Why don't grocery stores get in trouble then? Do you need to be effective at forcing competitors out of the market or does simply the attempt make one guilty? Don't all businesses want to force their competitors out of the market?
As an aside it does not surprise me at all when I learn that a law is not worded in a way that's congruent with the popular conception of the law.
It would be argued that Amazon's specific point of abuse and power is related to its ecommerce market share. If a monopoly argument is going to be made against Amazon in retail, it will be about their online store (as opposed to eg in-store Wholefoods).
I think it's a fair point of separation. Amazon can simultaneously have an abusive monopoly online and a weak position in physical stores. Walmart could cultivate a monopoly in physical store retailing (hypothetically), and have a weak position online.
Other grocery stores don't attract anti-trust attention, typically, because they have no overwhelmingly dominant position.
If Kroger had 40% or 60% of the US grocery store business, they'd be a target of anti-trust focus persistently (as it is, Kroger is the #2 grocer and only has 10% of the grocery business; it's a very fragmented market, Costco is #3 with a mere 5% share). If Amazon.com only had 10% of the US online retail business, there wouldn't be so much concern about their potential monopoly positioning.
> As an aside it does not surprise me at all when I learn that a law is not worded in a way that's congruent with the popular conception of the law.
Anti-trust law only applies to businesses which have market dominance. Grocery stores generally aren't in this position except for Wal-Mart which has similar concerns.
Because a grocery store selling white-label products isn't an unfair use of market position to force competitors out of the market.
How many times has a grocery white-label cereal bankrupted a Cherrios or forced them out of the market? Alternatively, how many stores do you hear about vendors that launched a successful product (even a #1 selling product) only to have to close after Amazon launched a copycat product.
>Don't all businesses want to force their competitors out of the market?
No, complimentary and substitute products are healthy for the market place. Again go back to the grocery store, they don't want General Mills/Post going out of business, they want to fill their shelves with those products.
>As an aside it does not surprise me at all when I learn that a law is not worded in a way that's congruent with the popular conception of the law.
This is true especially with 1st amendment and 2nd amendment law...I am not sure what the popular conception of Anti-trust law may be, but when it comes to Amazon I always see the white-label grocery store product analogy. What is great about the law is legal opinions often include factual analogies and distinctions like this, what would shock most people is how logically sound and exhaustive the courts are.
> No, complimentary and substitute products are healthy for the market place. Again go back to the grocery store, they don't want General Mills/Post going out of business, they want to fill their shelves with those products.
I don't think the grocery store and the cereal company are competitors in that case.
As an aside it does not surprise me at all when I learn that a law is not worded in a way that's congruent with the popular conception of the law.