RETAIL ANTITRUST EXPERT WITNESS CONSULTANTS: TRIAL TESTIMONY AND REPORTS

Considering what retail antitrust expert witness firms have on their plate lately, it’s clear that legal matters aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Think about it: Providers touch on matters encompassing everything from big-box stores and supermarket chains to apparel outlets and department stores as a retail antitrust expert witness. And as giants pursue mergers, integrate vertically, and adapt strategies to the rise of ecommerce, they have frequently become embroiled in litigation and conduct investigations. When these battles reach the courtroom, it’s time to opine about…

1. Getting a sense of what’s happening in the space – Looking at factors like consumer travel patterns, product characteristics, industry recognition, and the extent of demand substitution between different retail channels and formats.
2. Merger analysis and buyer power = For proposed mergers and acquisitions among chains, it’s not uncommon for retail antitrust expert witness pros to rigorously model potential unilateral and coordinated pricing effects, assessing whether increased buyer power could be passed through to consumers or used to hinder suppliers.
3. Exclusive distribution and foreclosure – There are often claims that powerful retailers unfairly foreclose distribution opportunities for suppliers through exclusionary practices like exclusive leasing arrangements in prime retail locations or restrictive category management policies.
4. Private label issues and vertical conflicts – As more major retailers invest heavily in their own private label brands, top retail antitrust expert witness investigators examine whether these vertical arrangements create incentives to disadvantage third-party branded suppliers through tactics like shelving bias or unfair promotional advantages.
5. Pricing algorithms and hub-and-spoke theories – The proliferation of data-driven pricing algorithms has raised concerns they may facilitate tacit collusion or function as a “hub” allowing indirect exchange of competitive information in oligopolistic retail industries.
6. Slotting fees and category captaincy – Analyzing as a retail antitrust expert witness the potential anticompetitive impacts of practices like “slotting fees” charged by retailers for premium shelf space or when powerful suppliers are appointed “category captains” controlling rivals’ product assortments.
7. Labor market monopsony allegations – Some plaintiffs allege major employers wield monopsony buying power over workers in local labor markets through coordinated wage suppression tactics like non-poaching agreements or information sharing that violates antitrust laws.

Between analyzing effects on consumer prices and/or the upstream foreclosure of suppliers, understanding intricate retail pricing dynamics, buyer-seller power balances, and multi-channel competitive realities, you can easily see why retail antitrust expert witness consultants are being kept on speed dial.