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- FAS team: retailers will be checked for price collusion when selling Samsung novelties
FAS team: retailers will be checked for price collusion when selling Samsung novelties
The Federal Antimonopoly Service will check major electronics retailers for price collusion in the sale of new products from Samsung. Despite the fact that the Galaxy S25 flagship is supplied through parallel imports, it costs the same in the networks. And in this the service may find a violation of antitrust law. The companies themselves deny collusion - at the same time, the FAS has previously recorded a similar situation with Samsung, Apple and other brands. What threatens retail and whether the practice of identical prices at the start of sales is so bad - in the material "Izvestia".
What Samsung's flagship interested FAS
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will check the major retail chains on the subject of price collusion in the sale of new products from Samsung. The reason was the cost of the flagship Galaxy S25 - retailers sell the gadget at almost identical prices. So, the gadget in the most basic configuration (128 GB) offer, as a rule, for 99.99 thousand rubles, the cost of S25 + 256 GB starts from 129.99 thousand, S25 Ultra - from 159.99 thousand. Approximately the same with other modifications of the new device. In some cases, the prices differ by about 1 thousand rubles.
Conclusions regarding the presence or absence of violations of antimonopoly legislation in the pricing of Samsung Galaxy S25 can be made after the appropriate analysis, said the FAS in response to the request of "Izvestia".
- The Federal Antimonopoly Service will send inquiries to market participants based on the information received from the media," the agency promised.
The similarity of the cost of smartphones in different major retailers may indicate coordination of economic activities of sellers (coordination of pricing) on the part of the manufacturer or importer, said Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative.
- This is an illegal practice that contradicts the legislation on protection of competition. The FAS has already repeatedly revealed such violations in the activities of Russian representative offices of foreign companies, including in 2019 at Samsung, which dictated prices for phones and tablets to sellers, - he recalled.
At the same time, retailers themselves are unlikely to be the initiators of such coordination, as in the conditions of falling smartphone sales, competition for consumers in the market is very tough and various discounts, on the contrary, would allow to attract more customers, the expert believes.
If the antimonopoly authority sees that competing entities change prices in such a way that their decisions look coordinated, it is enough to initiate proceedings, said Anna Barabash, General Director of Enterprise Legal Solutions. The result of such proceedings may be the imposition of a negotiable fine ranging from 1 to 15% of the revenue received on the market where the violation was committed, she said.
- But most often the measures are limited to issuing orders to eliminate the violation and fines of up to 1 million rubles, - added the expert.
Why a new smartphone costs the same everywhere
Prices are set on the basis of turnover and margin plans, as well as taking into account the analysis of the competitive environment, the MTS press service noted.
In the conditions of parallel import of goods of brands that have officially left the Russian market, the main factors are the purchase price from suppliers, currency exchange rate, delivery time of goods, the number of product offers in foreign markets, listed in the press service of "M.Video-Eldorado". They added that the cost of devices is determined by global market conditions - in conditions of high price transparency consumers quickly find the most favorable offers, which forces companies to keep the cost at the lowest possible level.
- We are not aware of any price coordination," the organization's press service stressed.
Prices are dictated by specific suppliers-distributors, this has been happening since many manufacturers stopped supplying the Russian market, said a source close to one of the sellers of electronics. The distributors themselves claim that it is premature to talk about collusion.
- The identical prices suggest two possible variants. The first - the warehouses have not yet formed sufficient stocks of smartphones of this model, and the second - the cost of the product has not yet had time to "erode", as it has just appeared on the market, - said in "Marvel Distribution". - That is, the initial suppliers, which are not really that many, are still basing their prices on the recommended retail prices.
Probably, the antimonopoly agency wants to find out whether there is a cartel collusion, the company added.
- But this is highly unlikely, given the strong competition between the major retail chains, which are not interested in such schemes. Therefore, in our opinion, we should not talk about any coordination, most likely, we see the influence of objective market conditions," said Marvel Distribution.
Deliveries to Russia are still suspended, Samsung has not made any decision on their resumption, the company told Izvestia.
Samsung is not the only major global smartphone manufacturer that attracts the attention of the FAS. For example, in 2017, the agency accused Apple of coordinating prices for a number of iPhone models. After the proceedings, the American manufacturer paid a small fine. Earlier, the FAS recognized MTS and Vimpelcom as violators of the law "On Protection of Competition" from setting identical wholesale prices for the iPhone 4.
If the role of coordinators were Russian companies that import Samsung equipment through parallel import channels, the prices would differ significantly, believes Comnews Research partner Leonid Konik. This is evident in the example of the iPhone - the manufacturer has left the Russian market, and the price range, for example, for the iPhone 16 model with two SIM cards and a minimum memory of 128 GB is more than 20 thousand: from 72 999 to 94 299 rubles, the expert said.
Some retailers are holding exactly the same promotions - "give" buyers of the new Galaxy S25 wireless headphones, added General Director of TelecomDaily Denis Kuskov. Despite the fact that the FAS constantly reveals price coordination, attempts to harmonize the cost between sellers are repeated, he added. This practice is beneficial to retailers who do not want to lose revenue - in case of collusion, a person simply has nowhere to go for a cheaper offer, he added.
However, on marketplaces you can find Samsung Galaxy S25 cheaper than in classic retail chains. For example, on Wildberries "Izvestia" found S25 with 256 GB memory for less than 93.5 thousand, on Ozon there are offers of less than 90 thousand rubles. But despite the low prices, not everyone wants to buy electronics on marketplaces, said Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily.
Overseas, the prices for Samsung Galaxy S25 also do not differ much - Izvestia was convinced of this by comparing its price at the American Wallmart and on the websites of U.S. cellular operators. But for Western antimonopoly authorities such unity of prices is not a reason for investigations - there it is a standard and acceptable practice to recommend the retail price by the manufacturer, said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst of Mobile Research Group. In Russia, however, this is considered price coordination and qualifies as a violation of antimonopoly law, he explained.
According to the expert, the norm prohibiting to recommend a price is outdated. The market in Russia is competitive, and there is nothing wrong with price guidance as such, besides, the cost is reduced by bonuses and cashback from sellers, he added.
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