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Currys PC World has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a “10% off marked price” sale, which “misleadingly” suggested “a genuine saving was available” according to the regulator.
A complainant told the ASA that they understood that the Samsung Family Hub American-Style Smart Fridge Freezer had been advertised at £2,999.99 before the start of the sale, which advertised the item’s starting price as £3,299.99. The complainant challenged whether the savings claims were misleading.
In response Currys PC World sent the ASA a pricing history for the item and told the regulator that the product was “not advertised with a price inclusive of any discount” and that “no saving was claimed”. The retailer said purchasing customers could achieve 10% off the marked price of the product on the date of their purchase.
Currys PC World said the item was priced at £2,999.99 on the start date of the promotion and was priced up to £3,299.99 on the second day the promotion was live to “react to market conditions at the time”. The retailer added that by the end of the promotion the item had reached a marked price of £3,999.99.
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the claim “10% off marked price” that they could receive a 10% discount against the price shown at the bottom of the company’s marketing material.
It said it considered that “marked price”, would mean consumers might not assume the stated price was the usual selling price of the product, however it said they were still likely to understand that a price of £3,299.99 had applied to the product before the offer had been introduced and that they could make a genuine saving by applying the 10% reduction to the stated price.
The ASA told Currys PC World “the ad must not appear again in the same form” and added it “told DSG Retail Ltd t/a Currys PC World not to misleadingly suggest a genuine saving was available when that was not the case”.
