Retail Watchers

https://www.reuters.com/legal/amazoncom ... 023-08-07/

Several sources are reporting that an antitrust suit against Amazon by the FTC could be coming as soon as next month, focused on allegations of favoring their own products in search results against third party sellers and selling said products below cost to price competitors out of the market.

Brian Lutz wrote: ↑September 6th, 2023, 10:54 am https://www.reuters.com/legal/amazoncom ... 023-08-07/

Several sources are reporting that an antitrust suit against Amazon by the FTC could be coming as soon as next month, focused on allegations of favoring their own products in search results against third party sellers and selling said products below cost to price competitors out of the market.

Doesn’t surprise me.
The FTC needs to really focus on “The Merger” right now also…

Eye off the ball at FTC.

FTC needs to be dealing with this Kroger/Albertsons merger.

My guess is Kroger/Albertsons will sell 400 stores to C&S as reported and close their merger without FTC like 7-Eleven/Speedway did. Those state attorney generals can go around kicking and screaming and maybe do something about it, I hope.

With over 1,300 employees and an annual budget in the $300 million range, I'll bet they can handle both. The Amazon matter and Kroger/Albertsons merger are both serious and need to be dealt with.

rwsandiego wrote: ↑September 6th, 2023, 10:45 pm With over 1,300 employees and an annual budget in the $300 million range, I'll bet they can handle both. The Amazon matter and Kroger/Albertsons merger are both serious and need to be dealt with.

Amazon will have various defenses they will attempt to use. One thing Amazon does is they sell you a shipped/sold by Amazon at a lower price, but then turn around and fulfill your order from a third party seller who has goods in an Amazon warehouse closer to you (and seemingly Amazon in turn buys the item from the third party seller at whatever the third party's asking price is).

storewanderer wrote: ↑September 7th, 2023, 12:41 am

rwsandiego wrote: ↑September 6th, 2023, 10:45 pm With over 1,300 employees and an annual budget in the $300 million range, I'll bet they can handle both. The Amazon matter and Kroger/Albertsons merger are both serious and need to be dealt with.

Amazon will have various defenses they will attempt to use. One thing Amazon does is they sell you a shipped/sold by Amazon at a lower price, but then turn around and fulfill your order from a third party seller who has goods in an Amazon warehouse closer to you (and seemingly Amazon in turn buys the item from the third party seller at whatever the third party's asking price is).

I'm quite sure Amazon has no idea who's item is sent to you. They comingle inventory together which is why their warehouses are full of shoplifted goods, counterfeits, and now that they're tuning up reverse logistics they have an annoying tendency to send used returns out unintentionally as well. They're a mess.

As far as the merger goes I really am starting to wonder if they're going to pull a 7-Eleven here. Who is going to stop them? The unions sure can't, they know that their last major work stoppage in SoCal turned into a gift for Walmart, Winco, Target, Trader Joe's, and the only union stores that benefited were Stater Bros. A national strike to protest the merger would be about as effective for the union as telling their members to jump off a cliff. I'm so irritated with the indifferent operations of my local Ralphs I wrote an email to the State AG asking for him to do something useful for a change and sue for an injunction to stop the merger.

storewanderer wrote: ↑September 7th, 2023, 12:41 am

rwsandiego wrote: ↑September 6th, 2023, 10:45 pm With over 1,300 employees and an annual budget in the $300 million range, I'll bet they can handle both. The Amazon matter and Kroger/Albertsons merger are both serious and need to be dealt with.

Amazon will have various defenses they will attempt to use. One thing Amazon does is they sell you a shipped/sold by Amazon at a lower price, but then turn around and fulfill your order from a third party seller who has goods in an Amazon warehouse closer to you (and seemingly Amazon in turn buys the item from the third party seller at whatever the third party's asking price is).

This sounds a little like what A&P was accused of with the Atlantic Commission Company--it was their produce procurement arm in the 30s-50s that would buy and resell produce and was part of their antitrust suit in the 40s/50s.

Bezos' own paper is reporting that it's a definite: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... wsuit-ftc/