Post by account_disabled on Mar 5, 2024 22:34:36 GMT -8
The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has fined different companies in the Amazon and Apple groups with 194.1 million euros for agreeing and executing certain restrictions on competition in the Amazon online market , affecting third-party resellers of Apple Products and competing Apple products. As reported this Tuesday by the supervisory body, the two American giants signed two contracts on October 31, 2018 that updated Amazon's conditions as an authorized Apple distributor. They included several restrictive competition clauses that affected the online retail sale of electronic products in Spain.
Both companies agreed that only a series of distributors designated by Apple itself could sell Apple-branded products through the Amazon website in Spain. Facade of an Amazon headquarters building in Schoenefeld, near Job Function Email Database Berlin, Germany. Michael Sohn/LaPresse As a consequence of the application of these clauses, more than 90% of the resellers who had been using the Amazon website in Spain for the retail sale of Apple products were excluded from the main online market in Spain. In addition, sellers not authorized by Apple to sell their products on the Amazon website in Spain lost an important sales channel, to the point that this website is the vehicle for the majority of online purchases of electronic products in Spain.
According to the commission chaired by Cani Fernández, sales of Apple brand products in said online market were concentrated in Amazon itself, drastically reducing competition between resellers of products of this brand.Likewise, sales of Apple products through the Amazon website in Spain by sellers based in other EU countries were reduced, thus limiting trade between Member States. The CNMC has also detected an increase in the relative prices that consumers pay for the purchase of Apple products in said online market in Spain. The resellers most affected by this clause were Apple's unauthorized distributors (known as Non-Authorized Resellers), generally small operators who do not have a direct commercial relationship.
Both companies agreed that only a series of distributors designated by Apple itself could sell Apple-branded products through the Amazon website in Spain. Facade of an Amazon headquarters building in Schoenefeld, near Job Function Email Database Berlin, Germany. Michael Sohn/LaPresse As a consequence of the application of these clauses, more than 90% of the resellers who had been using the Amazon website in Spain for the retail sale of Apple products were excluded from the main online market in Spain. In addition, sellers not authorized by Apple to sell their products on the Amazon website in Spain lost an important sales channel, to the point that this website is the vehicle for the majority of online purchases of electronic products in Spain.
According to the commission chaired by Cani Fernández, sales of Apple brand products in said online market were concentrated in Amazon itself, drastically reducing competition between resellers of products of this brand.Likewise, sales of Apple products through the Amazon website in Spain by sellers based in other EU countries were reduced, thus limiting trade between Member States. The CNMC has also detected an increase in the relative prices that consumers pay for the purchase of Apple products in said online market in Spain. The resellers most affected by this clause were Apple's unauthorized distributors (known as Non-Authorized Resellers), generally small operators who do not have a direct commercial relationship.