The public sector needs some Amazon magic . My IEA article

The UK has long be feted as a nation of shopkeepers. We have some great retailers with strong brands. Amazon came to the UK to take on one of the most advanced and efficient retail sectors in the world. The sector has luckily avoided nationalisation and the more extreme forms of government intervention. As a result we have avoided rationing of food and clothes. Meanwhile the NHS rations non urgent health care by long waiting lists. Councils and government limit the supply of nationalised roads to keep drivers fuming in congestion,suffering  peak hour road works and closures. You do not see Heathrow airport closing the main runway for repairs at the busiest time for landings during the day.  We have plenty of choice of shops, with market leaders like Tesco and Next achieving fast growth and high standards. We do not have a bread shortage, though state regulated water monopolies give us a water shortage.

Nonetheless Amazon has gone from a start up US business selling books in 1995 to having 30% of the UK on line shopping market today. 85% of all UK consumers use Amazon for some of their purchases. It is true Tesco dominates in on line groceries, with Sainsbury and Asda also important.  Next Directory is a great business success selling clothes and household goods. . Amazon has only been able to make such a dent in the general retail market place by the excellence of its technology, the ease of access and use, and the high quality of delivery and service. Some more traditional UK retailers have struggled to come up with a good enough on line offer to compete.

Amazon has advanced its competitive foothold in the UK by being fast and flexible in understanding customer wishes and responding to customer needs. It has greatly expanded the range of what it sells, to give customers maximum choice at the click of a mouse. It has two mega warehouses and many other distribution points so it has the stock to rush goods to people as soon as they buy them. It expanded its delivery system at record pace when covid lockdowns caused many more people to want to shop on line. When other retailers were having to limit our access to their shops to conform with government health advice, and were rationing access  on line for lack of capacity, Amazon seized the opportunity for major expansion.

Great companies listen to all their customers and seek to cater for all of  them. I myself as an Amazon user refuse to pay for Amazon Prime. Amazon tried to shock people like me into paying the subscription by increasing the delivery charges. Clearly enough of us objected and withdrew custom, as they soon stopped that and said sorry . Tesco who built my loyalty to buy many of my household basics from them through sensible price promotions and good whole basket discounts went too far, only offering a discount on a much larger shop than I needed. They have decided not to bother to win me back. It is easy to lose customers, difficult to get them to return.

Amazon handle complaints and returns well. They keep your retail history to make re ordering so easy and to remind you what you bought and what it cost. They have built total global sales to over last year’s  $775 bn, branching out into crucial new business areas in digital technology. They generate an impressive $500,000 of sales per employee and now employ 1.6 million people worldwide. They daily strive to improve, looking to provide better value and quality with everything they do. They adapt and adopt new technologies to get things to people cheaper and faster. Their on line shop is very accessible, making it  easy to choose and to specify where and when you want it delivered. Some other retail sites are much harder work trying to get through all the stages to finally complete a transaction, or even to see the goods and read their design details and specification.

The UK public sector has so much to learn about great on line access and great customer service. State computers threaten you if you cannot make them work, often fail to offer choices you like and are out to serve their owners, not their clients. The public sector does not think about your convenience but theirs. It does not ask what we the  customers would  like, but what they are willing to provide. They want to stress the rules. Amazon stresses the convenience and the product they can supply.

Amazon knows it can only hold its current success and expand its sales if it continues to improve daily what it supplies, keeps  its prices keen, and sustains fast deliveries. There is a good UK retail sector left, ready to take back some of that lost market share. It is competition which drives the innovation, the quality and the better service. The Uk public sector usually insists on monopoly provision, backed up by taxes, rules, and fines to make people conform with what it is prepared to supply.

The nationalised railway concentrates on building a new line that will be more than a decade delayed and billions over budget. It could spend that money on improving punctuality and capacity on main routes which is what travellers want. If Amazon ran trains they would arrive on time and would use the latest technology for signals and safety. The nationalised roads concentrate on making it more difficult for vehicles to get about, pursuing a policy of wanting contraction in the vehicle fleet and in  usage of the network. The nationalised Post office fails to capitalise through its network of counters on the demand for in person banking and services as other business automate too much. The Post Office prefers to lose lots of money and claim a grant from taxpayers.

We need more of the Amazon touch in our public services. Put customers first. Always ask what they want. Look to use latest technology in a customer friendly and accessible way. Use staff to deliver the service to people promptly and efficiently. We could save billions and cheer us all up as government turned from being a bad hectoring presence to being our friendly supporter.