Which? is looking to maintain the pressure on supermarkets in the wake of the Competition & Markets Authority’s investigation of its super-complaint into pricing and promotions.
It has written to the CEOs of all the major grocery retailers asking what they intend to do “to clean up their act” on “misleading pricing tactics”.
The CMA concluded while problems were not endemic it had found examples that had the potential to confuse or mislead, which could breach consumer law.
It highlighted potential to reduce complexity in unit pricing to make it a more useful comparison tool. And it recommended the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills publish best-practice guidelines on the legibility of unit prices and look at simplifying and clarifying legislation.
Which? campaigns officer Jane Wallace said retailers must tackle the problem: “After giving them time to digest the findings, we’ve written to the supermarket CEOs, encouraging them to tell us what they will be doing to clean up their act.”
She said Which? wanted them to support measures to strengthen the rules on what qualified as a special offer, make special offers “more meaningful” and “create a level playing field and drive genuine competition”.
Wallace added: “With more than 165,000 people now backing our campaign and the CMA considering enforcement action, it’s time for the supermarkets to tell customers what they will do to solve this problem.”
A Tesco spokesman confirmed: “We’ve received the letter and will respond in due course.” An Asda spokesman said: “We fully supported the CMA’s investigation and are working closely with them on the report.” Waitrose and Sainsbury’s also confirmed receipt.
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