Tokyo: Amazon Japan's offices were raided by authorities Tuesday over an alleged anti-monopoly law violation, a source said, with the e-commerce giant accused of abusing its industry dominance to drive down prices.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon's Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo, reportedly its third probe into the company over domineering behaviour.
This time, the focus was on what is known as the "buy box" -- a coveted spot on the Amazon.co.jp website that allows products to be featured prominently.
Competition for the spot is intense, with sellers offering the same product treating it like a "matter of life and death", the source, who declined to be identified, told AFP.
"We've been told that whether they can secure the 'buy box' makes a huge difference in terms of sales," he said.
Sellers have been pressured to lower prices to give Amazon a competitive edge over rival e-commerce sites, or forfeit their right to the buy box, the source said.
The US company is also accused of using the buy box to make sellers use in-house logistics services for everything from packing to order processing and shipping.
Such tactics can constitute "abuse of a dominant position" and "transactions with binding conditions", both banned by Japan's anti-monopoly law, the source said.
Amazon Japan told AFP that it will "fully cooperate with the Fair Trade Commission's investigation".
Globally, Amazon last year reported net profit of more than $30 billion on revenue of $575 billion, powered by its online retail operation and its cloud computing division.
Amazon's businesses include retail, advertising, and streamed movies and music -- a model that also has the 30-year-old company facing a US government lawsuit, accused of expanding an illegal monopoly and otherwise harming competition.
