Dana Mattioli’s Post

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Senior Enterprise Technology Reporter, Pulitzer Finalist, Author of "The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power"

Thrilled that after three years of reporting my new book “The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power” I can finally start sharing parts with readers before its release next week! My first excerpt appeared in The Wall Street Journal this weekend. It showed how Amazon recruited a Trader Joe’s manager to work on its private label food brand. On her first week at the company, she stumbles upon a secretive room with brown paper covering the windows and doors that is filled with Trader Joe’s snack boxes. From there, the employee is pressured to give her manager internal Trader Joe’s documents. “You just have to give us the data!” he yells at her. The environment at Amazon where every year employees are cut from an already all-star pool of talent at a company with unprecedented access to data meant that accessing data to gain an edge—as well as using other tactics to hurt competition—was a powerful way to stay ahead and make it to their restricted stock units. There are loads of examples in the book where this dynamic plays out. As regulators around the world decry the company as being too big, Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has told his senior leaders it isn’t big enough. Jassy recently told his deputies that Amazon could become a $10 trillion company—the world’s largest by valuation—over the next decade. This is truly just a sliver of what the book unearths about one of the world’s most powerful and feared companies. Can’t wait for you all to read the entire book. Read the excerpt here (no paywall) and get your pre-orders in now to get a free signed bookplate until April 24! Forward me your confirmations so we can ship them out. Place your order here: https://lnkd.in/gskH3S8y #amazon #bigtech #antitrust #retail #ecommerce

Inside Amazon’s Push to Crack Trader Joe’s—and Dominate Everything

Inside Amazon’s Push to Crack Trader Joe’s—and Dominate Everything

wsj.com

Anupreeta Das

South Asia Correspondent at The New York Times and author, "Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World."

6mo

Such a great excerpt and I've heard amazing things about your book from our "neighborhood" -- can't wait to read!

Katherine Warner

Writer, Illustrator, Graphic Designer, Multi-hyphenate

6mo

Congrats, Dana! Very curious to peek between those pages and challenge my confirmation bias. 😉 As a former TJ's crew member I can say from experience that it's much harder for large corporations to transform into high-touch service models than the other way around. The frontliner people that make up Trader Joe's itself are always fighting the riptide that is corporatization; that slow distancing from customer service.

Rachel Kule

Founder, Managing Partner, Pursuit PR, LLC C-Suite Comms Advisor + Media Maverick

6mo

Ordered!

Peter Comisar

Founder + Managing Partner at STORY3 Capital Partners

6mo

Congrats Dana

Mark Montgomery

Founder & CEO of KYield. Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Data Physics and Knowledge Engineering.

6mo

It was an interesting read, Dana -- posted it within a few hours. Good luck with the book.

Margie Weinstein

Strategist. Writer. Changemaker.

6mo

Congratulations Dana Mattioli!

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Edward F.

Award Winning Illustrator and Graphic Designer

6mo

I'd be interested to see charts comparing brand allegiance between Trader Joe's and Whole Foods before and after Amazon bought Whole Foods. I would hazard a guess that Trader Joes has remained consistent while Whole Foods has declined. Personally I use to love Whole Foods, but in the last 5 years quality and service has gone into the crapper while it's prices have skyrocketed. IMHO Amazon has destroyed the value of the Whole Foods brand. Meanwhile my use and perceived value of Trader Joe's has remained high.

Rudolph Scoggins

Principal | Consultant | Engineering | Defense

6mo

Has Amazon's high-profile retail leader gone from being Whole Foods to Whole Paycheck to Whole Rip-Off? Increasingly, there are a lot of folks out there who wouldn't mind seeing Jeff Bezos' yachts downsized to dinghys. Punching a hole through Trader Joe's armor won't be so easy. Only time will tell. 

I buy certain things from Amazon. Prime video, phone chargers. Backpacks. Kindle books, but I hate them, so I only do it under duress. Things with cables like microphones and equipment for video lighting. I buy a lot of stuff from Costco. TVs, a fridge, furniture. food. chicken. And I buy stuff from TJs - candy, booze, macaroni and cheese, salsas, and other fun food that makes me happy. I like going to TJs. I like the energy. I enjoy the staff. It's colorful. It's real. The prices are usually great. I like the candy at the check out. Sometimes I sneak an extra purchase. Amazon can take their world domination plans elsewhere. I don't want everything online. Far from it.

During the period you worked on your book, Amazon closed its apparel, 4-star and book stores, closed its freight venture Convoy, and closed its healthcare ventures Amazon Care and Haven. Also, the grab-and-go Fresh stores are circling the drain. Each of these failed/failing ventures were hailed as 'game-changers' by media as WSJ. In short, Amazon has failed at essentially all of its new ideas. I hope your book is honest about this.

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