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Amazon Watchers Say the Company Has Accelerated Its Efforts To Sell Its Own Products -- and That's Worrying Regulators Around the World (businessinsider.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the aggressive-expansion dept.

By selling more products of its own, Amazon is becoming a competitor to the outside manufacturers it hosts on its platform -- and that's worrying regulators around the world. From a report: Governments have rarely tried to rein in Amazon's ambitions, allowing it to avoid most of the recent scrutiny directed at other large tech platforms. But the increased focus on Amazon's house-brand offerings suggests it may now be Amazon's turn. Driving the news: Amazon built a robust business as a participant in its own marketplace when it saw growth stall in stateside e-commerce, which is why holiday shoppers might have seen Amazon-owned brands like Happy Belly for food or Solimo for household goods when they browsed the site last year. It created more "private label" products, from its AmazonBasics line to brands for fashion and furniture, that are in-house versions of things others sell on the site. It struck deals with outside manufacturers to sell their products exclusively. Critics say Amazon uses its sales data to find fruitful areas where it can produce generic versions of already-popular products.

4 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. How is this different... by williamyf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...from house/white brands that you find in supermarkets and stores around the world?

    Say, Kirkland cashews and batteries, Win-Dixie bread and cleaning wipes, Kennmore appliances. And many more brands in europe, from retailers as diverse as Carrefour, aldi and "El corte ingles"

    All big retail chains have white/house brands that compete with all the other brands. And all retailers use their retail/POS data to know what items move and which one would benefit them most if they decided to enter with a white brand...

    So? what's different in this case?

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    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
    1. Re:How is this different... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So? what's different in this case?

      Stop using common sense, regulators need to regulate. The argument you're going to see is "Consumers are too stupid to make their own decisions. What could be worse for consumers than being able to buy a quality Amazon item at a lower price than a brand name item? It's unfair that Amazon can make comparable items at lower prices AND also sell them on their own site! Abusing market position, monopoly power, other scary words to justify our existence!!!"

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    2. Re:How is this different... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes that is a thing. And it's bad and histoy is replete with examples. Amazon has well over a 90% share in some sectors. What's reasonable for most companies is not reasonable for a company with a 90% market share.

      How about an 89% share? An 88% share? An 87% share? At what level is it reasonable, and how exactly do you determine that?

      Except instead of using common sense you're just "hurr derrr gubbmint is teh evul!!11!11oneelevenONE11!11"

      Common sense is allowing consenting adults to make their own decisions. Without interference from an obtrusive third party. Yes, that is a thing. And it's bad and history is replete with examples.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  2. Amazon Has Clearly Jumped the Shark by organgtool · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just search for "pillows" on Amazon and here is what you will see: full-page section of sponsored ads, large section of "Top Rated from Our Brands", two results from your actual search, large section of "Expert Recommendations", one result from your actual search, large section of "Amazon's Choice", and finally the bulk of your actual fucking search results. Google became the most popular search engine because they provided a clean and consistent interface that kept all of the ads clearly separated from the content. Amazon, on the other hand, can't seem to pack enough ads onto their site which makes it more difficult for you to do what you came to do which is pay them money to buy shit (not look at ads). Of course, this doesn't matter because they're so big that no one can possibly compete with them on the combination of price and shipping speed, so everyone will likely continue to put up with their shit despite how terrible they've gotten. My only form of reasonable protest is refusing to buy any products that show up in the ads, no matter how good its reviews are.