§3.2.1.5 Barriers and costs associated with switching demand to potential substitutes

57. There are various potential barriers to substitution and switching costs. Those barriers and costs may have a wide range of origins, such as contractual obligations, costs of searching for alternative products, uncertainty about the quality and reputation of alternative products, the costs of learning to use other products or of adapting own production processes, brand recognition, regulatory barriers or other forms of state intervention, the existence of network effects (83), the costs of data portability, the degree of interoperability (84) with other products, or other dependencies in relation to data, product integration or complementarities of usage. 58. Barriers to switching may also arise where it is not possible for customers to switch between different sales channels. For example, the competitive constraints in the supply of car components for the original equipment market may differ from those in the supply of such components for spare parts, with customers for spare parts not being able to obtain the components at the conditions offered to original equipment manufacturers. This may lead to the definition of two distinct relevant product markets.

← 3.2.1.4 · All articles · 3.2.1.6 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07