11. Restrictions on Distribution.
11.1 The Goods are supplied by the Seller on the strict condition that the Buyer shall refrain from making active sales of the Goods outside the United Kingdom, or any other geographic area specified in the Seller’s order confirmation or invoice delivered by the Seller (the specified area). For these purposes, active sales shall be understood to mean actively approaching or soliciting customers, including, but not limited to, the following actions: (a) visits, (b) direct mail, including the sending of unsolicited emails, and (c) advertising in media, advertising and/or listing Goods on the internet or other promotions, where such advertising or promotion is specifically targeted at customers outside the United Kingdom or the specified area
11.2 The Buyer shall indemnify the Seller and any member of the group of companies of which the Seller is a member against any losses, claims, cost, action or proceedings which may be suffered by or be brought against the Seller or any of the group of companies of which the Seller is a member by any third party as a result of any breach of clause 11.1.
11.3 The buyer’s obligation under clause 11.1 shall extend to the sale of or distribution by it to associated or subsidiary companies or to any individual or firm which is associated with the Buyer or to any business which the buyer knows, or ought reasonably to have known, intends to, or does, sell or distribute the Goods outside the specified area.
11.4 The Seller shall be entitled to enforce the Buyer’s obligation under clause 11.1 whether or not any action has been commenced against it by a third party or if the Seller reasonably apprehends that a breach of the obligations is about to occur and notifies the Buyer accordingly.
11A. Qualitative Selection Criteria – Physical Point of Sale Buyers.
11A.1 Points of Sale / Premises
11A1.1 The point of sale provides a suitable retail environment consistent with the quality of the Goods and with a customer’s reasonable expectations with regards to the Seller’s brand image. A point of sale where the following criteria are met, is suitable:
11A.1.1.1 The age, exterior aspect, and maintenance of the store’s building must not hinder the customer’s shopping experience (clean and safe);
11A.1.1.2 The name of the store must be consistent with a quality retail experience; and
11A.1.1.3 The point of sale provides a suitable retail environment consistent with the quality of the Goods and with a customer’s reasonable expectations with regards to the Seller’s brand image.
11A.1.2. As such, the Goods are supplied by the Seller on the strict condition that 95% or more of the Buyer’s sales are to customers visiting the premises the Goods are delivered to unless specific written agreement to alternative sales location(s) and/or medium(s) are provided by the Seller.
11A.1.3 The following criteria will be considered when assessing the quality of the point of sale location:
11A.1.3.1 Geographic location and footfall; and
11A.1.3.2 Quality of other stores in the direct vicinity of the point of sale.
11A.1.4 The premises must be open to the general public and specialise in the retail sale of related products or have a specialist department for the sale of related products.
11A.1.5 Business hours are consistent with the prevailing standards for retail stores.
11A.1.6 Where the premises are not solely dedicated to the sale of the Goods, all space dedicated to promoting the Goods shall be in the house style of the Seller, and shall be kept clean and visually attractive.
11A.1.7 In the event that the Buyer’s premises also contain products of another type, the Buyer shall establish clear physical or virtual separation between the sales zones for the Goods and sales zones for other products within its premises, according to the type of products.
11A.1.8 The Buyer shall mount continual and changing displays of the Goods in prominent and appropriate positions on the premises.
11A.1.9 The Buyer has adequate storage facilities at the premises. All or a separate part of the storage facilities shall be dedicated to the storage of the Goods so as to maintain them in perfect condition and suitable for resale.
11A.1.10 The Buyer must also offer products of different brands of the same level of quality so as to enable customers the opportunity to compare the Goods and to illustrate the brand image of the Goods
11A.2 Product Promotion
11A.2.1 All advertising shall present the Goods as quality products and shall use suitable depictions and language for this purpose. Any advertising that in the Seller’s reasonable opinion is inappropriate shall be immediately discontinued or (if required) recalled by the Buyer.
