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Diving overview:
- Pepsico and Walmart Class action lawsuit ahead The claim comes from a consumer who claims alleged price fixing on soft drinks at retailers other than Walmart has led to higher costs at other grocery stores.
- The class action lawsuit is filed by the Federal Trade Commission. Government lawsuit against PepsiCo It claimed it unfairly gave Walmart a pricing advantage. The complaint, filed during the Biden administration, was dismissed earlier this year.
- PepsiCo said in a statement to Food Dive that it plans to contest the allegations and “vigorously defend itself in court,” but declined to comment further on the pending litigation. A Walmart spokeswoman said the company was committed to negotiating on behalf of customers “so we can offer value and everyday low prices.”
Dive Insights:
Walmart and PepsiCo are no longer under FTC investigation after the Trump administration halted the agency’s investigation. inspection When I entered the office, hot water was not yet available.
The proposed class action lawsuit was filed by a group of customers who claim they were unfairly forced to pay more for Pepsi products at the retailer after not receiving the same preferential pricing as Walmart. The suit, filed Dec. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks a jury trial and monetary damages.
Both companies are accused of weaponizing their dominant shares of the soda and grocery markets to provide financial incentives “to the detriment of consumers and profiting from suppressing competition.”
The lawsuit uses allegations recently made public by the FTC to paint a picture of a price-fixing scheme.
Walmart is Pepsi’s largest customer, and the suit notes how Pepsi disclosed that it would suffer a “material adverse impact” if it lost the retailer’s business. The FTC complaint alleges that starting in 2015, the companies agreed to a “price gap” that would allow PepsiCo to retain its largest customers in exchange for allowing Walmart to over-advertise low prices on soft drinks.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys claim that Pepsi sold its soft drinks to Walmart at preferential prices, which caused consumers to pay higher prices for the products at other stores than competitors. For example, a dozen 12-ounce cans cost $8.27 at Walmart, $8.39 at Target and $8.99 at Wegmans, the complaint states.
The soda company was also accused in the FTC complaint of providing promotional payments, allowances and other services to Walmart that the company did not provide to other retailers.
A PepsiCo spokesperson said in a statement that the lawsuit “utilizes the inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims in the dismissed FTC complaint, including misrepresentations of our business dealings with customers.”
