Today, Ecommerce Europe is launching a new campaign on the updated rules for vertical distribution agreements. The main aim of this campaign is to collect experiences from retailers on the impact of the new rules.
From June 2023, businesses in Europe have to implement new rules intended to protect fair competition within the European Single Market – The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER).
These updated rules contain some critical changes for online sales:
- They allow suppliers to sell their goods to retailers at different wholesale prices depending on the distribution channel (dual pricing).
- Suppliers are now allowed to apply different (even stricter) criteria to online sales than those for sales by retailers in brick-and-mortar shops.
- Suppliers can ban retailers from selling their products via online marketplaces, as long as other online sales channels remain available for the seller, e.g., their own webshop.
Ecommerce Europe worries that these changes will make online selling more complicated, increase the dependency of SMEs on brands and manufacturers, and can lead to discrimination by suppliers against online selling – hurting the growth potential and digitalisation of SMEs, but also retail in general.
To check how the new rules will impact retailers in practice, especially SMEs, Ecommerce Europe invites them to share their experiences on our dedicated website.
So, are you a retailer active in the European Union? We need your help!
Let us know if you are facing any of the following issues due to the new rules:
- Have you experienced tougher negotiations with suppliers and has this had a negative impact on your online profits?
- Are you faced with higher prices for your products intended for online sale than for offline sale?
- Do your suppliers prevent you from using online marketplaces and does this limit your ability to reach customers in new markets?
You can find more details on the new rules and the form in which to share your experiences on our dedicated website.
