An expensive December for Rolex: the French branch of the watch brand has to pay a fine of 91.6 million euros. According to the French competition authority, the Swiss luxury brand has banned traders from selling its watches online for ten years.
According to the watchdog, the ban was in effect at a time when online sales of luxury products such as watches were increasing significantly. Autorité de la concurrence calls Rolex’s violations serious. According to the watchdog, “a marketing channel has been closed to the detriment of consumers and traders”.
The watch industry had filed complaints about the sales ban, after which the French watchdog raided Rolex. The watch brand said it had introduced the ban to prevent counterfeit watches from being sold via the internet.
The restrictions for web shops were also aimed at so-called parallel trade: importing a product without the manufacturer’s permission. The watchdog did not think this was a good argument because Rolex’s competitors also ran that risk and they did allow internet sales.