The authors analyze retail transaction data to explore self-preferencing practices.
Antitrust authorities have raised concerns that digital marketplaces favor themselves and their products relative to how they treat other third-parties, a concept known as self-preferencing. Self-preferencing has been a recurring issue in both traditional retail and digital marketplaces. While self-preferencing in traditional retail has historically been viewed as a standard and often procompetitive practice, digital marketplaces have faced intense scrutiny with arguments pointing to potential unique characteristics, such as network effects, data advantages, and marketplace dominance. These practices have led to increased antitrust scrutiny regarding self-preferencing practices in the European Union (EU) and the U.S.
In this article, authors Gabriele Antonie, Mariella Gonzales, and Sophie Shao analyze a large sample of retail transaction data and show that the share of private-label sales for digital marketplaces is still behind that of other retailers that have a strong traditional brick-and-mortar channel.
This article was originally published in the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust Source in August 2025.
Chicago 
