Research On Anti-monopoly Law System Of Loyalty Discount Behavior

In the process of market competition,customer loyalty is an important element competed by market entities.Once the customer loyalty is captured,it will save the transaction cost of market entities and generate economic efficiency.To a certain extent,it has a positive effect on the overall efficiency of society and consumer welfare.In order to obtain the customer loyalty,market entities use loyalty discounts as a strategy to capture the customer loyalty and compete for market shares.However,a discount threshold is often set for the implementation of loyalty discounts.Only when buyers reach a certain threshold,can they enjoy the discounts.After the threshold is met,buyers' payment function presents a discontinuous steep drop.By means of corresponding economic means,buyers can be targeted to generate “loyalty” to the implementer due to economic temptation.Based on this,it is easy to eliminate and limit the consequences of effective competition of market entities,so as to block the relevant market competition.Therefore,the regulation on loyalty discounts is complex and has become one of the most controversial anti-monopoly topics in recent years.In Europe and the United States,the anti-monopoly regulations on loyalty discounts have been conducted for the first time.There are relatively rich experience in practice and theoretical research.In contrast,China's anti-monopoly regulations on loyalty discounts present the following status quo: firstly,from the perspective of legislation,there is no legislation to clarify loyalty discounts at present in China.Before the promulgation of the “Anti-Monopoly Law”,the relevant provisions on price discounts are reflected in the “Price Law” and the “Anti-Unfair Competition Law”.However,after the promulgation of the“Anti-Monopoly Law”,regulations on the behavior of abusing market dominance has been enumerated in the article 17 and presented in the item 7 of the first paragraph.However,due to the complexity of the loyalty discount,it is difficult to properly cover the existing principled norms,and there is no clear definition of its nature and characteristics.Therefore,how to properly regulate it requires the corresponding supporting regulations.Secondly,from the perspective of practice,for the first time in China,loyalty discount is directly indicated in the case that a company was punished by the industrial and commercial bureau for implementing loyalty agency with its subordinate agents.However,in the real sense,the anti-monopoly regulation on loyalty discounts is marked by the “Tetra Pak case”in 2016,which officially opens the prelude to the challenge of loyalty discounts in China.But from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce identifying theloyalty discount of Tetra Pak Group,it was found that the problems presented in the above legislation are also mapped in practice.The blanks left in the legislation caused the identification of anti-monopoly law enforcement ambiguous,which cannot provide effective guidance for the accurate regulation on loyalty discounts.To explore the applicable path of anti-monopoly regulation on loyalty discounts in China,the following four aspects should be taken into consideration.Firstly,the basic theory of loyalty discounts should be sort out.Define the concept,analyze the manifestation and clarify the behavior characteristics,so as to explore the particularity of loyalty discounts.And compare it with other similar concepts of abusing market dominance.Its nature is defined through the above-mentioned premeditation,which will lay the foundation for later research.Secondly,examine the development and current situation of the anti-monopoly regulations on loyalty discounts in China,and reflect on the shortcomings of the effective regulation of the anti-monopoly law on loyalty discounts at this stage.Thirdly,based on the limited practical experience of China at present and its deficiency found in current legislation and law-enforcement practice,it should draw on the relatively complete regulatory methods formed by Europe and the United States.Finally,according to the actual situation of China,we draw on the relevant legislation and practical experience of Europe and the United States.In the legislation,we use the “Anti-Monopoly Law” as an overall planning,supported by the corresponding norms and guidelines,to form an anti-monopoly regulation system for loyalty discounts.Determine methods of measuring and evaluating loyalty discounts in practice and weigh the justifications of the company involved.Through the perfect path of both legislation and law enforcement,we hope to improve the anti-monopoly regulation system for loyalty discounts in China.