US small businesses urge policymakers to curtail Amazon’s power

Small Business Rising, which represents grocers, hardware stores, pharmacies and bookstores, said it aims to reinvigorate United States antitrust enforcement, including a call to separate Amazon’s own retail business from the marketplace that hosts third-party sellers.

A new coalition of small business organizations is urging policymakers to break up Amazon.com Inc. Small Business Rising, which represents grocers, hardware stores, pharmacies and bookstores, on Tuesday laid out a set of goals aimed at reinvigorating U.S. antitrust enforcement, including a call to separate Amazon’s own retail business from the marketplace that hosts third-party sellers. Convened in part by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a small-business advocacy group and a longtime critic of Amazon’s market power, the coalition is likely to ramp up the pressure on the world’s largest web retailer, which has thrived during the pandemic as home-bound shoppers stormed online. The coalition comprises more than 20 organizations including the American Booksellers Association, the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding and the National Grocers Association, which represent more than 60,000 independent businesses