Although shops are closed in France and Belgium due to national lockdowns, buying from Amazon may soon be frowned upon in the same way taking ten flights a year or failing to recycle is.
In Luxembourg, which hosts Amazon’s European headquarters employing close to 3,000 people, the same hostility towards the e-commerce giant has been absent so far.
That being said, shop keepers in Luxembourg have not been subject to closures like their colleagues in France or Belgium have been, as shops have remained open despite the second wave of the pandemic. Amazon is seen as a considerable employer in the Grand Duchy and continues to hire.
However, on Friday 27 November, a protest against Amazon and “Black Friday” took place in front of the Amazon Services Europe buildings. The demonstration was jointly organised by several organisations, including the Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen’s Action (ATTAC), the collective Tax Justice Luxembourg, Déi Lénk (The Left) and Rise for Climate Luxembourg. Their campaign slogan is “Make Amazon Pay”.
In France, public opinion has been targeting Amazon for weeks. A petition has been put forward under the hashtag #NoëlSansAmazon (Christmas without Amazon) by members of the political left and environmentalists, as wells as by various celebrities and different associations. They are calling on people to refrain from using Amazon during the Christmas period.
The CEO of Amazon France, Frédéric Duval, has had to go on television and on radio shows to defend his company. Meanwhile, the French outlet of the company has conceded to postpone its “Black Friday” sales to 4 December.
Despite this, the company remains far from exemplary, not only because it is the logical beneficiary of the lockdown.
On 10 November, the EU Commission informed Amazon that it is bringing charges against the company as it has allegedly broken EU competition laws. The Commission accused Amazon of systematically harvesting and using non-public data from independent sellers who use its marketplace. Amazon allegedly uses data from popular products from competitive third-party sellers to undercut them.
The Commission has also opened a second formal investigation into breach of competition laws regarding Amazon’s alleged preferential treatment of its own offers over those of third-party sellers who use Amazon’s marketplace, logistics and delivery services.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the Commission and Commissioner for competition, said: “We must ensure that dual role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition. (…) The conditions of competition on the Amazon platform must also be fair. (…) With e-commerce booming, and Amazon being the leading e-commerce platform, a fair and undistorted access to consumers online is important for all sellers.”
Elsewhere, Amazon’s tax policy has come under attack, particularly in France. The well-known “taxe Gafa”, which aims at increasing corporate tax for American e-commerce giants, has become a personal battle for French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, who has called Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook “enemies of the state”.
Finally, Amazon does not enjoy a good reputation when it comes to workplace conditions either.
About 2,500 German Amazon employees went on strike on 26 November, incidentally the start of “Black Friday”, demanding better work conditions. The trade union Ver.di which had organised the strike called it a success.
Having started on Wednesday night, the strike should go on until Saturday in order to disrupt “Black Friday” sales. Ver.di estimates around 2,500 took part in the strike.
For now, this act of defiance has done little to slow the rise of the American e-commerce giant. However, it might not be for long until a new Greta Thunberg emerges regarding e-commerce practises.
Facing overwhelmingly negative press, Luxembourg’s Amazon office had no option but to respond. Below is the statement the company provided to RTL 5minutes:
“We are facing a series of false accusation from groups who are either misinformed or are deliberately using Amazon’s brand to promote their own agenda. Amazon has an outstanding track record of supporting our employees, our customers and communities, particularly through providing safe work conditions, competitive salaries and other advantages. We do so whilst fighting climate change under our climate pledge, which aims at net zero emissions in until 2040, and paying billions of euros in tax across the world”
Regarding the investigations of the EU Commission Amazon has a clear line of defence: “We disagree with the preliminary charges brought forward by the EU Commission and we will do our utmost to provide all the necessary information to the Commission. Amazon accounts for less than 1% in worldwide retail and there are far bigger competitors in each country in which we operate”.
