"Unfair competition": Lidl ordered on appeal to pay 43 million euros in compensation to Intermarché

Checkout. The Paris Court of Appeal has ordered the Lidl supermarket chain to pay €43 million in compensation to its competitor Intermarché for deceptive commercial practices, according to a ruling seen by AFP on Wednesday, July 9.

The German retailer has been declared " liable for misleading commercial practices " due to the broadcast, for several years, of television advertisements presenting promotions for products " without ensuring their availability for a period of 15 weeks in all its stores ," according to the decision dated July 4. This amounts to " acts of unfair competition " against its competitor Intermarché " giving rise to compensation ."

Intermarché declined to comment. ITM (the company responsible for the commercial policy of the Mousquetaires Group, which includes Intermarché and Netto) sued the German group in 2019 over its advertisements broadcast since 2017. While the claim was dismissed at first instance, on May 30, 2022, Intermarché finally won its appeal.

The advertisements in question – 374 between 2017 and 2023 – “ promote products presented at an attractive price, through the use of the product in situ and a large display of the price ,” the court described. While “ a mention of Supermarkets concerned on Lidl.fr appears at the end of each television advertisement ” in writing and then from 2021 in “ voiceover ,” “ the Court notes that this mention does not appear in the advertisements in a very visible manner, insofar as it only appears on the screen for a few seconds, in small characters, and at the bottom right of the screen .”

" It must therefore be admitted that it is likely to go unnoticed by the consumer or at the very least to be misunderstood, " it is explained. Furthermore, " by broadcasting these advertisements, the Lidl company was also aware that it was not guaranteeing the availability of the products, for a sufficient period, in all stores, which is sufficient to characterize the intentional element of the offenses ."