{"id":232740,"date":"2024-06-09T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T16:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=232740"},"modified":"2024-06-09T16:56:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T16:56:41","slug":"independent-uk-retailers-claim-1bn-damages-against-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/independent-uk-retailers-claim-1bn-damages-against-amazon\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent UK retailers claim \u00a31bn damages against Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Independent UK retailers have launched the biggest ever retail class action with a \u00a31bn claim for damages against Amazon<\/a>, which they allege has been pushing them out of its online marketplace.<\/p>\n

The claim, brought by about 35,000 sellers and headed by the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), asserts that between October 2015 and the present day, Amazon<\/a> used non-public data belonging to the retailers to inform the launch of its own rival products.<\/p>\n

It also alleges that Amazon manipulated access to its \u201cbuy box\u201d<\/a>, where most sales on the platform take place, to divert shoppers away from independent retailers to its own items.<\/p>\n

Bira said Amazon was already charging its members a \u201cnon-negotiable 30% commission on every product sold on the site\u201d and claims that, by \u201cmisusing their proprietary data to bring to market rival products that are sold cheaper, Amazon is effectively pushing many of the UK\u2019s independent retailers out of the market\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequences of Amazon\u2019s abusive conduct have been to inflate its profits and harm the UK retail sector, especially the smaller independent retailers who are struggling at a time of difficult economic circumstances,\u201d the trade body said.<\/p>\n

Bira said it would file more than 1,150 pages of documents with the competition appeal tribunal (Cat) in London that set out the claim against Amazon.<\/p>\n

Andrew Goodacre, the chief executive of Bira, said: \u201cOne might ask, why would an independent retailer use Amazon if it is so damaging to their business? In reality, we have seen a significant shift in consumer buying behaviour and, if small businesses want to sell online, Amazon is the dominant marketplace in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, for small retailers with limited resources, Amazon is the marketplace to start online trading.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Amazon said: \u201cWe have not seen this complaint, but based on the reporting so far we are confident that it is baseless and that this will be exposed in the legal process. Over 100,000 small and medium sized businesses in the UK sell on Amazon\u2019s store, more than half of all physical product sales on our UK store are from independent selling partners, and the fact is that we only succeed when the businesses we work with succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022 the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority<\/a> (CMA) launched an investigation into whether Amazon had been giving its own brands and those using its logistics services unfair advantage over third-party rivals on its marketplace.<\/p>\n

The UK investigation, and a similar investigation by the EU Commission, came after a string of reports alleging that Amazon used third-party sellers\u2019 data to copy products.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n