Have we become too reliant on Big Tech firms?
When lockdown hits on 23 March in the UK, Mr Ingram had to shut his shops in Edinburgh and Dundee, and sell his stock through Amazon Marketplace. Now, his sales are 40% higher than last year. “Without Amazon, we would have had to furlough all employees for all of lockdown. Instead, we furloughed them for four weeks until we adjusted ourselves to the new normal, and then we could retrain staff to help us fulfil our online orders,” he says. It’s not just Amazon that has been used more during…