Did a Large Wine Distributor Overcharge Small Businesses?

One of the country’s largest distributors of wine and spirits stands accused by the Federal Trade Commission of favoring large chain businesses at the expense of their smaller, independently-owned counterparts. The distributor in question is Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, described in the FTC’s legal filing as “the largest coast-to-coast distributor of wine and spirits in the United States.” The FTC goes on to cite data to the effect that Southern Glazer’s sells roughly a third of the country’s wine and spirits.

According to the complaint, Southern Glazer’s charged higher prices to independently-owned businesses compared with what they’d charged the likes of Total Wine, Kroger’s, Walmart and Target. The FTC goes on to argue that this is an intentional strategy on the distributor’s part, though the specific evidence used to bolster this argument was redacted in the version of the complaint posted for public consumption.

The FTC contends that Southern Glazer’s activities constitute a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act, which was established in 1936 designed to keep pricing competitive between large chains and smaller businesses.

In the wake of the complaint being filed, Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits have responded. “The FTC’s lawsuit takes issue with the use of volume discounts that Southern Glazer’s — and nearly every distributor of consumer products in the country — uses to lower customers’ costs and enable consumers to pay lower prices for the everyday goods they need,” the company said in a statement.

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The FTC’s complaint calls upon the Central District Court to mandate that Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits “cease and desist from price-discriminating.” It’s a case to keep an eye on — especially with 2025 potentially being a time of change for antitrust law.