By Rory Gallivan
LONDON--The U.K.'s competition watchdog on Thursday said it
conducted an investigation into supermarkets that found examples of
pricing and promotional practices that could mislead consumers and
be in breach of consumer law.
The Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, said it will work
with supermarkets to cut out practices such as running "was/now"
promotions where the discounted price was advertised for longer
than the higher price applied following the investigation, which
was initiated in response to the consumer magazine Which?.
The problems the CMA found "are not occurring in large numbers
across the whole sector and... generally retailers are taking
compliance seriously to avoid such problems occurring," it
said.
"We have found that, whilst supermarkets want to comply with the
law and shoppers enjoy a wide range of choices, with an estimated
40% of grocery spending being on items on promotion, there are
still areas of poor practice that could confuse or mislead
shoppers," said Nisha Arora, CMA senior director, consumer.
"So we are recommending further action to improve compliance and
ensure that shoppers have clear, accurate information," she
added.
Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter:
@RoryGallivan
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