21 September 2020, Budapest –The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has accepted Tesco’s commitment on the basis of which it will develop and expand its delivery service to the entire country.
The Competition Authority carried out an investigation against Tesco-Global Áruházak Zrt. because the undertaking failed to make it clear that its website operated as an online shopping service and not as a web store. There is a significant difference between the two, as the chain store could not guarantee the delivery of the products it offered. However, the undertaking failed to draw customers’ attention to this fact and a large number of customers received, without prior warning, orders that had at least one replaced or missing product.
During the proceedings, the GVH accepted the voluntary commitment offered by Tesco, namely HUF 407 million, aimed at remedying the identified competition problem. The undertaking has undertaken to expand its service in a manner that is unique to Hungary and particularly useful in the current epidemiological situation, especially for rural consumers. Based on its commitment, the chain store will operate a real (courier service) web store in the future in relation to 3,000 products, a significant proportion of which are durable food products, first in those areas that are not currently covered by the service (i.e. mainly in the countryside) and then in the whole country. Until the online store is established, Tesco has undertaken to inform customers explicitly in advance about the delivery of a replacement product. The chain store has also made a number of further commitments to the Competition Authority, mainly in relation to its communication with consumers.
As a result of the commitments made to the GVH, through its web store Tesco will provide a nationally available food delivery service that will be particularly useful for the population in the event of possible epidemic restrictions, or e.g. during the Christmas period.
The official registration number of the case is: VJ/65/2017.
GVH Press Office