Amazon has been conducting undercover operations through a shell company named Big River Services International to gather competitive intelligence on rivals such as Walmart, eBay, FedEx, and others, according to a Wall Street Journal report. This operation, which was not initially apparent to competitors, involved selling products like beach chairs and woks on various online marketplaces including eBay, Etsy, and others, generating $1 million annually. Amazon's staff also created fake seller accounts on platforms like Walmart and Flipkart to scoop up information on pricing, logistics, and business practices, unbeknownst to Walmart until informed by WSJ. Additionally, Amazon fabricated a Japanese streetwear brand sold on Shopify as part of its strategy to collect data on competitors.
#Amazon ran secret store to gather intel on rivals like Walmart, #Flipkart: Report https://t.co/fR58bGO0Nj https://t.co/IW0xiceHXn
Amazon operated a shell company – Big River Services International – to collect intel on rivals like Walmart, eBay, FedEx and others for several years, as per a Wall Street Journal report. While the main focus of the project was to concentrate on competitors based in the US, the… https://t.co/WJdsb8t29q
🚨➡️Amazon used shell company to gather intel on rivals like Walmart, Flipkart https://t.co/l1FnX7viwk via @moneycontrolcom
Amazon created a fake Japanese streetwear brand it sold on Shopify to get intel on competitors. Wild investigation from @WSJ https://t.co/swXmsiRhD0
Amazon staff went undercover on Flipkart, Walmart and other marketplaces to scoop up info on pricing, logistics and other biz practices "Walmart wasn’t aware that Amazon ran the seller accounts on the Walmart and Flipkart sites before WSJ told it." https://t.co/UZmy7DSTJY
A secret operation at a warehouse in Seattle sells beach chairs and woks under the name Big River Services. It sells $1M a year on https://t.co/vwMCgX9e0I, EBay, Etsy and other online marketplaces. What's not outwardly apparent: It's actually Amazon. https://t.co/CzJmNYqU9P