Campaign aims to push back against Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers and create a level playing field
Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) today announced the launch of a new public affairs campaign in support of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, or U.S. Senate Bill 2992. The campaign pushes back on Amazon’s anticompetitive behaviors on their marketplace platform and its poor treatment of third-party sellers. You can view an explainer video below:
“Amazon uses its marketplace as a trap to unfairly stamp out competition, by taking data from the millions of small businesses that rely on its platform and using it to compete against them,” said NAW CEO Eric Hoplin. “Today, NAW is speaking up to say, ‘it’s time to level the playing field,’ and we urge Congress to restore fair economic competition and to protect Main Street businesses by passing S. 2992,” concluded Hoplin.
“The American Innovation and Choice Online Act will ensure a level playing field for third-party sellers and NAW members on Amazon’s marketplace,” said Alex Hendrie, NAW Associate Vice President for Government Relations. “It does not give third-party sellers a windfall or special advantage, nor does it break up Amazon or prohibit Amazon from selling their own products on their marketplace,” concluded Hendrie.
Amazon has a troubling history of taking data from third-party sellers on its platform to create similar products which show up prominently in the marketplace, while the original small business product disappears or falls deeper into the search results. This is blatantly unfair and leaves small businesses at a disadvantage when competing against Amazon. Many third-party sellers also view Amazon as a bully who is constantly strong-arming them and threatening to kick them off the platform. For the majority of sellers, there is no real alternative marketplace for them to sell on if they are kicked off of Amazon’s platform.
Amazon continues to grow its monopolistic power by acquiring grocery stores, healthcare facilities and so much more. When is it going to be enough? How much longer until we live in the United States of Amazon? Let’s pass S.2992.
Learn more at naw.org/SupportMainStreet
NAW is one of America’s leading trade associations, representing the $7.4 trillion wholesale-distribution industry. Founded in 1946, NAW is comprised of national, regional, and state employers of all sizes, industry trade associations, partners, and stakeholders spanning all sectors of distribution. Our industry employs more than 5 million workers throughout the United States and accounts for 1/3 of the U.S. GDP. There are 35,000 Wholesale-Distribution companies, that operate nearly 150,000 places of business across North America, including all 50 states.
NAW’s mission is to deliver world-class programs and services, designed to help the most dynamic companies in Wholesale-Distribution succeed. Our programming is tailored for the CEOs, senior executives, and rising leaders at our member companies and associations. Members engage with NAW through our offerings in Thought Leadership, Networking, Executive Education, Benchmarking/Research, Shared Resourcing, Partnerships, Government Relations, and Public Affairs.
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