Smeg has admitted to breaching competition law by fixing minimum resale prices.
It has agreed to pay a penalty of R100,000.
Smeg is the exclusive distributor of Smeg-branded products in South Africa. It supplies a variety of home appliances, including gas stoves, to wholesalers and retailers.
The Save Group - which sells a wide variety of goods, including appliances - referred a complaint to the Competition Commission claiming that Smeg had engaged in minimum resale price management.
Save alleged that Smeg refused to supply it with products when Save wanted to sell them at a lower price than Smeg recommended.
In 2014, Save sold a Smeg gas stove for R14,999 while retailer Hirsch sold the same item for R17,999.
A Hirsch customer complained to Hirsch about its pricing of the gas cooker given that Save sold the same model for R3,000 less.
Hirsch then asked Smeg to intervene.
Smeg terminated the supply of all of its products to Save as a sanction for its refusal to agree to increase the gas cooker's price.
The Competition Tribunal noted a consent agreement had been entered into between Smeg and the Competition Commission on July 28, in which Smeg agreed to supply its products to the Save Group.
The Tribunal expressed its concern that other instances of minimum resale price maintenance were not being reported because retailers were afraid of losing their supply.
The tribunal said the case illustrated the effect on consumers when suppliers prevented retailers from discounting their products.
"Save provided a discount of R3,000 on the appliance. Consumers clearly benefited," the Tribunal said.
It said the Save Group acted correctly in standing up to Smeg.
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