Evolving competition dynamics: the interface between competition policy, brands and retailers

The seventeenth annual symposium on competition amongst retailers and suppliers will be held on Friday 13 May in the Mary Sunley Building, St Catherine's College, Oxford (with an online option available). The programme is relevant to those interested in policy as it effects shoppers and competition in fast moving consumer goods markets, notably grocery, in both online and offline environments.

• Online growth. As online shopping grows in significance, policy is focusing on the regulation of digital markets. In the UK, the Digital Markets Unit faces the task of designating firms with ‘strategic market status’ and developing codes for each. Meanwhile, the EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act are at an advanced stage. The morning programme will assess how codes of practice may be an effective regulatory tool and how the UK, EU and USA approaches compare.
• The consumer journey. Consumer policy and enforcement provide the focus for the first afternoon session, considering how shoppers make decisions involving regular purchases at comparatively low prices. How may the shopper journey and their decision-making be disrupted and distorted and how effective is consumer policy and enforcement in supporting shoppers, such that they can be confident in making informed, accurate choices at speed?
• Omnichannel & information exchange. With both the UK and EU reviewing and updating their approaches to vertical and horizontal agreements, the final session re-visits familiar topics – information exchange where a retailer is also a direct product competitor and the operation of buying alliances. Meanwhile, traditional distribution models are morphing and branded companies are adopting an omnichannel approach to enrich the shopper experience, raising questions over information exchange and dual pricing.

The full programme is here.

If you would like to attend the symposium, please complete the registration form below by Friday 6 May indicating whether you will attend in person or online.

Registration form