Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (SG), the largest U.S. distributor of wine and spirits, has agreed to change its pricing practices toward mom-and-pop liquor stores to settle allegations that it selectively charged small retailers more for its products, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday.
According to a December 2024 FTC complaint, SG gave discounts and rebates to large chain stores, including Kroger, Total Wine, and Walmart, that sold its products and did not offer the same discounts to small stores that also carried its items. Ultimately, large stores paid less for SG’s products than small stores, a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act, a law aimed at ensuring fair competition between small and large businesses, and the FTC Act, the complaint alleged.