11A.2.2 All sales brochures, catalogues and point of sale materials shall be either (i) materials supplied by the Seller or (ii) materials previously approved in writing by the Seller.
11A.2.3 The Buyer shall use any point of sale materials provided by the Seller in such manner as the Seller may reasonably specify.
11A.3 Product Sales, Service and Support
11A.3.1 The Buyer will employ a sufficient number of technically trained sales staff within the premises who shall be:
11A.3.1.1 appropriate in appearance and attitude for the prestige of the brand; and
11A.3.1.2 available throughout the premises’ opening hours.
The sufficiency is assessed with regards to the size and traffic in the point of sale.
11A.3.2 The Buyer can sustain enough available stock of displayed Goods, i.e. can secure on-shelf availability to satisfy customers’ needs.
11A.4 Stock Levels
11A.4.1 All displayed Goods must be in stock and the Buyer must be able to deliver these to their customers within 72 hours.
11A.4.2 The Buyer shall be able to set up and maintain a sufficient stock of the full range of Goods and their accessories, assessed on the basis of its past and foreseeable sales.
11B. Qualitative Selection Criteria – Online Retailers
This section is primarily applicable to all brick-and-mortar accounts which also wish to sell via the internet. The Seller holds a genuine belief that, not least because of the in-depth product knowledge gained in such retail environments, such accounts are far better placed to deliver the customer experience end customers expect of the Seller’s brand, than that possessed by online-only retailers. In exceptional cases, the Seller may give written approval for online-only retailers to stock the brand. All online retailers are supplied on the premise that their primary market will be the territory to which Goods are supplied. In any event, it is a strict condition of sale that all online retailers must meet the following criteria:
11B.1 Website-Related Criteria
11B.1.1 The Buyer’s website must be hosted by a reputed ISP, on a reliable and high-quality server, with sufficient bandwidth to deal with the average demand of customers without any substantial deterioration in rapidity or reliability. The website shall be accessible with at least 99.9% availability and very low latency.
11B.1.2 The Buyer’s website shall also respect the following criteria:
11B.1.2.1 The website is operated on a retail basis and is freely and easily accessible (including through search engines) to the public;
11B.1.2.2 The website’s domain name is compatible with the Supplier’s image and is connected to the commercial name of the point of sale (if any);
11B.1.2.3 The website’s graphics are brand-enhancing;
11B.1.2.4 The name and contact details of the Buyer's offline stores, if any, will be clearly referenced on the website, including provision, where possible, for a store locator; and
11B.1.2.5 The website must be easy-to-navigate and all Goods must be easy to find.
11B.2 Shopping Experience-Related Criteria
11B.2.1 The website provides an online retail environment consistent with the quality of the Goods and with a customer’s reasonable expectations regarding the Seller’s brand image.
11B.2.2 The Buyer must offer on its website the same levels of service as in its physical stores (if any).
11B.2.3 Presentation of competing brands must be in keeping with the prestige of the Seller’s brand so as to enhance and complement the product range.
11B.2.4 The website provides secure and efficient browsing to the customers; in particular:
11B.2.4.1 There are measures to ensure the security of payments, customer privacy and downtime minimization;
11B.2.4.2 The loading time is reasonable and the website is scalable (if possible).
11B.2.4.3 Reasonable information is made available to the customers, in particular:
11B.2.4.3.1 Goods are presented according to a relevant categorization;
11B.2.4.3.2 Key technical information relating to the Goods is displayed.
11B.2.4.3.3 The availability of stock is displayed in real time;
11B.2.4.3.4 Independent reviews are made available;
11B.2.4.3.5 Customer receives an order confirmation;
11B.2.4.3.6 The website contains clearly identified brand sections;
11B.2.4.3.7 The website’s search and product comparison tools provide relevant results. For example, results are considered irrelevant if the search of a product category gives results of other categories (eg: the search word “gift cards” giving results of floor cleaners);
11B.2.4.3.8 Intrusive advertising is limited;
11B.2.4.3.9 The website can provide in-depth online demonstrations of the Goods;
11B.2.4.3.10 360° videos, 3D hot spots, up-to-date technical descriptions, etc. are available; and
11B.2.4.3.11 Where possible, online advice from a specialist is available, free of charge, during extended business hours.
