Canada Adds Antitrust Heat to Amazon as Prime Day Begins
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Canada’s competition watchdog secured a court order to help its investigation into whether Amazon.com Inc. is abusing its dominant retail position in the market.
The order requires Amazon to produce records relevant to the watchdog’s probe, which started in 2020 and concerns Amazon’s Marketplace fair pricing policy. The Competition Bureau is investigating whether the policy discourages third-party sellers from offering products at a lower price on other sites — therefore lessening price competition among online marketplaces, according to a statement.
“At Amazon, we designed our store and policies to help customers find great products at low prices,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Our tools are designed to enable customers to make informed purchase decisions and maintain their trust, while supporting the thousands of Canadian businesses that sell through our store.”
The watchdog’s announcement coincides with the beginning of the Amazon Prime Day sales event, which runs from July 8-11. U.S. shoppers will spend nearly $13 billion during the event, according to EMarketer Inc.
The Canadian regulator is continuing a separate probe of Amazon’s marketing practices, which it said may contain “potentially false or misleading claims.”
Amazon ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, and No. 1 on the TT Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.
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