👉 Background: Hermes is the French luxury fashion brand that was established way back in 1837. It is best known for its handbags, especially the Kelly bag and the Birkin bag, which can cost more than $150,000.

👉 What happened: Hermes has been hit with a class action lawsuit by shoppers who claim that the brand is violating antitrust laws when it comes to the Birkin bag. Here's the 411:

• Birkin bags apparently aren't available for purchase on the Hermes website or displayed in their stores. Instead, they're only shown in a private room.
• Hermes sales staff only offer the handbag to customers that have an established "purchase history" on other Hermes products.

👉 What else: Tying products can be used as a way to abuse market power, which is bad news for Hermes if it's found to be guilty.

What's the key learning?

💡Tying is when a seller will sell a product, only if the buyer will also buy another, seperate product with it.

💡Most of the time, tying products is illegal and can negatively impact competition. Hermes has been accused of forcing customers to buy products that they may not want... just to get their hands on a Birkin.

💡If found guilty, it would mean Hermes is exploiting its market power with Birkin bags to acquire market share in markets where it's not dominant, and violating antitrust laws in the process.

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