Southern Glazer’s settles FTC price discrimination lawsuit

Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits LLC has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve a lawsuit alleging price discrimination against small independent retailers. The FTC’s 2024 complaint claimed the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor provided discounts and rebates to major chains, such as Walmart, Kroger, and Total Wine, that were unavailable to smaller competitors. In some instances, independent stores reportedly paid between 12% and 67% more for identical bottles of wine and spirits than large retailers located in the same geographic area.

The proposed settlement, which requires district court approval, will be overseen by an independent monitor for six years. It specifically targets “paired” transactions where the distributor sells the same product to a chain and a nearby independent retailer at significantly different prices. Under the terms, if price discrimination exceeds certain thresholds based on state operating costs or exceeds $5,000 in recurring differences over 12 months, Southern Glazer’s may resolve the issue by paying the independent retailer 1.5 times the aggregated price differential. Southern Glazer’s has denied violating the law, and the settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing.