Amazon (AMZN) is being sued by a consortium of British retailers that claim that the technology giant misused their data to help push them out of the market and boost its own products.
Amazon Facing UK Court Action
The claim they’re making is for damages reaching £1.1bn. The group is being represented in the court action by the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), which states that this is the biggest example in the history of collective legal action involving British retailers.
The claim is to be filed on Friday at a tribunal in London. Details released by BIRA suggest that they believe that Amazon used the data from competitors illegally to allow it to market similar products at lower prices. According to the claim, Amazon was able to work out which customers to target and the price to sell products to them in this way.
Another point raised by BIRA is that they believe that Amazon manipulated the buy box mechanism on its site to make it more difficult for consumers to buy from rival sellers. The dates when this activity is said to have taken place are between 2015 and 2023. This was before the current legislation set by the European Commission entered into force.
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AMZN has already been investigated in the UK, with the country’s competition watchdog forcing it to enter into a series of commitments following a case that was opened in 2022. Andrew Goodacre, the chief executive of BIRA, stated:
The British public has a strong relationship with its local, independent retailers and ensuring they are not put out of business by Amazon’s illegal actions is a key driving force behind this collective action.
