Several of the assigned articles describe Amazon’s practice of offering private label products for sale directly in competition with very similar products being offered by third party vendors that contract with Amazon to sell their products on Amazon’s platform. In fact, Amazon appears to use the sales data it collects on those vendors selling on its platform to decide what products to produce and sell under Amazon’s private label. Other articles in this module discuss how private label are common in the retail industry as low-priced alternatives to popular name brand items.

Take a Position on the Statement Below:

Assume that Amazon uses sales data on vendors on its platform to guide decisions regarding which products Amazon will produce and sell under its private label. Such a practice raises potential anti-trust concerns. In fact, the European Commission on trade practices recently opened an investigation focusing “on whether and how the use of accumulated marketplace seller data by Amazon as a retailer affects competition.”

In your essay take a position on the question: Is Amazon’s practice good or bad for competition?