In the Netherlands, the Consumers and Markets Authority fined Samsung € 39 million for pushing resellers to raise the price of its televisions. When it was down, the manufacturer contacted the shops to put pressure on them, indicating that the prices were up among the competition.
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For a long time now, Samsung has established itself in the television market for a long time. This year was even the occasion for the manufacturer to launch a whole new generation of TV, the Neo Qled. Only, like all the others, it has to face an immutable market phenomenon: shortly after their release, the price of televisions decreases systematically. Which does not really appeal to Samsung, which has therefore decided to reverse the trend.
From January 2013 to December 2018, the Korean firm has largely influenced the tariffs applied in the Netherlands, more specifically from seven resellers. Insidiously and under the guise of advice, he urged them to increase prices on the pretext that their competitors were doing the same. In this way, Samsung managed to find the desired market price at launch.
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Samsung increases the price of its TVs to the detriment of resellers and consumers
To do this, Samsung has used several indexing robots allowing it to constantly keep an eye on the state of the online market. When the prices were down, they called the dealers to encourage them to increase theirs, insisting on the urgency of the situation. “Retailers followed Samsung’s recommendations because it, which pulled all the strings, also systematically attacked other retailers who charged prices too low”, explains the Dutch Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM).
“Samsung knew it couldn’t force retailers to raise their prices. This is why Samsung associates used the term ‘recommendations’, but in reality these recommendations were neither personal nor non-binding ”, continues the organization, which accuses Samsuing of having “Distorted competition at the retail level and resulted in higher prices for consumers”. As such, she inflicted a fine of 39 million euros to the Korean group. The latter has indicated that he will appeal this decision.
Source : DHW
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