Exactly.
Everyone loves to support local independent small businesses when it’s convenient. And some people even have the gumption to hold to those ideals when it’s difficult. But the vast majority don’t care most of the time.
When big business makes it cheaper and more convenient to buy from them, most people will. I’m just as guilty of that as anyone else. When money and time are plentiful I love supporting a local bakery for lunch and a local book store for that greeting card. But when I’m pressed for time or money is short, it’s straight back to Walmart to get a card and an entire meal for the price of one baked snack from the local place. And in 10 minutes instead of half an hour.
And the megacorps don’t need a majority market share to win. They don’t even need a large enough market share to be profitable, they just need to make sure your market share is too small to survive. And once you fail, then they can change practices away from kill competition and back to make money.
That “seem” is a tricksy word. Someone who is good at trickery is going to seem trustworthy, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be good at trickery.