SOMO Report. Amazon’s European chokehold, June 14, 2023: “Independent sellers and the economy under Amazon’s monopoly power. This research reveals the immense market power of Amazon in Europe and the revenue it derives from it. In most of Europe’s biggest economies, Amazon is the main route for independent businesses to access online shoppers. Amazon’s dominance allows the company to get away with extractive and exploitative treatment of sellers on its platform. By analysing Amazon’s corporate structure in Europe, its financial reports, and the findings of competition investigations, SOMO found that: In 2022, Amazon raked in €23.5 billion in listing and logistics fees from independent sellers in Europe. This was more than triple the €7.6 billion in 2017. To this, Amazon added an estimated €2.75 billion in advertising revenue from independent sellers in 2021. Since 2017, Amazon’s overall European advertising revenue has grown 17-fold. Altogether, in 2021 Amazon’s revenue from European sellers amounted to €24.95 billion. Amazon’s European marketplace is so large, if it were spun off into a separate company, the new firm would immediately become Europe’s third-biggest tech company by revenue. In this period, Amazon has also continuously increased the price of logistics services. The increases varied, but they could be as high as more than double in some categories.

Dominant platform “For the past 20 years, Amazon has been expanding its monopolistic hold over online shopping in Europe. It is now so dominant that independent retailers who wish to sell online cannot avoid it. Sellers are locked into the platform and are essentially a captive clientele, making them a profitable source of monopoly rent”, says Margarida Silva, researcher at SOMO.”