NEW DELHI, Sept 14 (Askume) – An Indian antitrust probe found that Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Walmart Inc (WMT.N) ‘s Flipkart gained traction by providing preferential treatment to some sellers, preferential treatment on certain items and deep discounts on marketplace products.
Here are the key findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), detailed in two reports that have not been made public but were reviewed by Askume.
Amazon, Flipkart and the CCI did not respond to requests for comment on the report.
* Preferred sellers: Amazon has 6 preferred sellers, while Flipkart has 33, and these sellers receive preferential treatment on their platforms, violating antitrust laws. Sellers receive marketing, warehousing and other services at “nominal costs”.
CCI also said that Amazon and Flipkart leveraged their foreign investments to offer such favourable rates.
The CCI said both Amazon and Flipkart have an ecosystem “in which no seller other than the preferred seller can survive.”
*Priority listing: CCI said, most of the products appearing at the top of listings on Amazon and Flipkart are from so-called priority sellers. This creates a barrier for other sellers, CCI said.
* Exclusive product launches: Both Amazon and Flipkart have tied up with smartphone and technology companies to exclusively launch their devices, a move that hurts smaller retailers.
“The exclusive rollout has severely impacted not only the regular sellers on the platform but also the retailers who made the phones available later,” the CCI report said.
* Deep discounts: The CCI report said both Amazon and Flipkart offer deep discounts to their affiliated and preferred sellers, including selling at prices well below cost, aimed at eliminating competition.
