According to the latest rumors, the Antitrust Authority has announced that it has launched a new investigation against Amazon and its dominant position.
The preliminary investigation was launched on 10 April 2019 against various companies of Jeff Bezos. The aim would be to verify the extremes of abuse of the platform’s dominant position.
Amazon: a new preliminary investigation opened by the Antitrust Authority
Let’s start from the beginning, Amazon was born as an eCommerce platform or a website where you can buy and sell products. Despite this, since 2000 the platform has become a marketplace, a web showcase in which products for sale by third parties are also placed. Over the years the company has assumed increasingly important positions up to the present, where most of the products for sale are independent sellers. Here is the reason that prompted the Authority to open a new investigation.
We cannot fail to name the ancillary services of the platform, including “fulfillment by Amazon“, or the logistics of the company. The seller who intends to use this service is required to deposit the products at an Amazon plant and subsequently, they will be sold and shipped by the platform itself. The advantages of the seller are linked to the Amazon Prime and BuyBox services. The first is very well known and allows users to receive their order quickly and free of charge. The second one allows instead to buy with just one click.
The AGCM specified: ” Amazon itself underlines how adherence to its logistics service is an effective solution if the seller does not show good sales performance on Amazon.com. In some presentations available on its website relating to the “Sell on Amazon” service, for example, among the recommendations to increase sales is to remove the negative feedback of consumers using the Amazon Logistics service, which allows the “cancellation of negative reviews on delivery/customer service “. Likewise, in presenting as “Increasing your rating with Amazon Logistics”, Amazon highlights how FBA allows you to get “Price Benefits”, “Negative Feedback Protection,” and “Improved Indexing “.
Amazon may face stiffer antitrust control as part of a new deal between US regulators, which places the eCommerce giant under the control of the Commerce Commission, the paper quoted people close to the case.
