ASA Adjudication on DSG Retail Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for Currys stated in a voice-over "The one thing you need at Christmas is a cracking TV. This Sony 32 inch HD ready LCD TV is only £399 and you'll get a DVD home cinema system absolutely free ... ". The website address was given at the end.

Issue

Five viewers challenged the availability of the Sony television with the home cinema system at the advertised price.  The viewers checked availability online or in-store within days of the ad first being broadcast and found that the product was out of stock.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Currys said they forecasted demand for the television on the basis of previous similar promotions.  Their calculations indicated that they would sell 4870 units during the promotion, which ran between 13 and 19 November.  They explained that 6505 units were in place at the beginning of the promotion and therefore believed they had more than sufficient stock available to meet the predicted demand.  Currys told the ASA that, when the promotion finished, 7339 units had been sold.  They said demand for the TV may have increased due to a competitor running a promotional offer for the same TV the same weekend, at a lower price of £329 but without the Sony DVD home cinema system.  The competitor's offer ran for three days and expired on 16 November.  Currys believed that may have created extra demand for the TV over those days.     

Currys said the ad was broadcast on 14 and 15 November, and 2934 and 3609 units were sold on each day respectively.  They explained that this represented a 3021% and 1928% uplift on sales on the same days the previous week.  They said, owing to an unexpectedly high level of demand, some stores experienced stock availability problems from 16 November.  They nevertheless pointed out that they fulfilled not only the predicted demand but also 52% extra.   

Currys acknowledged that some viewers had been disappointed when they checked availability of the product on their website and found that it was out of stock.  They explained that their online 'Reserve & Collect' facility worked by calculating the current stock holding in the given store, minus any previous customer reservations and the predefined 'floor' limit of products; that limit was put in place to avoid customer disappointment arising from a customer making a reservation online at the same time as the store selling the product to another customer.  Currys said the 'Reserve & Collect' facility did not provide an indication of the stock held in their distribution centres which stores could access to fulfil orders.  They said their home delivery facility on the website would have taken account of the current stock holding in their distribution centres.  

Some complainants reported that they could not locate stock even in large cities such as London, Manchester and Glasgow.  Currys explained that most stores in city centres were part of the Currys.digital chain and the location of those stores often meant that they were not conducive to customers picking up larger items because of a lack of dedicated parking.  Those stores therefore tended to carry a lower stock of larger items compared to out of town stores.  Currys added that Currys.digital stores however had access to central stock so customers could order the item into the store's warehouse or have the item delivered to them.

Clearcast said they cleared the ad on the assurance that sufficient stock was in place to meet demand and that stock was spread across their store network.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted Currys had forecasted likely demand for the television by reference to the response to a previous similar promotion and their argument that demand for the TV may have increased due to a competitor also running a promotion for the same TV, the same weekend.  While we noted demand for the television had exceeded their prediction, we noted Currys were able to meet both the forecasted demand and an additional 50%.  

We noted the promotion ran between 13 and 19 November but that stock only started to run low on 16 November when the ad was no longer being broadcast; there was therefore no requirement for Currys to take remedial action and remove the ad so as not to cause further disappointment.  While we recognised that some viewers had been disappointed, we considered that Currys had made a reasonable estimate of demand and supplied the product in reasonable quantities at the promotional price across their stores, and at the start of the promotion had every reason to believe they would be able to satisfy demand.  We concluded that the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleadingness) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)