Amazon has reportedly altered its search algorithm in a way that would boost profits for the online retail giant despite pushback against the decision from within the company, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday September 16th.
The change reportedly came last year with a tweak that prioritizes products that are more profitable for Amazon, including its own brands, in a departure from its longstanding practice of displaying products in order of relevance to a user’s search terms.
According to the WSJ report, Amazon’s retail business was behind the push for the product search system to take profitability into account. Programmers tasked with running the search algorithm, a group called A9, reportedly opposed the idea as running counter to the company’s ethos of putting the customer above all else.
Amazon’s legal team also raised concerns about the idea, pointing out that the decision could draw scrutiny from the European Union, which had fined Google $2.7 billion in 2017 for elevating its own comparison shopping service in its search results.
A spokeswoman for Amazon did not immediately respond when asked for comment. But in an emailed statement to the WSJ, the company said it has not “changed the criteria we use to rank search results to include profitability.”
“Amazon designs its shopping and discovery experience to feature the products customers will want, regardless of whether they are our own brands or products offered by our selling partners,” Amazon spokeswoman Angie Newman added.
The report is likely to draw the interest of the growing number of regulators in the U.S. scrutinizing Amazon and other tech giants over antitrust concerns. Bloomberg reported last week that the Federal Trade Commission has begun interviewing Amazon’s third-party vendors.
Last Friday, the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee sent an expansive records request to Amazon that included internal communications about its product search system and how it decides which products are elevated.
It will be interesting to see where the dust settles on this. I for one, am usually looking for a specific item and always at the best possible price AND with free shipping. How do you shop Amazon?
