Monthly Archives: October 2014

October 13, 2014

As online shopping trend sweeps digital India, offline retailers are a worried lot, with sales of electronic goods, consumer durables and utility products declining across cities and towns even during the peak festival season.

With e-commerce players Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon pitching for more orders, offering hefty discounts and freebies in the virtual world, vendors in the real world are crying foul of unfair competition and a non-level playing field. ”Growing competition among them (e-retailers) for ramping up sales at any cost is affecting our business, as we do not see the kind of footfalls we got even year ago and our retail sales have taken a severe hit because many asmart’ buyers prefer shop online where prices are lower than we are able to give on several goods,” manager of a leading consumer showroom told IANS here.
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October 14, 2014

Teeth-bleaching isn’t brain surgery, although the Supreme Court seemed to find a link between the two in an antitrust case argued on October 14, 2014.

Among the questions before the justices is whether it is unfair under federal law for a state regulatory board made up mostly of dentists to prevent lower-cost competitors who aren’t dentists from offering teeth-whitening services.

The outcome could turn on how the justices’ decision affects brain surgeons, lawyers and others whose practices often are regulated by other members of their professions.
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October 16, 2014

Bulgarian anti-monopoly watchdog, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC), has imposed a BGN887,260 (USD581,511) fine on internet service provider (ISP) Blizoo ‘for unfair competitive practices’ with its Decision No.1322/8.10.2014. The CPCnoted that the penalty represents 1% of the operator’s net revenue for 2013.
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October 3, 2014

European Union regulators on October 3, 2014 cleared the buyout of the WhatsApp mobile messaging service by Facebook, despite opposition by telecom companies afraid of the growing power of US technology giants.

In a statement explaining its approval of the $19-billon (15-billion-euro) deal, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Facebook and WhatsApp were “not close competitors” and that consumers would continue to have a “wide array of choices”.
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