Category: Pricing

Loyalty Pricing in the Groceries Sector: What the CMA Investigation Means for Consumers

In this article, we delve into the CMA’s investigation into loyalty pricing in the groceries sector, and explain how this practice might affect you.

In the groceries sector, loyalty pricing has become a critical issue for both consumers and retailers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating practices related to potential loyalty pricing, where long-standing customers may be charged higher prices compared to new customers.

This type of pricing has raised concerns about fairness, transparency, and competition within the sector. If you feel that you have been unfairly impacted by such practices, you may now understand why. At The Competition Lawyers, we are committed to helping consumers navigate complex legal issues.

Investigation into Education Software Solutions Limited: What You Need to Know

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating the conduct of Education Software Solutions Limited, raising significant concerns within the educational software market.

This article, presented by The Competition Lawyers, aims to inform you about the investigation, its potential implications, and your rights as a consumer or stakeholder.

Review of Veterinary Services for Household Pets: Insights and Implications

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated a review of the veterinary services for household pets.

This move aims to ensure that pet owners receive fair, transparent, and competitive services for their beloved animals. At The Competition Lawyers, we understand the importance of this review and are here to break down its key aspects and implications for pet owners.

The CMA reviews that take place are usually focused on ensuring compliance with key competition law.

Hydrocortisone Tablet Pricing: A Look at the CMA Case

In recent times, the issue of Hydrocortisone tablet pricing has garnered significant attention, prompting regulatory bodies to investigate alleged excessive and unfair pricing, anti-competitive agreements, and alleged abusive conduct within the pharmaceutical industry.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been at the forefront of addressing these concerns, exemplified by its recent case which focuses on Hydrocortisone tablets.

In this article, we delve into the intricacies of the case, shedding light on key aspects of Hydrocortisone tablet pricing and the implications for the pharmaceutical industry.

Latest in the CMA road fuel market study

The CMA recently published an update in respect of its road fuel market study where it had been looking into the prices and competition in this particular sector.

The study was launched last year and came at an important time when the cost-of-living crisis was really hitting us all and continues to cause significant problems for families across the UK. It is essential to make sure that no companies are breaching competition law and that consumers are not being taken advantage of, particularly when we are all feeling the squeeze.

Unit pricing in the groceries sector: CMA project

The CMA has launched a project to look at the unit pricing in the grocery sector which, I think we can all agree, is a particularly important matter given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The CMA has published its announcement in respect of the project recently, so we are very much in the early stages of this particular one. The matter also follows a previous Super Complaint in respect of the complexities and issues that could have been impeding the ability of consumers to make informed choices in respect of price comparison.

Read on for a little bit of information about this latest CMA project. I think we can all agree it is one to watch given that we are all feeling the pinch at the moment.

Private healthcare market competition investigation

The private healthcare market investigation that has been ongoing for over a decade is a matter that has seen a recent update published by the UK’s CMA, the Competition and Markets Authority.

Private healthcare is a particularly sensitive industry in relation to competition law, and it is one that must be monitored carefully to make sure that patients – i.e. consumers – can make the best choices for them. In this latest update from the CMA, it has been suggested that there is still much more work that needs to be done.

Suspected unfair pricing investigations

It is important for the CMA to look into incidents of suspected unfair pricing to ensure that consumers are not being overcharged and taken advantage of.

This can particularly be the case in relation to medication costs of which the CMA has looked into a number of issues about the NHS being overcharged, and we will provide an update of an example in this article.

Broadly speaking, it is important that pricing is set at fair levels and that companies are not taking advantage of consumers to drive their profits up in an obscene manner. At the same time, competition must be required to allow pricing to be set competitively as well.

Fuel retail market review in the UK – CMA

First published by Author on August 03, 2022 in the following categories: Industry Investigations Latest Pricing and tagged with cma | competition law | fuel | investigations | pricing

investigation into retail banking competition

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it is conducting an urgent review into the UK fuel retail market at the request of the government.

The review comes at a time with soaring inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and the prices at petrol pumps spiralling out of control. We are all being hit by the increased cost of living, and the government must do all it can to ensure that the people do not suffer and face further hardship.

We welcome the review that is being conducted by the CMA, and we urge the government to step up in supporting people and preventing prices from soaring even further out of control.

Most favoured nation clause example: ComparetheMarket fined £17.8m

Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the details of its full decision having fined ComparetheMarket £17.8m for reportedly breaching competition law. The investigation that had been concluded by the UK’s competition regulator led to the finding that the famous price comparison website was said to have broken the law by including a most favoured nation clause in some of the contracts it had with home insurance providers.

Over the course of December 2015-December 2017, ComparetheMarket is said to have used the clause to retain its domination of the comparison website market. The knock-on effect may have been the prevention of healthy growth of its competitors and possibly restricting customers from finding better deals on their home insurance.

Designed to empower consumers to find bargains in a crowded and confusing market, price comparison websites should be on the side of their users. This is why it was concerning that ComparetheMarket had been restricting competition seemingly for their own gain. The enforcement action taken by the CMA hopefully helped to restore competitiveness in the digital price comparison market, and is a real example of where the most favoured nation clause can lead to problems for competition law.