Amazon could be forced to pay compensation to “tens of millions” of UK customers amid allegations it “unlawfully favours its own product offers”.
An opt-out collective action, called the “UK Buy Box Claim”, will allege that Amazon has breached competition law and caused millions of UK customers to pay higher prices for products on its platforms by obscuring better deals.
The collective action, which is due to be filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London by the end of the month, will allege that Amazon has abused its dominant online presence and harmed customers by channelling them to its “featured offer”.
Read the full article on the This is Money website
NAM Implications:
- Given its consumer-first policy that has brought it this far…
- …it is unlikely that Amazon will have made itself vulnerable via the Buy Box initiative.
- i.e. anticipate some heavy-hitting legal help on their part.
- However. if Amazon plan on relying on letter-of-law rather than spirit-of-law justification…
- …the brand could sustain some damage.
- An opportunity for rivals?
- (Amazon are bound to misstep eventually…)
