Amazon’s Japanese HQ Raided by Anti-Monopoly Watchdog

Amazon’s Japanese HQ in Tokyo has been raided for the second time in two years by the anti-monopoly watchdog, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).

According to news reports on FT.com, the raid sought to confirm speculation that Amazon was using its position of increasing market dominance to force suppliers to cover costs associated with offers and discounts on the Amazon site.

Following the raid, Amazon released a statement claiming the company was: “Fully co-operating with the authorities.” No other details were released.

Japan worried about Amazon’s Dominance

There are growing concerns in Japan that the U.S. technology and retail company is taking market share from Japanese companies. Amazon is already bigger than local rivals Rakuten and now enjoys a 23 per cent market share of the Japanese eCommerce market compared with just 18 per cent owned by Rakuten.

Increased competition from Amazon is largely believed to be behind a 25 percent fall in Rakuten’s share price over the last six months. Following the news of the raid, shares in Rakuten did rise slightly, although analysts have suggested that any speculative interest in Rakuten was perhaps premature as the competitive market was unlikely to change.

Following JFTC raids in 2016, Amazon revised contracts that required third party retailers on the Amazon marketplace to maintain price parity across competitive sites they sold on.

Japan is now Amazon’s third-biggest market after the U.S. and Germany.

Is Japan right to be keeping a close eye on Amazon or are they taking it too far? Head over to our Facebook Discussion Group or use the comments section below.

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