Amazon Copied Sellers’ Products, Manipulated Algorithms to Display Their Own Versions First
An examination of thousands of internal Amazon documents by Reuters has revealed that the e-commerce giant systematically (read: intentionally) created copies of successful products sold through its site, then reworked its search algorithms to display its knockoffs first.
According to the emails and business plans in question, Amazon’s India private brands team—the one responsible for collections like Amazon Essentials, Amazon Elements, and others—used Amazon.in sales data to identify popular products sold by other companies, then copied those products to sell as their own. In one case, Amazon duplicated the measurements of a top-selling shirt sold by popular Indian clothing brand John Miller, then sold their own version. Amazon’s internal documents refer to the items they copied as “reference” and “benchmark” products, and include the fact that the company chose to exclusively work with the manufacturers of those items to create their copies.
Even worse, Amazon altered its algorithms to promote their copycats over the original items. According to Reuters, the manipulation of search algorithms was “part of a formal, clandestine strategy at Amazon—and high-level executives were told about it.” Of course, Amazon has denied the claim, calling it “factually incorrect and unsubstantiated” and promising their search results were solely based on relevance to the customer. But anyone who knows anything about Amazon’s business practices is likely to see right through this denial. Amazon is no stranger to search algorithm manipulation, having put their profits over sellers’ best interest before.
Amazon has been under significant legal pressure as of late, between an antitrust lawsuit from the DC attorney general and millions of dollars in arbitration fees associated with malfunctioning products. The company could very well face additional legal consequences now that their blatant rip-offs have come to light; the European Commission is already investigating whether Amazon uses its internal data to improperly boost its own sales, an investigation that Amazon India and US will have to cooperate with. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission has spent the last four years accusing Amazon of gaining monopoly status through its private-label brands. Unfortunately for Amazon, the documents uncovered this week might as well be served to the EU and FTC on a silver platter.
Continue reading
Microsoft Has Asked AMD to Boost Xbox Series S, Series X Production
Microsoft's feeling the heat, in terms of console shipments — so much so, it's asked AMD directly for any help it can provide.
Report: Packaging Issues, PS5 Demand May Be Hurting TSMC Production
The hardware shortages currently hitting most of the PC market may be caused by a shortage in a necessary component in chip manufacturing, not low yields on TSMC's 7nm node.
Intel Kills Its Consumer-Facing Optane Products
Intel's experiment with offering Optane directly to consumers outside of cache drives like the H20 has come to an end — at least, for now.
TSMC Will Spend an Extra $10B on Chip Production in 2021
TMSC is ramping up its capital expenditures next year, investing an additional $10B into advanced chip manufacturing.