Australasian handbag and luggage retailer Strandbags has been hit with seven representative charges over claims discounting and sales practices were misleading the public.
The charges, filed by the Commerce Commission under section 10 of the Fair Trading Act, alleges that between July 2018 and January 2020, Strandbags’ representations about significantly discounted or special prices were liable to mislead the public.
Strandbags has 28 retail stores in New Zealand and also conducts website sales.
The Commerce Commission alleges the retailer routinely advertised products on ‘sale’ or promotion using comparative pricing, the Commission said today in a press release.
Examples include was/now pricing, such as “was $289 NOW $144.50”; strikethrough pricing, where a higher price was struck out and replaced with a lower one, such as “$349.00 - $174.00”; per centage discount claims, such as “40% OFF”; and savings amount claims, such as “Save $50”.
The Commission alleges that the practices created the impression that prices being offered were significantly discounted or special prices when products were being sold at their usual price or closer to their usual price than consumers would believe to be the case.
The Commission alleges that the advertised discounts were liable to mislead in a variety of ways, with some of the products not having been previously sold at the higher price from which a discount was said to be made. Other products were on sale for so long that the prices could no longer be said to be special.
The Commission also alleges that the prices of certain products were artificially inflated prior to promotion in order to make a more significant discounted pricing claim.
The matter is now before the courts.
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