On 28 April 2022, the ACCC released its fourth interim report as part of its inquiry into markets for the supply of digital platform services.
The report examines potential competition and consumer issues in the provision of general online retail marketplaces to consumers in Australia. This includes:
- intensity of competition in the relevant markets
- trends in online shopping and general online retail marketplaces
- the conduct of marketplaces in their roles as platforms to facilitate interaction between third party sellers and consumers; including, where marketplaces also supply their own products on their platform, the impact that these sales and associated practices may have on competition with third-party sellers
- relationships between marketplaces and third party sellers
- relationships between marketplaces and consumers, as well as third party sellers and consumers.
See: Digital platform services inquiry - March 2022 interim report
Issues paper
To inform this report, the ACCC released an issues paper seeking views on the operation of general online retail marketplaces in Australia from anyone who participates on general online retail marketplaces, including consumers, small business customers, sellers and the marketplaces themselves.
On 20 October 2021, the ACCC published submissions to the issues paper informing the March 2022 interim report.
| Document title | Published date |
|---|---|
| Digital platform services inquiry - March 2022 report - Issues paper ( PDF 308.48 KB ) | 22 July 2021 |
Submissions to issues paper
The ACCC received submissions in response to the issues set out in the issues paper from interested parties.
Questionnaires
Consumers and small business sellers also provided their views via questionnaires on the ACCC consultation hub. The questionnaires closed on 2 October 2020.
| Document title | Published date |
|---|---|
| General online retail marketplaces report - Small business seller questionnaire responses ( XLSX 132.45 KB ) | 20 October 2021 |
| General online retail marketplaces report - Consumer questionnaire responses ( XLSX 104.25 KB ) | 20 October 2021 |