I guess, and it's just a guess knowing how Amazon is treated in Italy [0], italian retail companies had something to do with this fine.
[0] https://messaggeroveneto.gelocal.it/udine/cronaca/2021/06/13...
I guess, and it's just a guess knowing how Amazon is treated in Italy [0], italian retail companies had something to do with this fine.
[0] https://messaggeroveneto.gelocal.it/udine/cronaca/2021/06/13...
When I search amazon as a user "prime" products get preferential treatment. There is even a filter for it in Amazons otherwise catastrophically bad search UI, there is no way to filter for prime like properties like free shipping or fast delivery, the only way to look for them is by selecting Amazon prime (TM).
By making a particular logistics company a requirement for the Prime label, Amazon's dominant market position raises sales for that logistics company. So far this isn't really debatable, what matters is whether this is an unfair use of Amazon's market dominance.
I'm not surprised that something like Amazon is able to disrupt the system. Even my parents have started buying stuff on Amazon instead of going to the store and they barely use a credit card.
I'm also not surprised that the retail guild/cartel is pushing back through legal means. It will be interesting to see what will happen. My guess is that the Italian consumer will end up losing at the end and will have to pay more for stuff from Amazon.
It's about power. It's about the inherent misalignment of corporate and government power structures in a world where the US established a "western" free-market system, and now that system is becoming more and more aligned with national governments. Initially through national spy programs, but now more generally in the broader economic landscape.
As such, we see the Chinese forcing companies to headquarter and list their stocks in China (taking HK was a key part in facilitating that). We see Russia force Russians to use Russian social media. We see Europe punishing large US corporations financially to help grow their own competitors.
The longer term result is more segregated power structures. There will also be a pressure to bring smaller nations into these corporate-government power structures, and thus large nations will want to amalgamate neighboring smaller states into their unified system.
This is one big reason why China will likely re-take Taiwan in our lifetime, and Russia will likely (at least try) to fold in Ukraine into its system.