By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Competition Commission’s wide-sweeping Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry has come with a host of demands for dominant players in South Africa’s digital space.
On Monday, the commission released its Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry report in Pretoria.
The inquiry was launched in February 2021.
It recommended guidelines for Takealot, Google, Booking.com, Uber Eats, Apple, Porperty24, AutoTrader, and Cars.co.za to ensure fair competition where smaller businesses can compete.
In eCommerce, the commission’s Deputy Commissioner James Hodge said Takealot faces a conflict of interest on its site as its retail division competes with marketplace sellers leading to behaviour that has disadvantaged sellers.
As a remedy, the commission has ordered that it separate its retail storefront from its marketplace activities. In effect, the regulator wants the online retailer to separate its retail and marketplace operations so that they operate at arm’s length from each other.
“Some of the findings include that Google Search is a critical gateway to consumers for all platforms and its business model of paid search alongside free results favours large established platforms.
The inquiry finds that Google Search’s dominance and business model distort platform competition, as small and new platforms struggle for visibility and customer acquisition,” the commission said.
“To address this distortion, the remedial actions have focused on improving paid and organic result visibility for smaller South African platforms.”
Hodge said Google Play and Apple App stores are unconstrained in the commission fees they charge app developers, and their global business model limits the curation and visibility of SA-paid apps.
“With regards to travel, Booking.com’s restrictions on hotel pricing on other online channels limits competition and creates a dependency that is used to extract higher commission fees.”
Another finding was that competitors to Uber Eats and Mr D Food are disadvantaged by the lack of transparency on menu surcharges across platforms and restrictions placed on franchisees by national restaurant chains.
“Competitors to Property24 and Private Property are hindered by the lack of interoperability in providing property listings, and small estate agents and automotive dealers are disadvantaged by the discriminatory pricing of Property24, AutoTrader, and Cars.co.za favouring large national groups.”
Read the full report here: Report for online intermediation platforms market inquiry.