Daily Management Review

Amazon fined over €1B in Italy


12/10/2021


Italy's antitrust agency has fined online retailer Amazon €1,128 million for "abuse of a dominant market position", the Authority for Competition and Market Protection (AGCM) said in a statement.



Noah Kalina
Noah Kalina
According to the watchdog, the shop took advantage of a "position of absolute dominance in the Italian market" that allowed it to develop and promote its own delivery service, thereby harming other logistics services in this online retail market.

Antitrust officials considered that the Amazon group had linked delivery services to access to a set of "benefits to ensure visibility and improve sales prospects" on the online platform. Prominent among these is the Prime loyalty programme, which facilitates sales to loyal consumers and subscription customers, notes AGCM.

Prime also allows customers to participate in Amazon's sales and increases the likelihood that a particular seller's offer will be chosen as a recommended one. In this way, Amazon has prevented third-party sellers from associating the Prime label with offers that are not covered by Amazon's own delivery service. 

In addition, for sellers using the retailer's logistics, its scoring system does not apply, a breach of which could lead to a profile freeze for those not working with Amazon as a delivery service, the regulator pointed out.

source: cnn.com