Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has opened an in-depth investigation into the contracts between online platforms and the retailers that use them. The watchdog made the decision after reviewing an interim study of Bulgaria's e-commerce market for consumer goods and services.

In some of the contracts it checked, the CPC found so-called "price parity clauses". These require retailers to give the platform the lowest prices and terms they offer through any other sales channel. The watchdog also found clauses that force retailers to turn down orders placed outside the platform and send them back to it instead.

The CPC says such restrictions do not automatically break competition rules. Whether they do depends on the market in question, the platform's position, whether other sales channels exist, and the economic benefits for both sides. The commission says price parity clauses can limit competition, make things harder for smaller retailers and deny shoppers better deals elsewhere. The ban on taking orders outside the platform, it adds, limits retailers' freedom to use other sales channels and also affects competition among online platforms themselves.

The review covers the goods and services people buy online most often: clothes, shoes and accessories, furniture and homeware, sports goods, cosmetics and health products. It also looked at tickets for cultural and other events, as well as accommodation bookings. The CPC checked how the market works and what stops new players from entering it. It also looked at riskier practices, such as the use of customer data and algorithms to set prices and run ads, and platforms giving their own products an edge. Sales restrictions and unfair trading terms were checked too.

The commission says e-commerce generally helps competition, since it makes it easier for new players to enter the market, gives businesses wider access to customers and makes prices easier to compare. But as online sales grow, so does the role platforms play as middlemen, the CPC says. Network effects, the size of a platform's user base, and its financial and tech resources can boost the market power of individual players, it adds.

The in-depth investigation will also track how e-commerce affects the sectors involved, covering different groups of goods and services and how they are delivered. The CPC will decide whether specific contract practices restrict competition and whether they comply with Bulgarian and EU rules.

The commission has told the Consumer Protection Commission and the National Revenue Agency (NRA) to step up checks and make e-commerce more transparent, and to work together more closely by sharing information and helping each other with inspections and investigations. Both bodies must tell the CPC what steps they plan to take and by when. Shoppers, the commission says, should be able to easily find information about a retailer, how to contact them, the terms of sale, and how to settle disputes.

The Bulgarian E-commerce Association (BEA) has announced the eighth edition of its report, "Passport 2025 of Bulgaria's e-commerce industry". It says total online sales of goods and services in Bulgaria are expected to top 2.69 billion euros in 2025 — a rise of about 15% on 2024.