The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) – what we are used to calling “Antitrust” – has fined various companies controlled by Amazon in Italy for 1 billion and 128 million euros on charges of abuse of a dominant position in e-commerce logistics services. It is one of the highest fines ever decided by the Antitrust for a company active in the technology sector.
The AGCM believes that Amazon holds “a position of absolute dominance in the Italian marketplace brokerage services market, which has allowed it to favor its own logistics service”, damaging its competitors on the market.
In particular, Amazon offers through the “Prime” option the possibility of receiving deliveries for free upon payment of an annual subscription. Companies that sell on Amazon can choose to join this option, gaining greater visibility on the site and sales opportunities, as their customers will not have to pay shipping costs.
According to the Authority, as a result of the abuse, not only Amazon's competing operators in ecommerce logistics (therefore the services for organizing and managing shipments) were damaged, but also sites for the sale of competing online products, given that the sellers who use Amazon's services have been “discouraged from offering their products on other online platforms” at least with the same breadth of product offering.
In communicating the new sanctions, the AGCM specified that it had imposed “behavioral measures” on Amazon which will be verified by a specific control commission.
Amazon harshly criticized the Antitrust decision, saying it was “in deep disagreement” and announcing the filing of an appeal. The company recalled that: «More than half of all annual Amazon sales in Italy are generated by small and medium-sized enterprises, and their success is at the heart of our economic model. Small and medium-sized businesses have multiple channels to sell their products both online and offline: Amazon is just one of these options “.
At the end of November, the Authority had fined Amazon and Apple for a total of over 200 million euros, following an investigation concerning an agreement signed between the two companies on 31 October 2018. The agreement established that on the electronic commerce platform Amazon .it Apple and Beats branded products (which belongs to Apple) could only be distributed by Amazon and some selected retailers, excluding most of the others, official and unofficial, and thus violating competition rules.
