"The study identified the existence of direct Territorial supply constraints (TSCs), as well as related practices such as differentiation of products. TSCs are understood as barriers imposed by suppliers in the supply chain that can affect retailers or wholesalers. These may impede or limit the ability of these traders to source goods in other EU countries than the one in which they are based. It can also prevent them from reselling goods to other EU countries than the one in which they are based.

With a degree of uncertainty, the analysis also suggested that if retailers in all the countries with higher purchase prices than the country with the lowest purchase prices could source their supplies from that country, EU consumers could save an estimated €14.1 billion (or 3.5%) on their purchases of a basket of food categories. However, it also remains uncertain to what extent wholesalers and retailers would pass on the benefit of a lower purchase price to consumers. Finally, the predicted rather limited development of cross-border FMCG e-commerce seems not to be able to erode the impact of TSCs."