Largest Romanian online retailer investigated for possible dominant position abuse

Romania’s Competition Council has launched an investigation into a possible abuse of dominant position by Dante International, the owner of eMag, the largest Romanian online retailer. The investigation targets the company’s marketplace platform. eMag said that it will make available to the Competition Council all the necessary information, claiming that retailers using its marketplace set their own commercial policies. The eMag marketplace is the retailer’s platform where partner companies can sell their products. "The investigation focuses on Dante's possible discriminatory behavior towards consumer retailers that are direct competitors of the company," according to the Competition Council. eMag reached a number of over 4,000 partner companies registered on its marketplace at the end of June, up 74% over the same period last year. The platform generated sales of over RON 350 million (EUR 76.6 million) in the first six months of this year. It has 500,000 unique customers each day, according to the company. eMag’s marketplace includes Romanian companies such as the photo retailer F64, the bookstore Carturesti, online flower shop Flori de Lux, and footwear retailer Otter. The marketplace sales will reach some RON 800 million (EUR 175 million), standing for 29% of eMag’s total sales this year, according to the company’s estimates. editor@romania-insider.com