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I don’t think your argument is entirely correct.

Using a fixed price for your products is not illegal.

That’s not true. The manufacturer shouldn’t dictate what a store sells the product for. Manufacturers often work with “recommended prices” but are not allowed to force stores to use them.

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

Edit: I see now you say this too:

It becomes illegal if you exclude and favor certain shops.

This is already completely wrong. As a company, I can absolutely decide who to sell my products to myself. If I want to sell my products to company A but not to company B, this is obviously allowed.

How it usually works is as follows:

A manufacturer produces a product (or a line of products). They put them on a price list with a gross price, also known as a suggested retail price. These products are sold to a wholesaler, the wholesaler receives a percentage discount on this list price. In some sectors this can be as high as 50-60%. They then recommend the wholesaler a discount percentage higher in the chain. For example, a large retailer gets a 40% discount and a small retailer a 30% discount. An online store costs even less, so maybe you get a 25% discount.
The goal is that the consumer ultimately pays the recommended retail price. However, the manufacturer is not authorized to enforce it under competition law. If a dealer wants to settle for a 5% margin, that’s his right. Manufacturers are not happy with this, however, because retailers then compete with each other with their product. However, retailers still want to keep a good margin and will therefore ask the wholesaler for a larger discount. That price pressure ultimately ends with the producer.

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