CHOICE response to the ACCC's announcement on Coles and Woolworths allegedly breaching Australian Consumer Law by misleading consumers through discount pricing claims.
Quotes attributable to Rosie Thomas, Director of Campaigns at CHOICE:
"CHOICE is pleased to hear the ACCC will be taking Coles and Woolworths to court over their allegedly misleading discount pricing claims. We know from our extensive work in this area that promotional labels at the major supermarkets often confuse shoppers, and the frequent changes in prices make it difficult to tell whether there is a genuine discount or not."
"Earlier this year, our nationally representative research revealed that on average 1 in 4 people found it difficult to identify if certain supermarket labels represented a true discount or not. 'Down Down' labels at Coles and 'Prices Dropped' labels at Woolworths were among those that caused confusion for consumers."
"This kind of bad behaviour from the supermarkets is exactly why we gave Coles and Woolworths a Shonky in 2023, and it urgently needs to be addressed - particularly during a cost of living crisis when people are doing it tough."
"We're calling for greater transparency of historical supermarket pricing data, as easier access to data on supermarket price changes over time would have made it much harder for the supermarkets to get away with this kind of behaviour for so long."
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