DOJ’s Google Ads suit would hurt NC small businesses like mine

Ten years ago, my family and I moved from Ukraine to Mooresville, North Carolina. We are leather-goods artisans. Using traditional methods, we design and craft wallets, diaries, backpacks, and other leather products. Our dream is to build a thriving business here in the US. 

We are well on our way. Customers love our distinctive, high-quality items, and our studio now employs 10 designers, tailors, and leather toolers to fill over 20,000 orders a year. 

But building a successful business requires more than great products. It also requires knowing how to find interested customers. We sell our products exclusively online, and Google’s display-advertising services are a key part of our marketing strategy. Over the years, they’ve helped us grow our business and compete with big players like Hobo and Coach. That’s why I’m worried that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Google over its display-ads business and is even threatening to break up the company. That would badly hurt my small business, along with thousands of others. 

The DOJ claims Google is an illegal monopoly because of its size and because it serves both display-ad-space buyers, like my business; and display-ad-space sellers, like the websites and blogs where people see our ads. But this accusation doesn’t make sense. Other businesses, like eBay and Uber, also connect buyers and sellers, and nobody worries that they are monopolies.

And there are so many advertising options besides Google’s display ads. We can advertise on platforms like Amazon and Etsy, through social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram, and even in apps and videos. In the past decade, our advertising choices have grown significantly, and ads have become steadily less expensive and more effective. I would expect a monopoly to reduce competition and innovation and keep prices high, but those things aren’t happening. 

We choose to use Google’s display-ad services as part of our marketing strategy because they are affordable, effective, and easy to use. With the click of a few keys and at minimal cost, Google instantly and securely connects small-business advertisers like me to the right ad-space sellers. It also uses basic demographic information and recent online behavior to ensure our ads get in front of the right audience: people interested in buying hand-crafted leather goods. That means we can find the most customers for the least amount of money, boosting our sales and bottom line so we can keep improving our products and hire more artisans. 

If Google wasn’t there to connect the right advertisers and sellers, we would have to work with dozens of ad partners or hire teams of marketing professionals to try to figure out which websites have the right audience for our ads. That would cost us time and money, and we would reach fewer interested customers, hurting our sales. 

We have worked with a variety of digital advertising platforms and have found that Google’s ads help us reach the most customers per dollar spent. I can’t see how splitting up Google would benefit us or any other small-business advertisers. We would have to learn to work with several new, smaller platforms, which would all lack Google’s extensive network and expertise. It would likely cost more or deliver less-effective ads. Even if those platforms charged lower commissions, the savings wouldn’t come close to offsetting our reduced sales revenues.

I know that Google isn’t perfect. But it plays a key role in a digital ecosystem that allows small family businesses like mine to affordably and effectively advertise so we can grow, thrive, and compete with much bigger players. I could understand why DOJ officials might want to improve or upgrade this system, but I can’t understand why they would want to break it.