Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) completed its preliminary inquiry into allegations of abuse of dominant position against Doğan Müzik Kitap Mağazacılık ve Pazarlama AŞ and decided to pursue a formal inquiry. The company operates D&R chain of brick and mortar stores and a web storefront, retailing books, e-books, music and movies on physical media, electronics, games, toys, sports goods, stationary, gift items. The application leading to the preliminary inquiry claimed that the company imposed contract terms to create entry barriers and obstructing business activities of established competition. D&R is the leading brick and mortar retailer for books, music and movies with over 150 stores.
Doğan Müzik Kitap Mağazacılık ve Pazarlama AŞ is a subsidiary of Doğan Holding, which is the parent of numerous enterprises ranging from content creation to distribution and broadcasting, including newspapers, radio stations and television channels with significant market shares as well as subscription television and broadband internet access services. In addition to D&R, Doğan Holding also owns D-MARKET Elektronik Hizmetler Tic. A.Ş. which operates hepsiburada.com, the largest web retailer in Turkey. Hepsiburada.com offers a very diverse range of products and operates as a platform featuring other retailers akin to Amazon. Given the broad portfolio of enterprises on both sides of the market for content, and the company's brick and mortar presence, it is plausible that Doğan Müzik Kitap Mağazacılık ve Pazarlama AŞ would have had sufficient leverage over its suppliers to dictate anti-competitive terms in its contracts and this inquiry will attempt to determine whether the company has indeed abused its dominant position.
For the full text of TCA decision (only available in Turkish) please click here.
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