A federal judge has ruled Coles misled customers through its Down Down promotions between February 2022 and May 2023, finding the supermarket briefly raised prices on products before lowering them and claiming they were discounted.
In one case, the higher price was held for just one day.
The discounts were calculated from the temporary price hike, not the original price, meaning consumers in many cases ended up paying more than before the promotion began.
In 2024, the ACCC accused Coles of misleading consumers across 245 products.
The judge noted the price rises were commercially justified as suppliers had increased their costs, but found the deception was in how those rises were then promoted as price drops.
The judge’s ruling took into consideration the fact Coles' own internal policy required products to be sold at a given price for 12 weeks before being advertised as discounted.
The court found Coles relaxed that policy to four weeks in March 2022 after coming under competitive pressure from Woolworths.
The penalties are yet to be determined.
The National Account's Archie Milligan has the rundown:
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