Italian Regulator Fines YNAP for Misleading Price Points, Returns Policy — Retail Bum

Italy’s antitrust regulator AGCM has levied a $5.69 million fine on YOOX Net-Porter (YNAP) for its misleading price points and return policy.

According to the regulator, the online luxury platform advertised price reductions on products that were more or less sold for the pre-discounted price. In addition, the platform blocked customers who had returned more than a certain number of products from making purchases without notifying them that they had crossed a certain threshold.

The said violations took place between 2019 and 2022.

The luxury eCommerce platform has two months to inform the regulator of the changes it has made to its pricing and returns policy. The company said it plans to appeal the ruling as it has “always followed the highest standards of commercial conduct.”

YNAP was previously majority owned by Swiss luxury company Richemont. In August 2022, Richemont sold a 47.5% stake in the platform to Farfetch and a 2.7% stake to Mohamed Alabbar’s Symphony Global, taking a $2.7 billion write-down on its investment in the company. The deal made YNAP a neutral platform with no shareholder with a majority stake in it.

Richemont decided to sell its stake in YNAP after the company failed to reap any benefits despite making heavy investments in the platform over the years.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on January 17, 2023.