Italy’s competition watchdog has slapped American retailer Amazon with a historic 1.13 billion euro fine for its supposed market dominance abuse, Reuters reported.
The Italian watchdog said it found Amazon had leveraged its dominant position in the market for intermediation services on marketplaces to boost the adoption of its logistics service unit Fulfilment by Amazon.
The agency said Amazon prevented third-party sellers from associating the Prime brand with offerings that are not managed with the FBA, as it tied the use of FBA access to a set of exclusive benefits.
The antitrust watchdog said it would impose corrective steps that will be reviewed by a monitoring trustee, as the Prime label enables firms to sell to over 7 million consumers of Amazon’s loyalty program.
Amazon contested the decision, which it said it would appeal, noting that the FBA “is a completely optional service” which is not used by the majority of third-party sellers.
Amazon said the proposed fine and remedies are “unjustified and disproportionate.”