11B.2.5 The Buyer shall clearly specify additional charges associated with the sale and delivery of the Goods including postal charges and credit or debit card charges. These details must be made available before the point of ordering.
11B.3 Stock, Delivery, and After-Sales Related Criteria
11B.3.1 The Buyer shall not feature any of the Goods on its website where it is unable to deliver such items within 7 days of the order and shall hold sufficient stocks of the Goods for these purposes. The Buyer shall make it clear if an item featured on a website page is not in stock.
11B.3.2 The website provides an adequate delivery service to online customers in line with the best industry standards (including tracking and expedited delivery), and can limit delivery both in terms of (1) the number of Goods supplied to an individual customer and (2) to the territory to which this agreement applies.
11B.3.3 The Buyer’s website can provide adequate after-sales services in line with the best industry standards. In particular:
11B.3.3.1 The customers shall be sufficiently informed about the after-sales service offered. The website must clearly display the existence of after-sales service, including its conditions and procedures.
11B.3.3.2 The after-sales service shall be able to run initial diagnosis and handle returns to the customers promptly.
11B.3.3.3 The Buyer shall provide a customer helpline telephone number that is available during business hours. The helpline will be manned by a trained member of staff who is able to answer technical queries in relation to the Goods and deal with sales related issues such as returns.
11B.3.4 The website shall provide customers with the opportunity to share their experience concerning the Goods with other potential customers through tools such as customer review and product rating, video reviews; blogs and discussion boards.
11B.3.5 The Buyer must either have an internal certification process to guarantee that shown reviews are real ones from real customers who have really bought the Goods and by detailing and proving their user experiences or they must at least indicate which reviews have been verified to stem from customers who actually bought the product and which not.
11B.3.6 On the website, all customers shall be given the opportunity to indicate whether they found a given review helpful and the website will indicate how many customers found a given review helpful. Customers shall also have the possibility to comment on a given review.
11B.3.7 It is a strict condition of continued supply that the Buyer maintains a >90% positive customer feedback rating on both the specific Goods and for their overall sales experience.
11B.4 Further Website Requirements
11B.4.1 The Buyer shall use original material provided by the Seller for advertising the Goods, or the Buyer’s own material that has previously been approved in writing by the Seller. In either case, such material should be along the following lines:
11B.4.1.1 All product shots featuring the Goods must be of a quality and resolution suitable for the prestige of the Seller’s brand and must include, as a minimum requirement, a full colour hero shot and the ability to zoom in on features of the Goods; and
11B.4.1.2 The product information for each product must be included on that product's page;
11B.4.2 Imagery for each particular product should only be seen by the user if the Buyer has - in accordance with 11B3.1 above – that product in stock and available for sale.
11B.4.3 The Buyer must:
11B4.3.1 operate and maintain an advanced technology to ensure secure ordering and payment procedures and secure (i.e. encrypted payment process of SSL.);
11B4.3.2 include a fully integrated payment system;
11B4.3.3 allow payment by (i) credit cards; (ii) debit card; and
11B4.3.4 ensure that invoices are delivered with any shipment of the Goods
11B.4.4 Buyers must ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the use of the internet, including without limitation all e-commerce, consumer protection, including distance selling, data protection and unfair competition legislation.
11B.5 Third Party Websites
11B.5.1 In order to preserve the premium image of the Seller and its Goods, the Buyer’s internet-shop shall be an independent website run by the Buyer (or on its behalf) and the sale of Goods on the internet through third party platforms or websites (e.g. eBay) or market places (e.g. Amazon marketplace) cannot and does not fulfil all of the criteria outlined above, and is, therefore, prohibited.
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