Amazon makes concessions in favor of other retailers on its platform in the EU competition proceedings. Among other things, the group undertook not to use non-public data from retailers to design its own offers. One of the allegations that triggered the competition investigation was that Amazon, for example, launched products under its own brands on the basis of such information and thus put retailers under pressure.
Other commitments relate to “non-discriminatory” access to participation in Amazon’s Prime program, through which subscription customers can also have items from other retailers delivered free of charge. Prime retailers should also be able to choose which shipping service their goods will be delivered with. And in the so-called “Buy Box” with highlighted items, there should also be space for the second-placed dealer in addition to the winner of the auction if his offer is significantly different in price or delivery.
The EU Commission announced on Thursday that the opinion of Amazon’s rivals on the commitments would now be obtained by September 9th. She opened the process in 2019. Amazon stressed that while it still disagreed with “many” of the Commission’s conclusions, it had worked constructively to address its concerns. (dpa)