Amazon reportedly used seller data to create competing products

Amazon employees used data from independent sellers on the platform to develop competing products, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

That would go against the online retail giant’s oft-repeated assertion that it does not use information from third-party sellers when it makes and sells Amazon products.

The Journal, citing interviews with 20 former employees of Amazon’s private-label business and a review of documents, found that is not the case.

Amazon reportedly used the information from other sellers to price items, determine which features to copy or whether to enter a product segment based on its earning potential.

Amazon pushes back: The company said in a statement that it “strictly prohibits” employees from using nonpublic information when developing other products.

“Like other retailers, we look at sales and store data to provide our customers with the best possible experience,” Amazon told the The Hill. “However, we strictly prohibit our employees from using nonpublic, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch.”

Amazon began making its own products in 2007, starting with the Kindle e-reader.

Its private-label business now includes more than 45 brands with roughly 243,000 products, from AmazonBasics batteries to Stone & Beam furniture.