Watch industry juggernaut Rolex has been fined €91.6 million ($AU149.2 million) by France’s competition authority for preventing authorised dealers from selling new watches online.
Rolex has a worldwide policy of selling its new watches through physical stores, with online channels to be used exclusively for marketing.
“They amount to closing a marketing channel, to the detriment of consumers and retailers, when the online distribution of luxury products, including watches, has been booming over the past 15 years,” the regulator said.
The watchmaker successfully defended its practice of enforcing recommended retail prices; however, France’s Autorite de la Concurrence rejected a claim that restrictions on digital sales are required to prevent counterfeiting.
“France’s Competition Authority opened its investigation into Rolex back in 2017 following complaints from Union de la Bijouterie Horlogerie and Pellegrin & Fils. This led to a raid of Rolex’s French offices in 2019,” writes Rob Corder of WatchPro.
“Pellegrin & Fils, a former Rolex authorised dealer, said it had been cut from the network of partners in 2013 with no justification. The retailer’s lawyers said the ‘eviction’ came after it tried to convince Rolex to allow it to sell its watches online and suggested it was signed out to make it an example to other partners to keep them in line.”
The fine comes with an order for Rolex to inform its retailers of the decision and to publish a summary on its website.
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