![]() The company said the way it displays search results doesn't favor private-brand products. The statement also did not address questions from Reuters about the evidence in the documents that Amazon employees copied other companies' products for its own brands. We believe these claims are factually incorrect and unsubstantiated." The company did not elaborate. In a written response to questions for this report, Amazon said: "As Reuters hasn't shared the documents or their provenance with us, we are unable to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the information and claims as stated. The documents show that two executives reviewed the India strategy – senior vice presidents Diego Piacentini, who has since left the company, and Russell Grandinetti, who currently runs Amazon's international consumer business. And, in 2019, another Amazon executive testified that the company does not use such data to create its own private-label products or alter its search results to favor them.īut the internal documents seen by Reuters show for the first time that, at least in India, manipulating search results to favor Amazon's own products, as well as copying other sellers' goods, were part of a formal, clandestine strategy at Amazon – and that high-level executives were told about it. In sworn testimony before the US Congress in 2020, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos explained that the e-commerce giant prohibits its employees from using the data on individual sellers to help its private-label business. This is the second in a series of stories based on internal Amazon documents that provide a rare, unvarnished look, in the company's own words, into business practices that it has denied for years.Īmazon has been accused before by employees who worked on private-brand products of exploiting proprietary data and manipulating search results to increase sales of the company's own goods. But I would argue that anyone wanting a $30 bag is not the same audience as folks purchasing a $90 bag, so my guess is the impact will be minimal for their target audience.The document, entitled "India Private Brands Program," states: "It is difficult to develop this expertise across products and hence, to ensure that we are able to fully match quality with our reference product, we decided to only partner with the manufacturers of our reference product." It termed such manufacturer expertise "Tribal Knowledge." Kudos to Peak Design for poking fun at it and making an entertaining video. “Although it has to be frustrating for brand manufacturers. “As much as people don’t want to admit it, Amazon is not doing anything new, or predatory,” wrote Natalie Walkley, director at Korber & Enspire Commerce OMS. For those who buy the Amazon knock-off, they likely wouldn’t have been a Peak customer anyway.” Peak Design has done a great job of pointing out the differences, and to Peak’s core customer, those differences will matter. “Any successful seller will have to deal with it. “Amazon isn’t new to the copying game - it’s been going on for many years in retail,” wrote Jeff Weidauer, principal at SSR Retail. ![]() ![]() Instead you just get a bag designed by the crack team at the AmazonBasics department.”Īnd though the video retort was in part a dig at Amazon’s ethics, for some BrainTrust members it was merely the right move from Peak Design in a game where everyone is playing by the rules. ![]() “It looks suspiciously like the Peak Design Everyday Sling, but you don’t have to pay for all those needless bells and whistles like years of research and development, recycled bluesign approved materials, a lifetime warranty, fairly paid factory workers and total carbon neutrality. “This is the Everyday Sling by Peak Design and this is the Everyday Sling by AmazonBasics,” says the video’s narrator. Dering and company to create a pushback video on YouTube. “The pirating of designs needs more attention and stronger regulation.”Īmazon’s bag, which sells at a fraction of Peak’s $90 price, led Mr. “Saying that it has always happened is an insult to every person who has had their livelihood affected by big companies knocking off their hard work,” wrote Georganne Bender, principal at Kizer & Bender Speaking. Makes me want to avoid buying Amazon private label product - ever - under any circumstances. It’s a completely different behavior when Amazon knows sales and returns behavior at the SKU level. “It’s one thing for a buyer to do competitive research in the open market, trolling stores, malls and websites to see what the competition is doing. “How loudly can I yell FOUL PLAY…?!” wrote Jeff Sward, CEO at Merchandising Metrics. For others, the line was definitely being crossed.
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