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Get The Price Right - 'Slash reductions' claimed must be real savings |
Companies need to ensure that when they offer price savings, they are savings on the usual selling price of the article, unless clearly stated otherwise. |
A national bedding and furniture retailer is going to correct its use of comparative pricing after losing a recent court case. The retailer regularly discounted goods in its store, and in one of its sale catalogues consumers were told they could save "up to $1,000" by comparing the "normal ticketed price" with the discounted price. |
However, since the products were usually sold at less than the ticketed price, the advertising could have misled customers about the amount of the saving they would actually make. |
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that a very fine print disclaimer in the catalogue was not prominent enough to qualify this impression. It viewed misleading two-price comparative advertising very seriously. |
The company has agreed to only advertise price reductions based on the usual selling prices for products in its stores, unless there is a clear and prominent explanation stating otherwise. |
