AUSTRALIA | The Federal Court has found that Coles Supermarkets Australia made false or misleading representations about certain discounts.
The ACCC alleged that Coles temporarily increased the price of each product by at least 15 percent for a relatively short period of time, before placing it on a ‘Down Down’ promotion at a price that was still higher than, or the same as, the price it had previously sold for before the price increase.
The proceedings related to 245 common products sold by Coles. The ACCC alleged that the discounts were illusory and that the representations were false or misleading, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The Court found that Coles made misleading representations in 13 of the 14 ‘Down Down’ tickets that were considered in the liability hearing.
“We welcome the Court’s finding that Coles breached the Australian Consumer Law,” said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“The ACCC brought this case in the public interest because we considered that Coles’ pricing practices within its ‘Down Down’ program made it harder for customers to identify genuine value for money while shopping for household essentials.”
She said the ACCC received consumer complaints about the claims and decided to take action to test the discounting practices in Court.
The Court will determine penalties and other orders sought by the ACCC at a later date.
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