Amazon Retail Chief Defends Private-Label Business Amid Scrutiny

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s retail chief defended the company from charges that it unfairly competes with independent merchants who sell on its e-commerce site, saying Amazon’s private-label business is much smaller than those of major rivals.

“Most of our competitors have a much larger percentage of their sales in private label” than Amazon does, Jeff Wilke said during the company’s re:MARS conference in Las Vegas. He added that house brand products accounted for about 1% of the company’s sales.

Amazon prohibits employees from using data from an individual third-party seller to build a copycat product, Wilke said, adding that the company’s bestseller lists offer a public guide to what consumers are interested in.

“We believe that the most substantial entities in the economy deserve scrutiny, and our job is to build the kind of company that passes that scrutiny with flying colors,” Wilke said, echoing what Amazon executives typically say when pressed on antitrust matters.

Asked if Amazon should be broken up, Wilke replied, “No.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Robin Ajello, Alistair Barr

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.