GDANSK, Poland, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Polish e-commerce platform Erli has sued larger rival Allegro, accusing it of abusing its dominant position by effectively forcing sellers to raise their prices outside its platform, Erli said on Monday in a statement. Allegro, Poland's largest e-commerce company, denied the claims in a statement sent to Reuters, saying the lawsuit concerned its voluntary benefit programs which, for example, subsidise price cuts for sellers on its platform. "We strongly disagree with Erli's position. We do not impose any specific pricing policy on our partners. Each of our partners is free to set prices in any sales channel," Allegro spokesperson Marcin Gruszka told Reuters. The dispute centres around Allegro's promotional programs, which Erli said were used to punish sellers for offering lower prices on other websites by withdrawing benefits such as co-financed discounts or external advertising. (Reporting by Alicja Surdy, additional reporting by Marta Maciag, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak.)
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