One-day Shipping: Amazon Trojan Horse or Market Share Play?

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declared that it was “Day One” for the Internet in 1997 and has built a business philosophy — and a massive, industry-changing empire — around the concept. Two decades later, Bezos told shareholders: “Day Two is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always Day One.” Day One thinking has now led Amazon to push for one-day shipping as the new standard. And it has everybody up in arms — with retail investors, analysts and union leaders reacting. Some see something more in the works than just faster deliveries. Amazon said Thursday afternoon that it was spending $800 million this quarter to move toward one-day shipping in its Prime program. Prime had previously cemented two-day shipping as the standard for consumers, sorely challenging competitors that already have slim profit margins and don’t have Amazon’s billions to keep up. But that goes toward another of Bezos’ favorite sayings: “Your margin is my opportunity.” Investors know that about Bezos and shied away from some retailers Friday even as the overall market rose. Shares of Target Corp. fell 5.7 percent to $77.12, while Walmart Inc. was down 1.9 percent to $101.53. Retailers in general

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