How Amazon Exploits Small Online Retailers

For more than a decade, Amazon.com has carved out a niche for itself as the online shopping network for every niche. Since making everything available would be an impossible task even for the retail giant, Amazon has a Pro Merchant program for small businesses. In return for padding the enormous marketplace with even more wares, sellers get to ride the coattails of Amazon's search engine optimization. While the relationship seems symbiotic, the trouble occurs when sellers attempt to leave Amazon. When that happens, for whatever reason, Pro Merchants' empty storefronts remain open.