Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Amazon Anonymous Protest in U.K. Redirects Christmas Sales



According to this Guardian article, a group of unhappy Amazon customers in the U.K. has managed to redirect something like $7.6 million dollars in Christmas sales from Amazon to the pockets of independent retailers.  Do keep in mind, however, that this figure comes from the protesting group itself, Amazon Anonymous. 
"The campaigners launched their call for an “Amazon-free” Christmas on 18 November, with 41,509 people now signed up, having pledged to spend a total of £5.53m elsewhere. “Christmas is Amazon’s busiest time of year – it’s also our best chance to disrupt their business,” they urge online. “They don’t pay their workers a living wage. They dodge their tax. They take money away from our local shops. So this year, let’s take our money away from them.”
Set up last Christmas by a group of three disgruntled Amazon customers, Amazon Anonymous has now collected more than 130,000 signatures to a petition calling on the retailer to pay workers the living wage. This year it is also targeting the retailer over its tax practices."
[...]
'“Everyone signed up seems to have really enjoyed the Amazon-free challenge so far – lots of people [are] saying they have actually found it relatively easy to find alternative retailers for their gifts, others say they have been badgering their whole family to join them,” said Hay. “I think this may well be the first of many ‘Amazon-free’ Christmas challenges.”'
The Amazon Anonymous group began with only three members a year ago, has now gathered 130,000 signatures on an  anti-Amazon petition, and rounded up 41,509 shoppers to yank their business from Amazon this Christmas.  Group leaders say that the longer they are ignored by Amazon, the longer the protest will last.  Looks like a lot of Brits agree with them.

2 comments:

  1. Even if the numbers are inflated I think this is wonderful news!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazon is about as popular an internet retailer as WalMart is a brick & mortar retailer - and for almost the exact same reasons.

    ReplyDelete

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