The trend: Amazon is under the microscope in two key European markets.

• Germany’s Federal Cartel Office fined Amazon about €59 million ($70 million) for influencing prices charged by sellers on its German marketplace. The national competition regulator said Amazon may only intervene in seller pricing in “exceptional cases,” such as excessive pricing and under conditions set by the agency.
• In Italy, tax police searched Amazon’s headquarters in Milan, the homes of seven managers, and the offices of auditing firm KPMG as part of an investigation into whether Amazon maintained an undisclosed permanent base in the country from 2019 to 2024 and therefore owed additional taxes, per Reuters. Amazon told Reuters it is “committed to paying all taxes in Italy.”

Why it matters: Amazon remains dominant in ecommerce, and regulators in both Europe and the US are testing the limits of their authority to curb its influence. So far, those efforts have had limited financial impact.

Even in the US, where Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing it of “knowingly duping” consumers into Prime subscriptions, the penalty was modest relative to the company’s $716.9 billion in net sales last year.

In Germany alone, we expect Amazon to generate $50.65 billion in ecommerce revenues this year, accounting for 47.4% of the country’s total retail ecommerce sales. That scale helps explain why regulators are laser focused on Amazon, and why even sizable fines may do little to dent its broader dominance.

Implications for sellers: Despite the regulatory scrutiny, there is little sign Amazon’s grip on consumers is loosening. If anything, continued investments in tools like its Rufus chatbot, same-day delivery with perishables, and Prime-related perks are only deepening engagement. For third-party sellers, that cuts both ways. Scrutiny could bring tighter rules and added compliance complexity, but Amazon’s scale and traffic still make it one of the most powerful channels for reaching high-intent shoppers.