Woolworths Group says it will defend the class action launched by Gerard Malouf & Partners in relation to alleged misleading promotional pricing practices. It follows the ACCC commencing Federal Court proceedings against Woolworths and Coles Group in September on the same matter.
The ACCC accused Woolworths and Coles of breaching Australian Consumer Law after investigations revealed consumers had been misled through discount pricing claims on hundreds of products. The commission alleged the retailers took products that had a long-term unchanging price and increased their price by at least 15 per cent for a brief period of time. Then they put the products on a ‘Prices Dropped’ (Woolworths) or ‘Down Down’ (Coles) promotion, dropping the price to lower than the spike but higher, or the same, as the original long-term price.
