ABA, Others Demand That Small Business Administration 'Dump Amazon'

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) and Small Business Rising, a coalition of independent business organizations, are calling on the Small Business Administration to "Dump Amazon" as a sponsor of National Small Business Week, which runs April 28–May 4 this year. The groups have collectively declared March 20 a day of action, “Dump Amazon Day,” and will coordinate a social media-focused protest on that day.

The protest comes among a renewed effort to investigate Amazon's impact on the business landscape amid a federal antitrust trial that has been applauded by many in the book business, including the ABA. "Given that Amazon has spent the past two decades using anticompetitive behavior in an attempt to run its small business competitors out of business, and is currently being sued by regulators, the day of action is focused primarily on Amazon’s cosponsorship of National Small Business Week," the ABA said in a release.

“Over the past two decades, Amazon has grown a stranglehold on the book industry and crushed healthy competition in the marketplace for small business,” said Allison Hill, CEO of ABA. “It is preposterous that a government agency charged with assisting and protecting the interests of small business concerns and preserving free competitive enterprise would select Amazon as a co-sponsor of National Small Business Week.”