asst reply:

The Amazon Effect is defined as "the disruption to conventional physical retail locations caused by the increase in online shopping". There are multiple positive and negative impacts for customers but there are some that stand out more than others. Positively, online shopping has allowed easier shopping access for circumstances that are normally annoying and inconvenient. Most recently the world went thought the Covid$-19$ pandemic, where online services thrived due to restrictions put on travel. Even now, people home sick or that find it difficult to travel with children or injuries continue to take advantage of these services. The most negative aspect in my opinion is the lack of regulation when dealing with online services. Many companies use third party warehouses to ship directly to homes and sometime offer multiple third party vendors that are sometimes unverified and sell counterfeit products. In $2019,$ CNN reported about fake strollers that were being sold through Amazon and were falling apart and injuring children. Most were unable to do anything about it due to small print on Amazon and no real seller to go after.

Many felt this was an unethical act by Amazon, since they refused to take responsibility for the products being defective since they warn customers they are not responsible for products sold by third party vendors. Amazon's excuse was that they have multiple sellers and are unable to verify them all quickly which is why they have the warning. While there was legal action taken, overall sales on Amazon didn't falter. To date, Amazon has made it easier for customers to tell where the product comes from, and has done little more to battle counterfeiting on their site. Don't get me wrong, this is an age old scam that I knew to beware of at $6$ years old $($I grew up in NYC$)$ but the internet has given hustlers a whole new audience to con.