BRUSSELS, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Amazon, the world's biggest retailer, has committed to making changes to its practices on its e-commerce marketplace in response to the European Commission's competition concerns, Margrethe Vestager, the Commission's executive vice president, said here on Tuesday.
Vestager, who is also the European commissioner for competition, said in a statement that the areas covered by Amazon's commitments include data use, the condition of access to its Buy Box for independent sellers, and conditions of access to the Amazon Prime program for sellers.
"When it comes to data, Amazon will refrain from using non-public seller data to the benefit of its retail operations," Vestager said.
This means that Amazon's employees and algorithmic tools will both be prevented from using non-public data from independent sellers to make their own business decisions, such as when to launch a product or at what price to sell it. The goal is to restore a level playing field on the platform, Vestager said.
"Amazon will apply non-discriminatory conditions and criteria for the selection of offers to appear in the Buy Box," she said.
These criteria will apply to all steps of the ranking and selection process. Moreover, Amazon will display a second Buy Box right under the first one, showcasing alternatives regarding price or delivery.
The aim of the second Buy Box is to give more visibility to independent sellers.
Finally, the access conditions to the Amazon Prime program for independent sellers will undergo a series of changes.
These include non-discriminatory conditions and criteria for sellers between Amazon offers and those of sellers using independent carriers for Prime deliveries; the ability for sellers to choose the carrier of their choice for Prime deliveries; not using data from other carriers; and direct contact between carriers and end-customers.
Two investigations were opened into Amazon's business practices two years ago. ■
