Competition Board May Fines Trendyol!

Within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Competition Authority against Trendyol in 2021, the company made its oral defense today. After the defense In the Trendyol investigation The decision of the delegation was clear.

The Competition Board’s Investigation Board evaluated that Trendyol abused its dominant position and provided an unfair advantage to its retail operations by using competitor data. He predicted that Trendyol would be fined.

Opinion of the Investigation Committee on Trendyol:

As a result of the determinations and evaluations made, the delegation determined that Trendyol interfered with the algorithm, provided an unfair advantage to its own activity by using the data of third-party vendors selling in the marketplace, and that these actions made the activities of its competitors more difficult.

It was announced to Trendyol that these situations violated Article 6 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition. Trendyol has listed various obligations to fulfill:

• Avoiding interference with private label products (Private Label), which it carries out through its own marketplace (www.trendyol.com), through algorithms and coding that will provide an advantage compared to its competitors,
• Avoiding the use of all kinds of data obtained and produced/derived from the marketplace activity for private label products related to retail activity and taking all kinds of technical, administrative and organizational measures to ensure this,
• Keeping the parametric and structural changes made on the algorithm models used for product sorting and brand filtering purposes within the scope of the marketplace activity for 2 (two) years, with a version and an undeniable accuracy,
• Keeping all codes belonging to the algorithms used for product sorting and brand filtering purposes within the scope of the marketplace activity, as well as all codes affecting the algorithms used for product sorting and brand filtering purposes, with a version and an undeniable accuracy for 2 (two) years,
• Keeping user access and authorization records and manager audit records for all software used for the execution of business processes within the scope of the marketplace activity for 2 (two) years, the accuracy of which cannot be denied,
• Fulfilling the obligations specified in subparagraphs a, b, c, d, e within a reasonable period of time as of the notification of the reasoned decision to the undertaking,
• Submitting to the Institution the harmonization measures that he prepared at the latest one month before the deadline granted to him.
• Submitting a report to the Agency periodically for a period of five years from the implementation of the first compliance measure and once a year.

Trendyol will face daily administrative fines if it does not fulfill these obligations in a timely and complete manner.

• This decision still only covers the decision of the Investigation Board. The final decision will be announced by the Competition Authority within 15 days.

What did Trendyol say in his defense?

Group President Çağlayan Çetin, who took the floor in Trendyol’s verbal defense, stated that his own brands were at a very low rate on the platform. Çetin added that they provided the opportunity to do business and sell goods to 300 thousand businesses, large and small, selling from all over the country in the market place.

The most important point of emphasis in his statement was that they were at an equal distance from all sellers. Çetin stated that all practices are “smooth” and clear, and that it does not matter whether the capital comes from China or from another country.

How much fine can the railroad face?

The following statement in Article 16 of Law No. 4054 explains the possible amount of the penalty:

“Those who act prohibited in Articles 4, 6 and 7 of this Law shall be penalized by the undertaking and associations of undertakings or the members of these associations formed at the end of the fiscal year preceding the final decision or, if it is not possible to calculate this, at the end of the fiscal year closest to the final decision date, and shall be determined by the Board. an administrative fine of up to ten percent of their annual gross income.

The verbal defense of sahibinden will take place tomorrow: