The U.K. ice cream market is "notoriously competitive" ("Nestlé Sells"). In 1999, the U.K.'s Competition Commission warned that "a monopoly may exist in favour of Bird's Eye Walls, the frozen food arm of Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever" and the manufacturer of the Magnum, Cornetto, and Solero brands ("UK ice cream monopoly"). Birds Eye Walls supplied 37% of the U.K.'s impulse ice cream market and was far ahead of Nestlé's Lyons Maid brand, which had only 5% of the market, as well as the U.S. Mars brand at 4.5% ("UK ice cream monopoly"). An investigation into the possible monopoly was triggered by the practice of "freezer exclusivity," where ice cream manufacturers were providing retailers with a freezer that they were not allowed to sell rival ice cream from ("UK ice cream monopoly"). The Competitive Commission finally decided to ban such exclusivity deals as they "prevented consumers from having real choice" ("Commission Decision" 1). The Commission recommended a new set of rules that allowed retailers having Wall's freezer cases to fill up to half of the cases with competitors' ice cream products ("Commission Decision" 1). Before the decision was handed down, Wall's suggested that it might stop lending the freezer cases to small retailers, which "would have created turmoil in the frozen dessert market as many of these retailers could not afford to buy a freezer on their own" ("Commission Decision" 1). However, following the Commission's report, Wall's pledged to continue supplying these retailers with freezer cases as long as they order a minimum quantity of Wall's products at the start of each season ("Commission Decision" 1).
"Commission decision boosts frozen dessert competition in UK." AllBusiness. March 20, 2000. "Nestlé Sells its UK Ice Cream Business." FoodNaviga ...