Margrethe Vestager , European Commissioner for Competition, announced at a press conference that Amazon is under accusation for abusing its dominant position. After the USA, the EU too decides to investigate more on the commercial practices of the e-commerce giant, considered by many to not comply with the rules.

Because the EU antitrust has Amazon under investigation?

“ We need to make sure platforms like Amazon don’t hinder competition “- said Margrethe Vestager -” Third party vendor activity data should not be used to provide an advantage to Amazon when it acts as a competitor to these activities. The rules they should not artificially favor Amazon itself or benefit retailers who rely on Amazon’s logistics and shipping services “.

But what exactly has Amazon done to hinder competition? According to the EU (but similar investigations are also going on in the US and Germany), the problem is that Amazon exploits the its dual role – manager of the sales platform and seller on the platform itself – to obtain a competitive advantage. In practice, it exploits the sales data of merchants, their performance, their guarantees, to push the sales of its products.

According to the Commission, there are numerous clues showing how Amazon employees have access to large amounts of private information about the business of the independent merchants operating on the platform, information that flows together or in the company’s automated systems and which would guarantee it a great advantage. Advantage that is not compatible with the rules imposed by the antitrust.

The program is also under accusation Buy Box , which allows end users to put products from specific sellers in the “cart”. Entering these Buy Boxes is of strategic importance for sellers, since whoever is “chosen” by customers generates the most sales. The survey also touches on other aspects, such as the difficulty of third-party sellers to effectively reach Prime customers, who are also those who tend to make more purchases on the platform.

What can happen to Amazon?

If the EU’s allegations prove to be well founded, Amazon may have to pay a fine equivalent to 10% of its turnover. In 2019, the turnover was 280 billions of dollars , which could lead to a fine of up to 28 billions .