Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has been hit with a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the US-based alcohol distributor uses “unfair pricing practices”.
The complaint, which was submitted yesterday, alleges that Southern Glazer’s has “engaged in anti-competitive and unlawful price discrimination” that “harms competition by charging higher prices to disfavoured retailers that purchase similar goods”. The privately-owned company’s “discriminatory pricing” represents a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), according to the FTC.
The act came into force in 1936 to prevent sizable selling companies from favouring larger businesses over their “smaller rivals”.
Following the filing, Southern Glazer’s released a statement in which it said it will “defend itself vigorously in this litigation”.
“The RPA is a Depression-era federal antitrust law that has not been enforced in decades because of bipartisan concern that enforcement leads to higher prices for consumers,” the company said. “Alcohol distributors face numerous regulations that dictate how they compete and can price and discount products, and Southern Glazer’s complies with those legal requirements.
“Our pricing and discounting structure does not violate the RPA.”
According to a report on the development in The New York Times, Southern Glazer’s full-year sales in 2023 totalled US$26bn.
Click here for a redacted version of the Federal Trade Commission’s filing.
