Amazon is expanding beyond online and offline to distribute its power through all areas. The company’s widespread expansion in the industry is giving a threat to the offline stores and small and medium-sized shopping malls into bankruptcy. The book “Death by Amazon” introduces “Amazon fear index”, which represents the stock indices of 54 publicly traded companies that are at risk from the Amazon’s business.
This book explains specifically about how Amazon is increasing its field whether by itself or acquisition. To fight against Amazon’s monopoly, the book reveals the tactics of each company for its survival. Companies such as Walmart, Costco, Wayfair, Nike, Spehora, Warby Parker, Allbirds, Quip, Uniqlo, have mobilized their own strengths to compete against Amazon by their own advanced technology and differentiation strategy.
Internet of Things (IoT) or technology represented as 4th industrial revolution, such as big data, virtual reality, augmented reality, and so on are gradually permeating every aspect of our daily lives. Just only five years ago, many did not imagine a store where customers just need to take things out without any checkout, an artificial intelligence secretary who can request anything with a single word, and a delivery service for drones or unmanned self-driving robots. However, cutting-edge technologies that seemed like a distant future are now beginning to be naturally commercialized. The lead of industrial technology change is dominated by Amazon, the world's largest online e-commerce company.
Amazon, which is considered as an omnivorous dinosaur, has destroyed the existing industrial ecosystem by making strides in every business from online bookstores to fashion, furniture, drones, robots, and cloud services. In the process, Amazon fears have gripped the market, with a series of offline giants collapsing, including large bookstore chain "Barns & Noble," the world's No. 1 toy company "Toys R Us," and 100 years of traditional department store "Sears." It has come as a huge threat to countless companies to the point.
On the other hand, there are companies that are steadily increasing their sales by solidifying their territory in the strike of Amazon. From big offline retailers such as Costco, Walmart, Uniqlo, Tiffany to small and medium online shopping malls including Etsy, Wayfair, Casper, what are their strategies that have won the competition against Amazon? Commonly, they have avoided direct challenges against Amazon and tried to differentiate themselves by showing their strengths.
For example, fast fashion brand Uniqlo has launched a customer-centered service that combines cutting-edge technology based on the offline stores world-wide. Also, the world's largest handmade online store, Etsy has survived throughout the pressure of Amazon’s enlargement. Amazon's business strategy is mainly to buy products in large quantities from suppliers and offer them at low prices, which have not worked at all in the handmade market where diversity and uniqueness are important. Soon after, Amazon launched a competitive service called ‘Handmade at Amazon’ to take advantage of the market, nonetheless Etsy still remains the leading player. The book explains fully about the secrets of future strategies of each companies in response of Amazon’s strike. It also revealed Amazon's innermost agony behind its aggressive entry into the market.
This book consists of a total of seven chapters. First and second chapters are about the steps which Amazon dominated online retail market. Then, Amazon Go was next Amazon’s step to stride in the offline markets: for instance, fashion and furniture industries, which were considered difficult to succeed in online. What's the real story behind Amazon's relentless move across the field? From chapter three to six, the book deals with the events of offline giants such as Walmart, Costco, and Apple. They are fiercely fighting with Amazon to defend their territory with strong brand strategies and smart, high-tech tools. Finally, Chapter 7 reveals the strategies and examples of companies in fighting with Amazon.
The author of the book, Shirota Makoto, is one of the top economist in Nomura Institute. He has been watching the moves of Amazon and the rest of online and offline retail commerce companies. It was clearly witnessed that Amazon was destroying the existing ecosystems. A lot of companies which did not prepare from their competitors later faced bankruptcy. On the other hand, some companies were able to handle themselves from the crisis of so called ‘Amazon Fear’. It is difficult to predict who will be the champion in retail area, however, in order to maintain in survival, overcoming Amazon’s dominance is one of the strategies that companies should bear in mind.
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