Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Competition Commission’s inquiry into e-commerce in South Africa wants Google to change how it displays its search results, and it is also proposing stricter rules for online sellers.
The inquiry investigated online retail, app stores, travel and accommodation platforms, food delivery, and online classifieds over the past 14 months. It focused on what was hindering competition, and how small businesses and black companies may be excluded.
Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Takealot, Booking.com, Airbnb, Mr Delivery, Uber Eats, Property24, Private Property, AutoTrader, and Cars.co.za, along with Google, were investigated by the inquiry.
On Wednesday, the inquiry released its provisional recommendations, which include:
Also, the commission wants the top of Google search results pages to be reserved for “organic” results – search results based on relevance only, and not influenced by payments to Google.
The inquiry found that Google Search plays an important role in directing consumers to the different platforms, and shapes competition in South Africa. By listing paid-for search results at the top of pages, it is raising costs for sellers, and these results also often favour large, often global, platforms, the inquiry said.
“Price parity clauses, evident in travel and accommodation, eCommerce and food delivery, hinder competition and create dependency.”
The commission also found that differences in corporate tax rates between global and local companies put South African platforms at a disadvantage.
Following calls for a digital tax on online companies doing business in SA, the commission suggested that National Treasury considers competition when it looks at tax policies for the digital market but does not recommend that the changes need to happen.
Stakeholders and the public have six weeks to make submissions to the Inquiry on the provisional findings and recommendations.
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