UK Regulator Urges Amazon To Improve Treatment Of Grocery Suppliers

(RTTNews) - Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) will face a formal investigation in the UK if it fails to improve its treatment of suppliers, according to the country's grocery regulator.

Despite the overall improvement in the treatment of suppliers, Amazon's perceived Code compliance score fell from 59% to 47%.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) told Amazon that it must take swift and comprehensive action to demonstrably comply with the Code. The GCA is monitoring changes that Amazon is making and their impact on suppliers to determine whether they are sufficient.

Mark White, the Groceries Code Adjudicator said: "I am encouraged to see improvements in Retailers' treatment of suppliers across a range of issues including the management of cost price increase requests but also resolution of invoice discrepancies and data input errors."

"However, the survey shows clearly that many suppliers do not believe that Amazon is complying with the Code. Amazon must ensure suppliers understand the changes it has made since its designation and in response to these survey results, and make any further changes that are needed to ensure Code compliance."

"I will not hesitate to launch a formal investigation if appropriate and necessary to ensure Amazon is treating its suppliers fairly and lawfully."

This came after the GCA released its annual survey into compliance with the Grocery Supply Code of Practice, which measures how well retailers manage relationships with suppliers.