On Tuesday, Israel Competition Authority's Director General, Advisor Michal Cohen, announced that she doesn’t intend to renew food delivery giant Wolt’s exemption for its grocery delivery system.
The exemption, first granted in 2022 for a three-year period, allowed Wolt to operate Wolt Market, a distribution platform for other retailers, including grocery stores, bakeries, and other specialized stores, while maintaining its own grocery chain.
Now, since the Competition Commissioner considers the arrangement to be harmful to competitors, the delivery platform could lose its exemption.
According to Walla, the Competition Authority made its decision because of Wolt’s dominance in the market, creating fears that “combining platform operation with ownership of a food retail chain operating on it could create market distortions.”
As such, following discussions between the Authority and Wolt, the company was given conditions under which its exemption will be renewed.
According to the offer, if Wolt conforms within 30 days, the exemption will be renewed. If not, Walla reports that Wolt could be forced to sell Wolt Market in order to increase competition.
Wolt responded with confidence in a statement, quoted by various news sites.
“The launch of Wolt Market created in Israel, within just a few years, an entity that competes with retail giants, while dramatically improving the level of service and the consumer experience. We believe that by the end of the process we will be able to allay the Competition Authority’s concerns,” the company said.
Rival praises decision to hamper Wolt
Israeli media also quoted the CEO of Mashlucha, a Wolt rival, praising the decision.
“We are pleased that, after an in-depth review, the Commissioner reached an unequivocal conclusion that the existing arrangement harms competition and consumers, and must not be approved as is,” he reportedly said.
“We all hope that whatever restrictions are imposed will be sufficiently firm and meaningful - ones that can be verified and enforced against Wolt - so as to open the market to competition for the benefit of consumers, or alternatively that the Commissioner will not renew the permit previously granted to Wolt.”