What's the news: A year after shutting down its largest seller, Cloudtail, Amazon India has now announced that Appario Retail, another top seller, will delist products from the platform within the next twelve months. Why does this matter: Both Cloudtail and Appario have been at the centre of the complaints surrounding Amazon because of their close ties with the e-commerce giant. Retailer bodies like the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) have frequently alleged that Cloudtail and Appario made the bulk of the sales on the platform and received preferential treatment from Amazon in terms of search ranking and fees. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is currently investigating these allegations. How big is Appario: A Reuters investigation revealed in February 2021 that Cloudtail and Appario account for nearly 35 percent of the sales on Amazon. Moreover, in total, 35 of 4,00,000+ sellers on Amazon India accounted for two-thirds of the sales on the platform. The investigation, which was based on internal documents of the e-commerce company, also revealed that Cloudtail was referred to as “SM” or “Special Merchant,” and Appario as "SM2", despite Amazon publically claiming that both these two merchants receive the same privileges as the other sellers on the platform. “The internal Amazon documents contradict those claims, revealing how the e-commerce giant has helped a small number of sellers prosper, giving them discounted fees and helping one cut special deals with big tech manufacturers such as Apple Inc. The documents also show that the company has exercised significant control…
