UFC-Que Choisir files a complaint against eight e-commerce sites for "misleading commercial practices"

Despite European rules supposed to regulate the practice, too many brands still play with crossed out prices in order to dangle attractive promotions to their customers, at the risk of misleading them

UFC-Que Choisir files a complaint against eight e-commerce sites for "misleading commercial practices"

Despite European rules supposed to regulate the practice, too many brands still play with crossed out prices in order to dangle attractive promotions to their customers, at the risk of misleading them. One year after the entry into force of the so-called Omnibus European directive, setting a framework for promotional advertisements, the consumer defense association UFC-Que choisir announced on Wednesday May 31, in a press release, that it was going to file a complaint. against eight e-commerce sites for "deceptive marketing practices".

The Federal Consumers' Union (UFC) accuses Amazon, ASOS, Cdiscount, E.Leclerc, La Redoute, Rue du Commerce, Veepee and Zalando of "duping" buyers with labels displaying crossed out prices, leading them to believe that it is a discount when it is often only a comparison price with a competing brand.

"Only 3.4% real promotions"

However, the rule is clear: the European Omnibus Directive, which entered into force on May 28, 2022 by ordinance, specifies that a professional must clearly mention the price charged before the discount. And that this must be the "lowest price charged by the professional to all consumers during the last thirty days preceding the application of the price reduction", according to article L112-1- 1. The only exception, this rule "does not apply to operations by which a professional compares the prices he displays with those of other professionals". In the event of fraud, a trader faces a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros for deceptive commercial practice.

But the UFC-Que Choisir judges that online sales brands have put in place "new strategies to circumvent the regulations". Based on a study of 6,586 ads posted online by the brands against which it is complaining, the association estimates that "only 3.4% [of promotions] correspond to real promotions operated by sellers". “They freely choose a reference price with which to compare their product, so as to present their offer as a bargain not to be missed”, notes the UFC. The brands mention, depending on the case, that it is an "old price", a "recommended retail price", an "average price on the marketplace", a "price indicated by the seller ", etc. ; terms identified by the association, which considers them "as multiple as they are unintelligible".

Everything is done to "reproduce the visual format of a promotion"

"The high similarity of these ads misleads consumers, leading them to consider these crossed out prices as price reductions in accordance with regulations, and not as a simple comparison", considers the UFC. She believes that displaying a crossed-out price helps to maintain confusion, also noting that "merchants (…) also make every effort to reproduce the visual format of a promotion".

For university professor Virginie Pez, a specialist in customer behavior, this is an "opaque" practice, which can "arouse consumer distrust of merchants, as they may feel manipulated". "The offers are so numerous that the consumer cannot analyze everything and bases his choice on cognitive shortcuts, such as the promotion or the price comparison similar to a disguised promotion", she specifies.

Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Amazon said it analyzed the UFC study and said it was "determined to provide customers (...) with a shopping experience that complies with applicable regulations". For its part, La Redoute maintained that on "products sold directly", it complied with "the requirements of the Omnibus directive", and that on online sales it could "sanction" sellers in breach of the regulations. Cdiscount claimed to register "in full compliance with the legislation in force" and specified that the brand indicated "always (in complete transparency), above the selling price of the product, the precise nature of the comparison price" .

According to calculations by UFC-Que Choisir, when it comes to "genuine promotions compliant with the regulations", the average discount is estimated at 6.0%, while it reaches "the unlikely amount of 26.5% for unregulated references". In addition to the complaint filed, the association also calls on the European authorities to act to "strictly prohibit any other reference price system than that provided for by the Omnibus Directive".

On the occasion of the sales and Black Friday, UFC-Que Choisir had already denounced other types of false promotions aimed at circumventing Omnibus. Some brands in particular inflate their prices thirty days before the commercial reduction period to pretend to make promotions. A consumer testifying for TF1 in November 2022 realized this when buying a dress: “The reference price had increased, and the sale price was just the same as the price before the demarcation. »