Erli accuses Allegro of price manipulation in Poland e-commerce

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.)