The dispute with Eckes-Granini continues to escalate: Edeka takes the next step and involves customers
Created: 01/09/2022, 11:55 AM
By: Markus Hofstetter
Eckes-Granini believes that Edeka copied its special bottle shape © xim.gs/imago
Edeka and Eckes-Granini have a bitter dispute that the courts have to resolve.
The food giant now wants to attract customers to its side.
Hamburg - It is nothing new that grocers and suppliers are fighting over prices.
The latter want more money for their goods, for example to compensate for higher raw material or energy prices.
The former do not want to accept this, officially in the interests of their customers.
But in the background it's about the tough competition between the big retailers like Edeka, Rewe, Lidl or Aldi, everyone wants to be the cheapest.
The consequences of the dispute can be that the retailer takes the controversial products off the shelves or the manufacturer stops deliveries.
As a rule, however, an agreement is reached after negotiations, the goods are re-listed or deliveries resumed.
Dispute between Edeka and Eckes-Granini escalates: Albi bottle in a new design
But now Edeka and a supplier are taking their dispute to extremes.
Since last autumn there has been a bitter battle between Germany's largest grocer and the juice manufacturer Eckes-Granini.
What began as a dispute over a price increase quickly escalated.
When the parties could not come to an agreement, Eckes-Granini stopped delivering its products.
Then Edeka quickly replaced the juices with drinks from its own brand Albi.
What is explosive, however, is that Edeka put its juice on the shelves in a new bottle design.
Dispute between Edeka and Eckes-Granini escalates: Court bans the sale of Albi juices in bottles
However, Ecke-Granini recognized a strong visual similarity between the new Albi bottles and their own and therefore took it to court.
Before Christmas, the juice producer obtained an injunction from the Hamburg district court, and Edeka was temporarily banned from selling Albi bottles.
Of course, Edeka appealed.
According to the
Lebensmittel Zeitung
, the contending parties will meet again in court on January 13, 2022.
But Edeka does not seem to be completely sure of its cause, because the food giant is now creating mood for its cause among consumers.
Dispute between Edeka and Eckes-Granini escalates: Dealer wants to attract customers to his side
In a current newsletter, Edeka asked its customers to take part in a survey about the shape of the bottle.
Under the heading “Your opinion is important to us”, you should use ten questions to determine the origin of juice bottles based on their shape and assess whether there is any likelihood of confusion between the Granini bottle and the Albi bottle.
According to
Lebensmittel Zeitung
, trial observers estimate that Edeka is not targeting the upcoming court date on January 13 with its survey.
Accordingly, the food giant wants to arm itself for the subsequent instance in a few days at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court.
Because Edeka will certainly not let it rest, should it lose before the district court.
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