The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) fourth report in its Digital Platform Services Inquiry raises concerns over general online retail marketplaces.
The ACCC’s fourth report focused on whether online marketplaces are promoting fair and competitive markets for consumers and sellers. Online marketplaces refer to platforms that enable sellers to easily sell goods online. In its findings, the ACCC discovered that online marketplace platforms greatly control transactions between consumers and sellers. Moreover, there have been increased trends in online shopping and general online marketplaces.
The ACCC also raised concerns over:
- the algorithms used to decide product rankings
- the algorithms used to display products
- the collection and use of consumer data
- the relationship between marketplaces and sellers
- the relationship between marketplaces and consumers
- inadequate dispute resolution processes, and
- lack of consumer protections.
Additionally, the ACCC placed extra concern on hybrid online marketplaces. These are online marketplace platforms that sell their own product whilst competing with third-party sellers. The ACCC believes this to be a conflict of interest which unduly disadvantages online sellers.
The ACCC is actively monitoring online marketplace operation but has noted that no online marketplace has become dominant in Australia. Australia’s leading online marketplaces are Amazon Australia, Catch, eBay Australia, and Kogan. If any of these online marketplaces do begin to gain substantial dominance, then the ACCC may need to intervene to lower barriers of entry and prevent anti-competitive conduct.
The ACCC’s investigation will continue into digital platforms, and it may likely recommend a new regulatory framework to address competition and consumer concerns online.
