Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Jul 25, 2025

Mnuchin is wrong: Amazon has done more good than bad for small business

Mnuchin is wrong: Amazon has done more good than bad for small business

The treasury secretary said Amazon ‘destroyed the retail industry’ – but Amazon has created businesses, side hustles, development and content design opportunities for more than 1.9m small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world who, in turn, have created more than 1.6m jobs in the process. The company has created a special site just for people to buy from small businesses and another one to help aspiring entrepreneurs become partners and merchants. More than half the items sold on their site is sold by a small- or medium-sized company, and countless other consultants, technology companies, logistics firms, warehousing landlords and other small businesses have created their livelihoods on Amazon’s back.

Take a walk today down New York City’s Seventh Avenue – or any Main Street in small-town America – and you’ll see that things look a lot different than they did 40 or even 20 years ago.

Back then there were lots of retail stores selling shoes, clothes, sporting equipment and books. Today … not so much. The malls are empty, name-brand chains have shut down and storefronts are more or less occupied by “experience” businesses – restaurants, coffee shops, bars, exercise places or nail salons. Where did retail go? Has it been destroyed? And did Amazon cause all of this?

Yes, Amazon caused a lot of it. In fact, the e-commerce giant changed retail forever. But it’s not all bad news – particularly for small businesses.

Steve Mnuchin doesn’t feel this way. In an interview with CNBC this week, the treasury secretary (and former Sears board member) said that Amazon has “destroyed the retail industry across the United States”. He also said that “no question they’ve limited competition. People had those concerns about Walmart, but Walmart developed a business where small business could continue to compete with them.”

Mnuchin knows a lot more about a lot of things than me. I would never debate him on tax policy, the federal debt ceiling or anything to do with the US government’s finances. But, with all due respect, small business is my turf, not his. And when it comes to small business I do feel comfortable saying this: Amazon is not hurting small businesses. It is actually quite the opposite.

I’m not an employee at Amazon, and although my firm has done some marketing work for the company over the past few years I am not an Amazon merchant or partner. I just know a lot about small businesses because I run one and I write about them. And when it comes to small businesses, Amazon has done way more good than bad.

The company has created businesses, side hustles, development and content design opportunities for more than 1.9m small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world who, in turn, have created more than 1.6m jobs in the process. The company has created a special site just for people to buy from small businesses and another one to help aspiring entrepreneurs become partners and merchants. More than half the items sold on their site is sold by a small- or medium-sized company, and countless other consultants, technology companies, logistics firms, warehousing landlords and other small businesses have created their livelihoods on Amazon’s back.

You’re not seeing these people on Main Street anymore, but trust me, they’re still out there … and in droves. They’re selling to customers they could never dreamed of, reaching and sourcing products from suppliers in faraway places, and doing this all from the comfort of their homes or from spaces that cost a helluva lot less than rent on Seventh Avenue.

“Amazon is the first partner that offers small businesses a legitimate way to compete with the big retailers – which is why they are scared, and why they are sounding the alarm that it’s ‘killing retail’,” Jerry Kozak, the owner of Ann Arbor T-shirt Company and an Amazon merchant, told me. “Amazon is changing retail by offering more products from more merchants, at greater convenience – and people are voting with their wallets.”

Kozak, who employs 75 people at his $20m a year business, isn’t alone in his support of the online platform. Many other business owners I know agree with him.

And by the way, Amazon isn’t the only game in town. E-commerce applications that allow small businesses to sell from their own websites such as Shopify, BigCommerce and Magento have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Etsy, eBay and other online marketplaces have attracted countless small businesses to sell and Chinese giant Alibaba just announced this week new tools particularly for small businesses that make up part of its strategy to grow in the American market. Small businesses have plenty of choices to sell their wares other than Amazon.

And sell they do. On Amazon’s Prime Day alone, small- and medium-sized companies sold more than $2bn of products, a 33% increase over last year. The other platforms have also helped small businesses generate billions in revenues.

“What Amazon has actually done is democratize retail and leveled the playing field so that independent brands and small businesses can enter the market and thrive,” Kristin Rae, an Amazon merchant who owns Inspire Travel Luggage, said. “Truly, I wouldn’t be able to be a business without Amazon.”

Yes, retail has undergone an enormous change, and Amazon has been a big part of that. But the smart entrepreneurs I know – like Kozak and Rae – understand something that some slow-reacting retailers, disconnected politicians and yes, even a treasury secretary hasn’t: it’s 2019 and not 1979. They’re profiting, and good for them.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
×