Advertising allowance
The advertising allowance (abbreviation: WKZ ) is an amount of money or free goods that the manufacturer gives to retail companies for advertising purposes . The advertising subsidy is used by retailers to finance their own advertising and sales promotion measures, in which the products and services of the manufacturers concerned receive special attention. A WKZ agreement is signed as a contractual basis for the advertising subsidy.
The supplier granting the WKZ leaves the responsibility for advertising activities largely to its trading partner. At the same time, however, he accepts limited control over the use of the funds.
Retail companies often use the advertising subsidy for retail marketing campaigns such as special offers .
WKZ and cost price in competition law
Due to the influence on price formation, WKZ play an important role in the context of German competition law .
The Federal Cartel Office imposed a fine on the drugstore chain Rossmann in early 2007 as part of a series of proceedings for “sales below cost ” . The type of inclusion of the WKZ decides on the assessment of the criticized sales prices. While the Cartel Office would like to see the trade-offs granted proportionally across the entire range of the supplier and in this way found that 55 Rossmann products were not regularly sold below cost price in 2005 , the company argues that the discounts only benefit advertised items in the literal sense , which thus have significantly lower cost prices than the cartel office assumes.
After rejecting the objection to the notice of the fine, the company brought an action against it, which has been heard before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court since October 26, 2009 . Shortly after the fine was issued, Rossmann had announced that he would, if necessary, contest it before the Federal Court of Justice , and later it was even announced that he would go to the European Court of Justice .
The way in which WKZ is taken into account is also disputed by the state. For example, the Federal Government's Monopolies Commission, with express reference to the Rossmann case, unlike the Cartel Office, is in favor of a free decision by the provider when assigning the WKZ.
Incorrect classification as WKZ
The term had also been coined for several years by its disguised use in the area of shared-cost services (0180 number range ). According to the original designation, the caller and service provider should share the costs of the connection charges and no reimbursements should be made by the network operator to the service provider. According to the allocation rules of the Federal Network Agency , WKZ were therefore not permitted. Due to falling prices, however, more and more network operators made payments to the service providers - declared as an "advertising cost subsidy" for the more or less prominent mention in the publication of special numbers .
This problem was solved in May 2009 by changing the Telecommunications Act, abandoning the principle of “shared costs” and renaming the 0180 numbers to service services .
In addition, a target achievement bonus , which is granted to a trading partner if the target turnover or gross profit is exceeded , is commonly incorrectly referred to as a trade mark.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Advertising allowance . In: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon
- ↑ cf. Section 20 of the Act against Restraints of Competition
- ↑ Press release ( Memento of the original dated November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the Federal Cartel Office of February 8, 2007
- ↑ a b The formula for bargains . In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 2007 ( online ).
- ↑ How low can the prices be? ( Memento from October 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 26, 2009
- ↑ Rossmann wants to fight through dumping prices . In: Die Welt , September 11, 2007
- ↑ Less state, more competition . ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 444 kB), 17th main report of the Monopolies Commission , press version of July 9, 2008
- ↑ Document of the Federal Network Agency ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) for the hearing in July 2007
- ↑ cf. The future as a service
