France’s €1.1 billion fine against Apple reduced to €372 million – IT Pro – News

I don’t think your argument is entirely correct.

Using a fixed price for your products is not illegal.

this is not true. The manufacturer should not dictate what the store sells for the product. Manufacturers often work at “recommended prices”, but they are not allowed to force stores to use them.

Unfortunately, this happens in practice. Stores that don’t stick to prices simply don’t get fresh stock.

Edit: I see now that you’re saying this as well:

It becomes illegal if you exclude and favor certain stores.

This is actually completely incorrect. As a company, I can totally decide for myself who I sell my products to. If I want to sell my products to Company A and not Company B, that is of course allowed.

How this usually works is as follows:

A manufacturer produces a product (or line of products). They put these on a price list with the total price, also known as the suggested retail price. These products are sold to the wholesaler, and the wholesaler gets a percentage discount on this price list. In some industries this percentage can reach 50-60%. Then they advise the wholesaler for a higher discount rate in the chain. So for example, a large retailer gets 40% off, and a small retailer gets 30% off. The web store has lower costs, so you’ll probably get 25% off.
The goal is for the consumer to eventually pay the recommended retail price. However, the manufacturer is not allowed to enforce this under competition law. If a retailer wants to settle for a 5% margin, that’s their right. However, manufacturers are not happy with this, because retailers are competing with each other with their products. However, retailers still want to keep a good margin, and so they will ask the wholesaler for more discount. This price pressure eventually ends with the manufacturer.

[Reactie gewijzigd door Ivolve op 6 oktober 2022 22:12]