Amazon preferences its products over competitors’ in search, new research finds

Christopher Hutton

January 30, 05:38 PM January 30, 05:38 PM

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Amazon gives preference to its branded products over those of competitors in its internal search results, new research finds, a result corroborating claims that the online retail giant is unfairly manipulating results.

Amazon-branded products rank higher than those of competitors in search results and are provided about 30% to 60% of the prominence of sponsored products, according to a new study circulated Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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The data, based on a random sampling of Amazon users’ searches, lends evidence to allegations that Amazon products appear higher than their competitors.

“We can’t go in there and verify how their algorithm works,” Andrey Fradkin, a Boston University economist and one of the paper’s authors, told the Washington Examiner. “But we view this as one of the best tools that we have for studying a platform like Amazon, short of Amazon just giving us all their data.” Fradkin wrote the paper, which has not yet undergone peer review, with an economist at Harvard Business School.

Amazon did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.

Amazon has been accused of using data from competitors to produce its products and then giving preference to its own products in its internal marketplace. Such accusations partly inspired Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to write the American Innovation and Online Choice Act, a bill that would restrict several behaviors determined to violate antitrust law, including self-preferencing. Amazon has criticized the bill, arguing that it would severely inhibit its product line and ruin Amazon Prime.

The Federal Trade Commission, alongside regulators from the United Kingdom and Germany, has placed Amazon under scrutiny for its handling of third parties, alleging it has hurt marketplace competition.

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Amazon has responded to the regulatory pressure by decreasing the number of products it offers under its own brands.