The Competition Tribunal has dismissed a complaint by Walmart-owned Massmart that exclusivity agreements between other retailers and landlords are excluding its Game stores from selling fresh grocery products.
The Tribunal, for a second time, on Tuesday upheld arguments made by Shoprite Checkers, Pick ‘n Pay and Spar.
Massmart first lodged the case with the Tribunal in June 2015 and filed an amended referral on November 15, 2016, after the three retailers raised various objections to the formulation of the referral.
In its decision released on Tuesday, the Tribunal found that the problems associated with the referral remained and upheld the objections. The Tribunal also found that there would be no purpose served by allowing Massmart an additional opportunity to amend its referral and it decided to dismiss the referral with costs.
In its complaint, Massmart said it wanted to enter the fresh grocery products market through its Game store chain, but couldn’t, owing to exclusivity agreements between the listed retailers and landlords of shopping malls, which exclude another chain from selling fresh grocery products.