Court rules Coles misled shoppers with its ‘Down Down’ discount campaign

Coles misled Australian shoppers with fake discounts on everyday grocery products, the federal court has ruled in a landmark decision for the supermarket industry. Justice Michael O’Bryan handed down his judgment on Thursday, delivering a significant blow to Australia’s second-largest supermarket chain, which had argued the discounts represented genuine savings during a period of high inflation. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) sued Coles and rival Woolworths, accusing the supermarket giants of duping shoppers by using promotional programs to disguise price increases on hundreds of products. In the Coles case, the supermarket sold 245 products at one price for a median period of a year, before being increased to a second price, for a median of just 28 days, before reducing them to a third price which was more expensive or equal to the first price. The strategy is known as “was/is” comparative pricing: Coles advertised products to shoppers with “Down Down” promotional tickets that displayed their new, supposedly discounted “is” price next to the higher “was” price. But the supermarket did not disclose on the tickets that the “was” prices had been in place for only a short period and that the items were sold at a cheaper price before that. …