Nowadays, many manufactures find it challenging to strike the balance between – on the one hand – benefiting from the sales potential of e-commerce and – on the other hand – retaining control over their distribution systems as they did before the internet changed the distribution landscape and pricing dynamics. Restricting online sales, for instance, by engaging into dual pricing (i.e. charging retailers different prices for products according to whether they will be re-sold through brick-and-mortar or online channels) or resale price maintenance (i.e. fixing the retailers' re-sale prices) exposes manufacturers to high competition risks throughout the EU (including potential fines) and is therefore not the right way for manufacturers to respond to the increase of e-commerce. Michaela Westrup made the attendants of the conference aware of German and EU competition rules applicable to online sales restrictions, highlighted examples of relevant cases and pointed out lawful and risk-free ways of retaining control over online and offline distribution in Germany.

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