Of course you can, just make it LOOK like you are competing normally and we can all gouge the public. Of course we all know that fixing prices is illegal, against the Canada Competition Act.
The Competition Act is a federal law governing most business conduct in Canada. It contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace.
Let me tell you how the act it is gotten around - funny how I noticed this and the thousands of women who shop for these products are quite content to pay the full retail price without even a whimper. (perhaps tears would solidify like caulk)
So let's say we have a few competing department stores that sell, say a cosmetic product to women. Maybe a lotion, something like what they are calling 'Night Recovery Skin Rebirth.' I just made that up. And let's say the names of these stores are The Bar, Dolt Ranfroo and Cleatons.
For whatever reasons, the cosmetic perfume companies lease space within these department stores. You know them, all classy and white marble, always on the ground floor with svelte dressed women wearing black and more makeup than an Aunt Jemima bag. I believe that Chanel, Dior, Elizabeth Arden etc etc at all do this everywhere.
I knew a young woman who worked at one of these counters once, she had just gotten the job as manager of a cosmetics perfume department. Let's call OUR cosmetics company,
Jemima
Youth Products International. JYPI for short. (fictitious of course) And I, coming from the hard and fast retail competition of a store like London Drugs, advised her on how to compete against the competition. Like when your neighboring competitor advertises a product, you meet or better that price, so as to not lose customers who can simply cross the street for the bargain.What she explained to me shriveled my ears. She told me she would get fired if she did that. She said that, although Store A was having their promotion for JYPI this week, in two weeks she would have hers.
So here's the trick: The 'competitor' Store A, (hereafter in quotations for obvious reasons) has the 10 oz bottle of JIPY Liquid Refresher Night Balm on sale at $50. and you get a free velvet bag with it.
Now comes my friend's 'promotion' two weeks later, in her Store B. For $52 dollars, you get the JYPI 9 oz Cream Night Refresher Balm and now get a free leather pouch bag!
Next week the promo for 'competitor' Store C is advertising JYPI 11 oz Evening Balm Fresh Rub with gifty glitter box for $51 dollars.
You get the point? None of these products is exactly like the 'competition's' product, each package is manufactured for one store chain only, so Store A NEVER gets the exact same product as Store B and so on, therefore it can be sold without any consideration of competitiveness. Or suspicions about the JYPI Corporation breaking the Competition Act! And because our JYPI Corporation really controls ALL of the marble counters offering their product, they also control the management, staff and price of that JYPI product, even though many unrelated stores actually sell it.
Hence, NO one will actually compete the product on price. The Jemima Youth Products International company makes their product markup exactly as planned. Profits attained. Nothing at all to do with the actual creme of the product only costing $1 and the packaging maybe $2. Handshakes and grins from sly CEOs all around. And the poor women shopping for something to mortar the depths of their age wrinkles pay full price for everything, all the time, everywhere. And basically ALL these cosmetic companies do exactly the same thing.
This IS anti-competitive conduct. This is sneaky marketing at its best. This is price fixing.
