shopping. Now,
all the shopping can be done online. The website Amazon has everything you need from
textbooks to groceries. Personally, I go on Amazon for a lot of things for many reasons. First off,
many things on Amazon is cheaper and have more choices. Also you dont need to leave the
comfort of your home to get what you need. Recently, there seems to be a trend of purchasing
groceries on Amazon, because why not. I have not tried this but I picture in the next few years,
people will be buying their laundry detergent and school supplies from Amazon. The problem
with Amazon is that its putting other companies in harms way. Barnes and Noble is one of the
biggest companies who has suffered from The Amazon Effect. Their debt has tripled and
theyve struggled for years to compete with Amazon. I am interested in this topic because I find
it fascinating to see how one website is taking over the world. I would not be lying if I didnt say
I got this idea from my dad, who recently mentioned that Walmart is having to cut jobs because
of Amazon. Since he mentioned this, Ive been curious to see what Amazon is really doing to
other businesses and what factors have made Amazon excel.
Hayley Peterson, who is a senior correspondent for Business Insider, wrote an article
about how e-commerce is hurting retailers. Online orders take about 25% of sales due to
shipping and packaging costs. To be able to compete with other retail stores, retailers have begun

Comment [TC1]: Perfect He just told us this is the thing to

do

to offer free shipping and returns. While e-commerce only accounts for one-tenth of total, US
retail sales, that value has increased significantly throughout the years.
In The Amazon Mystery, Derek Thompson, who is a senior editor at The Atlantic and
focuses on economics, labor markets, and entertainment, attempts to identify what exactly

Comment [TC2]: Even though you establish who they are

and who they are writing for, you might want to comment
on each authors credibility and bias.
Comment [TC3]: If I could change one thing about this
paper I would just make this paragraph a little longer and
more descriptive.

Amazon is and how it evolved to what it is now. The article mentions how Amazons annual
revenue and stock price has tripled in a four-year span. The article essentially describes a theory
that Amazon is attempting to turn into a monopoly and shut out all other businesses. Thompson
also discusses the companys relationship with investors and how there is a sense of trust
between the two. To support his claim, Thompson mentions how eventually, people will turn to
Amazon as opposed to Google to search for products. In several instances, he compares Sears to
Amazon and how Sears dominated the revenues in the 1900s and how they took advantage of
the US postal service. It becomes evident that the author believes that there is a lot of
possibilities in Amazons future. Overall, Thompson believes that Amazons long-term goal is
the trade the present for the future.
On Forbess website, author Brian K. Walker, who is Vice President and Principal
Analyst at Forrester Research, discusses Amazon.com and whether it is good or bad for retailers.
He identifies Amazon as a sales channel, potential service provider, and a competitive threat.
The article discusses where Amazon struggles, including China, Brazil, India, and Russia.
Amazon functions through third-party marketplace so essentially, if enough retailers leave the
marketplace, Amazon will fall. While most would glorify Amazon and its abilities, Walker looks
at how easily Amazon could fall apart, affecting both Amazon and other retailers. The author
specializes in Business and states that he and his colleague Mulpuru have accumulated a report

Comment [TC4]: I think this is a little awkward and hard to

follow. Also it might be a run on sentence.

on Amazon and how it correlates with other retailers. The article is clearly biased and believes
that Amazon is highly vulnerable.
Inquiry
1. How has Amazon changed over time?

Comment [TC5]: I feel like this is kind of broad and you

might want to target one point of how it changed.

2. How is Amazon effecting other retailers?

Comment [TC6]: Again you might want to target one aspect

of the effects on other retailers, just to make your job
easier.

3. Why is Amazon becoming bookstores biggest competition?

Next Steps
All three of the research questions that Ive chosen are researchable. Each of the
questions take a different route in research but nevertheless serve as a good research topic. There
are many conflicting views on Amazon. Some people believe that Amazon is the next big thing
and has a lot of potential. On the opposing end, there are people who believe that Amazon is
taking things too far and need to dial back to the basics. Additionally, while some sources
indicate that they prefer to use Amazon, there are several articles that mention that since Amazon
is changing the retail industry and the world is becoming the Amazon Economy. For the
question on how Amazon has changed over time, it may be difficult to find an opposing view as
opposed to the other questions. The perspectives from the different sources have affected my
views because they have given me more information on both sides of the argument. From the
sources that Ive read so far, I would have to say that I believe that Amazon is good for us, it just
simply signifies a change in how we do things. Though I do believe that if I were to conduct
more research I may change my mind or still agree on the same point, but for different reasons.
To write on this topic I would need to know several different pieces of information such as the
economical and consumer aspect of Amazon, how the company came to be, its effect on others,
and possibly other aspects of Amazon.

Comment [TC7]: This might be too easy to answer.

Work Cited
Peterson, Hayley. "Why Online Shopping Is A Nightmare For Retailers." Business Insider. Business
Insider, Inc, 02 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.

Thompson, Derek. "The Amazon Mystery: What America's Strangest Tech Company Is Really Up
To." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.

Walker, Brian K. "Amazon.com: Friend or Foe for Retailers." Forbes. Forbes, 26 July 2012. Web. 12
Sept. 2016.

Gandel, Stephen. "It's an Amazon.com Economy, Now." N.p., 12 June 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.

Branstetter, Gillian. "Amazon Might Destroy the Economy by Giving You What You Want." The
Daily Dot. N.p., 29 May 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.

Comment [TC8]: Love this works cited. One of my favorites.