Andrew Salmon of Kelkoo explores the role of monopolies in the e-commerce space

Andrew Salmon of Kelkoo explores the role of monopolies in the e-commerce space. Are we at risk of becoming a society in which monopolies dominate the landscape and control all of our purchasing habits?

Marketplaces

I do think it has already happened. Amazon, certainly when you look at US online retail, is very much a dominant player, to the point of almost being a monopoly. The impact that Amazon has on consumers is very much like a monopoly.

I think that the other monopoly to consider is Ali Baba. Their effective ownership of the Chinese ecommerce marketplace is where we have to consider everything that they own, from a payment system to a fulfilment offering, their content studios… Ali Baba is Amazon and then some. There are other players to consider, so if not a Monopoly then an Oligopoly for sure.

Where do you stand on Google within that monopoly context for retail and shopping?

I think that Google’s relationship with other retailers is tricky. It’s not only the transaction element, but the packing, shipping out and dealing with returns elements of customer interaction that I don’t feel Google is very good at in terms of having the physical infrastructure in place. We have certainly seen marketing spend shift to Amazon, so I think that in a funny way Google is challenged in this space.

Google certainly has a monopoly in Search though, and it dominates Shopping search.  Although the EU have fined Google for abuse of dominance in the Shopping Search space, as yet, an effective remedy has not been implemented.  Kelkoo is the largest shopping comparison site in Europe.