Amazon courts small businesses, touting itself as a way to outflank a struggling economy

Amazon will host what it calls its largest-ever summit for U.S. sellers Sept. 1-3, teaching small-business owners how to sell on its platform during the pandemic. The company is courting small businesses as brick-and-mortar retailers have been temporarily shut down during the Covid-19 outbreak. This spring, people sheltering in their homes during state lockdown orders turned to Amazon in droves, driving the company’s sales through the roof as much of the rest of the economy foundered. Since then,…