Competition Bureau seeks input from market participants to inform an ongoing investigation of Amazon

Bureau investigating whether Amazon’s conduct on Amazon.ca is impacting competition 

August 14, 2020 - GATINEAU, QC - Competition Bureau

The Competition Bureau is inviting market participants to provide input to inform its civil investigation into conduct by Amazon. The Bureau’s investigation is ongoing and there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time.

The Bureau is examining whether Amazon is engaging in conduct on its Canadian marketplace, Amazon.ca, that is impacting competition to the detriment of consumers and companies that do business in Canada.

The Bureau is conducting its investigation under the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Competition Act, with a focus on potential abuse of dominance. Areas of interest to the Bureau include:

• any past or existing Amazon policies which may impact third-party sellers’ willingness to offer their products for sale at a lower price on other retail channels, such as their own websites or other online marketplaces;
• the ability of third-party sellers to succeed on Amazon’s marketplace without using its “Fulfilment By Amazon” service or advertising on Amazon.ca; and
• any efforts or strategies by Amazon that may influence consumers to purchase products it offers for sale over those offered by competing sellers.

The Bureau encourages sellers and businesses with relevant information to confidentially share their experiences with the Bureau by providing the following information via email (ic.mpd-amazon-dpm-amazon.ic@canada.ca):

• their name,
• the name of their business,
• their contact information, and
• an overview of the issues they wish to discuss with Bureau representatives, with an emphasis on the three areas of interest noted above.