Amazon is at it again.
The online retail giant took on yet another partner over the weekend, halting DVD preorders for Disney titles such as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Maleficent," and escalated a four-month publicity battle with Hachette over the pricing of e-books, which has resulted in popular authors such as James Patterson, John Grisham, and Stephen Colbert speaking out against Amazon. Earlier this summer, Amazon chose to freeze out disc orders of video titles such as "The Lego Movie" in what appeared to be a similar dispute with Warner Bros.
Why is Amazon taking on these big dogs? Because it can.
Consumers have grown accustomed to using Amazon as their one-stop shop for everything from electronics to movies to books. With 250 million active customer accounts, the Seattle-based company has plenty of power to push other companies around. Consider how many other sites consumers might need visit if they wanted to avoid shopping at Amazon. They could visit iTunes for e-books, Walmart or Best Buy for electronics, and sign up for a Netflix account for streaming video.
Amazon has a record of playing hardball, even halting the sale of products and hitting companies where it hurts most -- sales produced by Amazon's extensive reach. Because it's a defensive tactic employed in the name of value, it buys a lot of goodwill with consumers.
"For Amazon, the goal is always going to be pushing those prices down," IDC Research Director Scott Strawn said.
Over the weekend, Amazon responded to a protest campaign from a group of authors to send emails directly to CEO Jeff Bezos with its own offensive, asking readers and Kindle Direct Publishing authors to email Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch in protest. Amazon's actions with Hachette should come as no surprise to any company that does business with the online giant.
Amazon has argued e-books are over-priced so it's fighting on behalf of its customers. An email to Bezos went unanswered, and a spokeswoman declined to comment further.
