Amazon India has been systematically copying top-selling products using data that is not available to other sellers and manipulating search results to promote these products over those of competitors, an investigation by Reuters based on internal documents of the e-commerce giant revealed. Sellers on the platform have long accused the company of doing this, but Amazon has repeatedly denied it. However, the new Reuters investigation exposes how such practices "were part of a formal, clandestine strategy at Amazon" and that at least two top executives were fully aware of it – senior vice presidents Diego Piacentini and Russell Grandinetti. While Piacentini has since left the company, Grandinetti currently runs Amazon’s international consumer business, the report stated. "Use information from Amazon.in to develop products and then leverage the Amazon.in platform to market these products to our customers." — Amazon's strategy according to internal company documents Amazon refused to confirm the findings of this investigation saying: "Reuters hasn’t shared the documents or their provenance with us, we are unable to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the information and claims as stated. We believe these claims are factually incorrect and unsubstantiated." How does Amazon copy products? Amazon has maintained that it does use non-public seller data for the benefit of its private labels, but the following evidence unearthed by Reuters reveals otherwise. Finding target products: By using a metric called "glance views": The company used a metric called "glance views" which showed which products were being viewed by customers on the platform. In an internal document, the company…
