SCD: Amazon, Walmart among nine companies to receive FTC order for supply chain data

SUPPLY CHAIN DIVE reports…

Dive Brief:

– The Federal Trade Commission will order nine major retailers, wholesalers and CPGs to hand over data on supply chain challenges to “shed light on the causes behind ongoing supply chain disruptions,” the agency said Monday.

– The nine companies are Amazon, Associated Wholesale Grocers, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Kraft Heinz, Kroger, McLane, Procter & Gamble, Tyson Foods and Walmart. The firms have 45 days to respond to the FTC’s order. The FTC did not respond when asked why it chose these specific companies.

– The companies will have to provide internal documents related to supply chain strategies, pricing decisions and supplier selection. The FTC order asks for the primary factors disrupting procurement, transportation and distribution of products, in addition to the most affected inputs and suppliers, as well as steps to workaround disruptions.

Dive Insight:

Challenges up and down the supply chain have grabbed the attention of the public sector. The FTC is the latest agency seeking to unearth the causes of disruption.

The FTC’s focus as an agency is on consumers. The commission will examine how supply chain snags have led to rising prices for consumers, and whether anticompetitive practices exist in the marketplace that in turn affect consumers.

Much of the information the FTC will solicit is at the forefront of supply chain managers’ day-to-day operations and planning.

For one, the commission seeks information on the factors “disrupting [companies’] ability to obtain, transport and distribute their products,” the FTC press release stated…

The full post can be read here.