{"id":193461,"date":"2022-07-01T10:24:52","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T04:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=193461"},"modified":"2022-09-27T15:47:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T10:17:13","slug":"answered-the-dominant-position-of-online-aggregator-platforms-is-damaging-for-small-and-medium-businesses-and-customers-discuss-and-also-suggest-some-international-experiences-for-dealing-with-thi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-the-dominant-position-of-online-aggregator-platforms-is-damaging-for-small-and-medium-businesses-and-customers-discuss-and-also-suggest-some-international-experiences-for-dealing-with-thi\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] The dominant position of online aggregator platforms is damaging for small and medium businesses and customers. Discuss and also suggest some international experiences for dealing with this issue."},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"624\"><strong>Introduction:<\/strong> Contextual introduction.<br \/>\n<strong>Body<\/strong>: Explain how dominant position of online aggregator platforms is damaging small and medium businesses and customers. Also write some international experiences for dealing with this issue.<br \/>\n<strong>Conclusion:<\/strong> Write a way forward.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The proliferation of a wide range of e-commerce platforms has created convenience and increased consumer choice. But in reality, the initial cashback and deep discounts have turned out to be a forerunner to addiction. Be it e-marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart or food service aggregators like Zomato or Swiggy or travel aggregators like Makemytrip and OYO, all have been accused of distorting the market.<\/p>\n<p>The following points explain that the dominant position of online aggregator platforms is damaging small and medium businesses and customers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>These companies resort to <strong>predatory pricing<\/strong> to acquire customers even as they suffer persistent financial losses. This is an exclusionary practice that eliminates other players from the market and consumers will have a reduced bargaining position due to less competition.<\/li>\n<li>While using these platforms, <strong>citizens share their data<\/strong>. The aggregators gather shopping habits, consumer preferences, and other personal data. The platforms are accused of using this data for taking away business from other sellers on their platform.<\/li>\n<li>There is a lack of fair and transparent <strong>dispute resolution mechanism<\/strong> for sellers on these platforms. Delayed payments, unreasonable charges, and hidden fees are common occurrences.<\/li>\n<li>Unreasonable and one-sided contracts allow travel aggregators to have a disparity clause which allows them to offer rooms at a much cheaper rate but bars the hotels from doing so.<\/li>\n<li>Restaurants are many a time forced to accept orders at prices much lower than their agreement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Measures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A set of comprehensive rules and regulations is needed. These regulations need to be inclusive, should eliminate the conflicts of interest inherent in current market practices, and prevent any anti-competitive practices.<\/li>\n<li>A model agreement that is fair and allows a level playing field between the aggregators and their business partners should be implemented.<\/li>\n<li>There is a lot to learn from the <strong>Digital Markets Act of the EU<\/strong> that seeks to address unfair practices by these gatekeepers.<\/li>\n<li>Strong and quick grievance redressal and dispute resolution mechanisms should be established. The rules should allow for punitive penalties for unfair practices.<\/li>\n<li>Market dominance and subsequent invoking of fair competition rules should be triggered at the level of micro-markets and for product segments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The nature of our success in dealing with this change will lie in the ways in which we deal with the concerns of all players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction: Contextual introduction. Body: Explain how dominant position of online aggregator platforms is damaging small and medium businesses and customers. Also write some international experiences for dealing with this issue. Conclusion: Write a way forward. The proliferation of a wide range of e-commerce platforms has created convenience and increased consumer choice. But in reality, the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-the-dominant-position-of-online-aggregator-platforms-is-damaging-for-small-and-medium-businesses-and-customers-discuss-and-also-suggest-some-international-experiences-for-dealing-with-thi\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[Answered] The dominant position of online aggregator platforms is damaging for small and medium businesses and customers. Discuss and also suggest some international experiences for dealing with this issue.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1703561499},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}