A WSJ investigation into a decade of Amazon's business practices reveals how the tech giant competes and targets rivals https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-competition-shopify-wayfair-allbirds-antitrust-11608235127?page=1

In the story: Amazon has set up a top-secret task force dubbed "Project Santos" to study and take on Shopify, which has become an increasing threat and attracted sellers. All members have had to sign addition NDAs. $SHOP

In 2016, Amazon set up a "Wayfair Parity Team" to dissect furniture retailer Wayfair and try to identify and source up to 90% of what Wayfair sold. Around 100 people worked on this team $W

After years of trying to get Allbirds to sell on Amazon, last year Amzn released a shoe looking very similar to Allbirds' Wool Runners.

“You can’t help but look at a trillion-dollar company putting their muscle and their pockets and their machinations of their algorithms and reviewers and private-label machine all behind something that you’ve put your career against,” said Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger.

“You have this giant machine creating all these headwinds for us,” said the Allbirds CEO. He hasn’t pursued legal options because he said Amazon likely has twice his company’s headcount just in lawyers.

Sellers on Amazon describe a catch 22.  “It’s literally like being held as a prisoner with Amazon,” said Billy Carmen, a Holly, Mich., seller of patio products, “and because of that there’s no place else companies like us can go to sell our products. Amazon uses that against us.”