>consumers go to aggregators because they want to, not because they are forced to.
Recently I wanted to buy 10-ish dead tree books in English and get them shipped to an eastern EU country. Going through the first 20~ DDG results of online stores exactly zero would ship them here. Also, the local bookstores would have only few books in English, mostly the 'bestseller'-type stuff.
Amazon was the only place that would have them available and would ship them here..
I think the statement you're replying to is more talking about staple items, not long-tail items. Things like toilet paper, toothpaste, shoes, etc. should be widely-available from local stores (both online and brick-and-mortar), and yet people still go to the aggregators for them, because it's easier and gives them predictable pricing, delivery, and quality.
Recently I wanted to buy 10-ish dead tree books in English and get them shipped to an eastern EU country. Going through the first 20~ DDG results of online stores exactly zero would ship them here. Also, the local bookstores would have only few books in English, mostly the 'bestseller'-type stuff.
Amazon was the only place that would have them available and would ship them here..