While Singapore-based Shopee had faced allegations that its method of operations was like dominant ecommerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart, and that it was indulging in “deep discounting”, the complaint against Amazon was that the US-based company and its related parties were using unfair trade practices to conduct business on the platform.
The CCI said Shopee was launched in November 2021 at a time there were many existing players – Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Nykaa – and so did not possess “significant market power”.
“The Commission further notes that, though the allegation is that Shopee is following similar discounting practices as allegedly done by Amazon and Flipkart, it does not appear to the Commission that Shopee possesses significant market power, much less dominance, at this stage, more so because of the fact that it is a new entrant in a market with established players,” it said in an order last week. For Amazon, the CCI said the allegations were “devoid of admissible/requisite evidence”.
With respect to Shopee, CCI had received complaints from two individuals – Praveen Khadelwal and Vaibhav Mishra. Khandelwal is the president of Confederation of Indian Traders, a traders’ lobby group, while Mishra has been described as an e-commerce consumer.
Both complainants had alleged that Shopee offered deep discounts on various products by selling them at extremely low prices on its portal. Shopee entered India last year and services more than 100,000 orders a day, according to the complainant. “This tactic of predatory pricing is being done with a view to affect traditional and small-scale businesses in India,” one of the complainants said.
Mishra provided certain screenshots and alleged that some of the products, such as kurtis, mugs, wallets were being sold at ₹9. Shopee is currently selling products at below-cost prices to drive competitors out of the market and will later recoup its losses and start charging monopoly prices, according to the complainant.
Shopee did not respond to ET’s queries. Amazon declined to comment.
For all the latest world News Click Here
