Our experience with Addicted and a matter of fair competition
The Spanish underwear brand Addicted is known for its striking and sexy designs. The brand is part of the same company that also ES Collection produces. We have been working as an official reseller of Addicted, but recently we were faced with a situation that raises questions about fair competition in the European Union. Because we want to be transparent, we are sharing our experience with Addicted and how this affects EU competition law rules.
The situation with Addicted
After years of collaboration, Addicted suddenly stop supplying us. The reason? Addicted They demanded that we stop selling another brand founded by a former employee of their company. Because we refused, they even canceled our last order. In other words: Addicted attempts to keep a competitor out of the market by refusing to supply.
Why this is problematic
According to it EU competition law (Article 101 TFEU) Suppliers may not simply restrict distributors in the brands they sell unless there is an objective and justified reason. In this case, the issue is not product quality or brand image protection, but purely the exclusion of competition. This makes the refusal of Addicted legally and morally questionable.
The step to the CNMC
Because Addicted located in Spain, we have reported the matter to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), the Spanish Competition Authority. They can assess whether Addicted violates the rules with this practice. Our expectations are realistic, but we believe it's important to identify and raise awareness of this problem.
Broader interest
This is not just about our relationship with AddictedWhen brands force distributors to block competitors, it affects the entire market:
- Less choice for consumers
- Artificially high prices
- Unfair competition
Continuation
Whether the CNMC actually takes action against Addicted remains to be seen. We hope that the authorities will intervene and Addicted reprimands, so that these kinds of restrictions don't go without consequences. We are convinced that EU suppliers cannot simply force distributors to remove other brands from their product range.
Added to this Addicted previously imposed restrictions on the sales channels where we could offer the brand. Now, they're even demanding we remove another brand from our range. This raises an important question: If we had accepted this demand, what is next? Where do we draw the line when suppliers start imposing more and more conditions?
We believe that brands shouldn't dictate how we design our shop or which brands we carry. That's up to us, and ultimately up to the consumer, who has the right to freedom of choice. At the same time, we want to emphasize that we Addicted would like to continue to conduct, provided this can be done in a fair and transparent manner. The example of Addicted, from the same company as ES Collection, shows how important transparency and fair competition are for a healthy market.