On 6 July 2022, the CMA announced in a press release that it is investigating Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) over concerns that practices affecting sellers on its UK Marketplace may be anti-competitive.[1] The CMA’s investigation will consider whether Amazon has a dominant position in the UK and whether it is abusing that position and distorting competition by giving an unfair advantage to its own retail business or sellers that use its services, compared to other third-party sellers on the Amazon UK Marketplace. More specific, the investigation concerns the way that non-public third-party seller data may be used within Amazon’s retail business, how Amazon sets criteria selecting which product offer is placed within the ‘Buy Box’ and which sellers can list products under Amazon’s ‘Prime label’ on its Marketplace in the UK. This investigation follows a current European Commission probe looking into similar concerns.[2]

[1] Press release CMA of 6 July 2022: ‘CMA investigates Amazon over suspected anti-competitive practices’.

[2] EC press release of 14 July 2022: ‘Antitrust: Commission seeks feedback on commitments offered by Amazon concerning marketplace seller data and access to Buy Box and Prime’.