The price of print
A recent adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has implications for all online retailers who also advertise via paper media.
A direct mail brochure was held to be “misleading” because the featured items might not in fact be on sale for the prices shown in the brochure.
In this case, dabs.com plc put out a direct mail brochure advertising computers. One of the products advertised had a price quoted which was in fact the “VAT-exclusive” price. A customer checking the retailer’s website noticed the difference between the brochure price and the price quoted online, and complained to the ASA.
The retailer said that the brochure price for that item was an error, and that all the other advertised prices - and those on the website - were correct. The brochure displayed a notice urging customers to “…Check www.dabs.com for latest prices”.
The retailer explained that in a competitive industry operating “in a live environment”, prices were “subject to regular fluctuation and could change daily”.
The ASA appears to have accepted the brochure price was a simple error, but then looked at the wider issue of whether a printed brochure was a suitable medium for an online business such as this. The ASA found that:
consumers expect an advertised price to be correct at the time they see the advertisement;
the advertisement should reflect the price at which the item was sold while the ad was in circulation;
the notice about checking the retailer’s website for “latest prices” did not make sufficiently clear that the brochure prices were subject to regular change.
The ASA concluded that a brochure was “an unsuitable medium” for advertising the retailer’s products because “it was likely to remain in circulation after prices had changed”. The fact that the laptop was not available at the advertised price rendered the advertisement misleading.
(ASA Council adjudication on dabs.com plc , 24 February 2010. Complaint Ref: 114167)
Freeth Cartwright Comment:
The problem for the retailer here was not so much the error in listing in its brochure the “VAT-exclusive” rather than “VAT-inclusive” price for the item. What concerned the ASA most was that a paper brochure was by its nature incapable of carrying current, frequently-fluctuating prices offered by an online retailer through its website. Mailings cost, and are expected to have a more than fleeting lifespan - how that lifespan is measured, and fixing your prices accordingly, could be problematic. If you trade in a competitive, fluctuating price environment, the safest course seems to be to eliminate pricing from your paper mailings, or find some foolproof way to qualify your brochure prices (perhaps by “valid until” pricing) so as not to be “misleading”.
For more information or to discuss please contact:
Deryck Houghton, Tel: 0845 070 3810, email: deryck.houghton@freethcartwright.co.uk
ends - 2 March 2010