Price comparison sites call on EU to enforce Google Shopping remedies

News Broadband Europe 23 NOV 2018
Price comparison sites call on EU to enforce Google Shopping remedies

A group of 14 price-comparison websites has written to the European Commission complaining about Google's continued dominance in the market. The Commission had ordered Google to make changes to its Shopping comparison service, but the rivals claim Google is not living up to the promised remedies. 

Google auctions positions in Google Shopping both to rivals and itself. The rivals, grouped under the name SearchNeutrality.org, said they are forced to surrender much of their margin when participating in the auction, while for Google it is simply a case of transferring money within the organisation. 

Google is also accused of bypassing the price comparison sites through a programme called Google Certified CSS Partner. These are advertisers that provide direct links to seller websites but do not participate in price comparison sites. 

The rival companies called on the European competition commissioner to take action and enforce its decision against Google of July 2017. The coalition includes sites such as Foundem, Idealo and Vergelijk (Compare Group). They made a similar complaint in March, and the Commission said it would investigate. 

Categories:

Internet

Companies:

Google

Regions:

Europe

Tags:

Regulations, Portals / social media, Wireline, Information services, Legislation - Lawsuits

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