CMA finds no grounds for action in Unilever impulse ice cream package offers investigation

CRA, along with Linklaters LLP, advised Unilever in respect of the CMA investigation into Unilever’s “package offers” (retailer promotions of the form “buy X cases of ice cream get 1 free”). CRA assisted with documenting the pro-competitive role of package offers and analysing their scope for “inducing loyalty”.

On Thursday, August 10, 2017, the CMA decided that there was no grounds for action, finding that “…the structure and availability of Unilever’s Package Offers, taken together with the purchasing patterns of retailers, were such that Unilever’s Package Offers were unlikely to have had an exclusionary effect.”

The CRA team consisted of Cristina Caffarra, Oliver Latham, Ugur Akgun and Richard Havell.