Opinion | How to convert ‘antitrust’ into ‘trust’ in e-commerce

The Competition Commission of India has recently released its Market Study On E-Commerce In India report. At the centre of the debate are new-age digital markets. These two-sided platforms may share attributes with traditional businesses, but have altered the interplay of market forces.

Multi-sided platforms such as Amazon, Zomato, MakeMyTrip, and Uber have acquired the ability to pass on benefits to consumers as they entice a huge network of suppliers to their platforms. With their networks becoming larger, the benefits of being there goes up both for the user in terms of value, and for suppliers in terms of revenue. This generates a “network effect” that results in a winner-takes-all scenario, and only a few platforms survive in the market, allowing them much elbowroom to determine prices. Armed with data on consumer choices, their dominance is assured.