In the late 1970s there was a transition taking place in the rowing world, teams started to adopt carbon fibre boats as opposed to wooden . When this change came about a company thrived and to this day other rowing companies haven’t managed to catch up. Empacher have a monopoly on the rowing boat market, with over half of all international crews using their boats.

A monopoly can be interpreted as meaning a few different things, but usually it is defined as a firm which has a significant proportion of the market, usually about 25%. As about half of all rowing boats used are Empachers, they can be defined as having a monopoly in the rowing boat market. Their boats are distinctively yellow, which helps to promote the brand, as no other boats are specifically that colour.

Empacher has established a reputation for high build quality, which has influenced their popularity among leading rowing teams, for whom price is not the primary determining factor. Some refute the claim that Empacher are abusing their market power, despite the fact that their prices are rising, pointing out that a quality product deserves a higher price. It could also be argued that the fact that Empacher sell their outdated moulds to competitors, could promote competition in the market, as information is shared. It should however be noted that Empacher is unlikely to share moulds for cutting edge designs, meaning that the boost to competitiveness is likely to be limited, and could in fact reduce innovation from other firms.

There has been some concern among rowing enthusiasts that Empacher have come to take their prominent market position for granted, after having dominated the market for around twenty years. This can be seen with the multitude of newly formed companies who have been steadily gaining market share, with their main selling point of lower prices. One such company is Filippi who enjoyed success in the 2005 World Rowing Championships, where 3 out of 23 gold medals were awarded to crews racing in Filippi boats. This figure rose to 6 in 2006, in contrast to Empacher, whose boats won 16 gold medals in 2005, falling to 12 in 2006.

The future of Empacher will largely depend on how successfully they plan for the long term, by maintaining their investment in research and development, and continuing the strength of the brand. There is a risk that they could exploit their strong market position through techniques such as predatory pricing, although this could attract the attention of organisations such as the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission. Up to this point, however, there is little evidence to suggest that this has been a problem with Empacher.