Amazon shopping popular among students even as it elbows out the competition

Lined with displays of Kindle Fires and Amazon Echos, Amazon Books is no ordinary bookstore. There isn’t a single price tag in sight due to fluctuating online prices; rather, each title is labeled with ratings and customer reviews, and scanners are distributed throughout the one-floor building.

The Amazon Books of Santana Row opened its doors last August, continuing a series of 13 brick-and-mortar stores from the e-commerce giant. With its exploration of creating physical stores and its purchase of Whole Foods in August, the company has faced controversy surrounding its possible threat as a monopoly, but its dominance over the market has not faltered — at least not at Saratoga High.

In a sample of 66 students, 47 percent reported having used the site several times a month, with 15 percent reporting purchasing items from Amazon several times a week.

More than 90 percent of respondents said they have a Prime subscription, which provides customers quick, free deliveries for millions of items on the site. In addition, Prime gives customers access to numerous books, movies, and TV shows, including “The Man on the High Castle,” “Mr. Robot” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

As a result, the 23-year-old company has continued to grow as the largest Internet retailer in the world, standing firm against criticism of the ethics of its business practices. Accusers point to Amazon’s anti-competitive or monopolistic behavior, often calling for antitrust action to combat its dominance.

“I can see why people would regard it as being monopolistic in the sense that it’s now buying other companies under their name,” senior Jishing Yu said. “I think it’s part of Amazon’s business to branch out to other areas in products, but buying other companies does seem to cross a line.”

As Amazon powers through the retail world, major bookstores such as Barnes and Noble continue to see steeper declines in shares and both in-store and online sales, often leading to store closures.

While eight Barnes and Noble stores closed in the year 2017, 10 new Amazon Bookstores sprang into existence across the country. Following other Bay Area stores in Pleasant Hill, West San Jose and Fremont, San Jose’s 27,700-square foot Eastridge Barnes and Noble closed its doors this January, putting an end to monthly game nights, poetry open mics, author signings and various children’s events.

The future of smaller local bookstores, such as Saratoga’s Book-Go-Round, appears uncertain.

According to manager Kristin Gragnola, the 35-year-old, non-profit used bookstore in Downtown Saratoga has yet to suffer the effects of Amazon’s business strategies or its new bookstores, as it is still selling the same number of books as in the past and is still getting large donations of books.

“We’ll probably have bookstores for at least another 10 years, but even then, it’s hard to say because everything is changing so very quickly,” Gragnola said. “Everything is kind of a guess on how Amazon is eventually going to affect us all. They could eventually drive us all out of business. Who knows?”

Like other local bookstores, the Saratoga Book-Go-Round also sells a few more valuable books on platforms such as Amazon and Ebay.

“Most people come into store looking for an inexpensive book, and so when we get more valuable books, they just don’t have a huge market and they may be more specialized,” Gragnola said. “And so for those books, we put them on Ebay so that person who’s looking for a very specific book would be able to find it.”

The rise of online retail and the high rate of student usage of Amazon services amidst anti-competition and monopolistic controversies is not without reason, according to some.

For junior Joseph Li, online shopping proves to have multiple advantages over traditional stores.

“Physical stores might not have what you’re looking for,” Li said, “and on Amazon you can find similar stuff without talking to people. So less human contact, yet better product suggestion.”

Students can also find particular niche products in online catalogs that are not usually stocked in local stores. For example, as a Christmas present to himself, Li purchased a bar of soap with a dollar bill trapped in the center in order to help himself “practice patience.” Likewise, Yu was able to order packages of Lucky Charms from the site, but with only the marshmallows.

After high school, student usage increases even further as students move into college dorms or off-campus apartments. Often lacking a convenient form of transportation, sufficient time to travel to stores or even a mailing address, college students can order from Amazon for considerably cheaper and find its familiar cardboard boxes at a secure pickup site within one or two days. A Prime subscription can also provide students with easier access to new, used or rental textbooks.

“In college, there’s rarely ever time to go to the store to get basic staple items and small things I constantly need,” 2016 alumna Elizabeth Li said. “So why would I ever waste the time or transportation fees to get to a store when I can just order from Amazon Prime?”