Amazon’s new small-business product ‘feels like a trap,’ says Shopify’s CEO

Amazon launched Storefront, a retail hub for small businesses, today. But Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, whose software powers storefronts for 600,000 companies — including many small retailers — says it “feels like a trap to me.”

“In a couple of years, if merchants decided that giving all their business’s data to Amazon, then starting to compete on buy buttons with every factory in the world, didn’t work out as that good of an idea, then I would not be surprised,” Lütke said, speaking at Code Commerce in New York.

Lütke drew a comparison between his business, which he said prizes merchants, and Amazon’s.

“Amazon’s worldview is that merchants don’t matter. Factories and consumers matter,” he said. “Everything in between is Jeff’s opportunity,” referring to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Earlier in the interview, Lütke referred to his competitors — and peers — in the tech industry as “frenemies.”

Watch the full interview here:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Explanatory journalism is a public good

At Vox, we believe that everyone deserves access to information that helps them understand and shape the world they live in. That's why we keep our work free. Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via