Finance
German cartel office investigating Temu over merchant price influencing
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 8, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 8, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Germany's cartel office is investigating Temu for possibly influencing merchant pricing, which could restrict competition and affect other sales channels.
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's cartel office has initiated proceedings into Temu to examine whether the Chinese discount e-commerce platform is influencing merchants' pricing, it said on Wednesday.
"We are investigating the suspicion that Temu could impose inadmissible requirements on merchants' pricing on the German marketplace," said office president Andreas Mundt.
"Such requirements could constitute significant restrictions of competition and ultimately lead to price increases on other sales channels," he added.
The proceedings have been opened against Dublin-based Whaleco Technology Limited, which operates as Temu in Germany.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Seythal)
Price manipulation refers to the act of artificially inflating or deflating the price of an asset or product, often to create a false impression of market demand or supply.
E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet, allowing businesses to reach customers globally without the need for physical storefronts.
A cartel is a group of independent companies that collaborate to fix prices, limit production, or engage in other anti-competitive practices to maximize profits.
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