WHY DO WE PAY HIGHER PRICE FOR „APPLE“ PRODUCTS THAN OUR „NEIGHBORS“ FROM NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES?
We couldn’t help but wonder why we pay higher price for certain products than our "neighbours" from the surrounding countries (and often from other more developed countries in Europe).
One especially notes this when it comes to the globally popular products of "Apple" company, with large number of fans in Serbia. Let's be honest, few of the brand’s fans remain immune to a new iPhone version as soon as it appears on-shelve. But the question is, why people in Serbia pay more for the same iPhone than, for example, Hungarians?
Maybe the Commission for Protection of Competition will give us the answers to those questions, since they have recently initiated an ex officio competition infringement investigation procedure, due to the suspicion that the Hungarian company, which is a supplier of "Apple" products, and its related company in Serbia (which deals with marketing, market development, support and sales) are determining prices of "Apple" products for further sale in the Republic of Serbia.
As stated in the publicly published Conclusion, the Commission indicated, by reviewing the available data, that the retail prices of some "Apple" products in Serbia are uniform among the observed retailers of products of this brand. Commission stated that several retailers keep "almost identical prices" for the same products.
Also, the Commission compared the retail prices of "Apple" products in Serbia with prices of the same products in the surrounding countries. It was, thereby, noted that the prices of "Apple" products in Serbia are higher than the prices of identical products in Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and North Macedonia.
Bearing in mind the aforementioned, and due to the fact that the prices of "Apple" products in Serbia are higher compared to the prices in neighbouring countries, and at the same time uniformed at retailers in Serbia, the Commission assumed that this was a result of violation of competition in form of determination of resale prices, thus initiated the investigation procedure.
We expect the epilogue of this case in the coming period. Until then, you can check out in the table below the price comparation for some "Apple" products in neighbouring countries, published by the Commission.
For more details follow the LINK
