We appreciate the opportunity to address questions about Amazon’s policy on seller data, which, like other retailers, we use to improve the customer experience in our stores. Use of store data is the norm across retail, where Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Kroger, and Costco use store data to develop and sell private brands. Retail—perhaps more so than any other industry—is extraordinarily transparent. The full range of competing products and their prices are fully visible and apparent to all. Amazon’s store makes all of this information readily available publicly, including lists of best-selling items by category so that anyone can see for themselves what is selling well and what is not. To build trust with sellers, we determined years ago to take additional steps to give sellers comfort regarding their individual data, which go beyond the protections in place at any other store we are aware of. We take any allegations that this employee policy was breached seriously and continue to investigate. We have been working with the Committee in good faith for nearly a year to provide answers and information, and we remain prepared to make the appropriate Amazon executive available to the Committee to address these issues.
The full letter is available here.