Ad description
A garden furniture website, www.selectfurnishings.co.uk, stated "Maze Rattan - Rounded Sofa Set. Availability: In Stock".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "in stock" was misleading and could be substantiated, because the item was not in stock.
Response
Select Furnishings said that when the order was placed they believed the item was in stock. They explained that upon having received the order, they in turn forwarded the order on to their supplier, who had sold out of the item. They explained that the item had sold out in the time between the complainant having placed their order and Select Furnishings having subsequently placed their order with their supplier. Select Furnishings stated that this situation could not be avoided, but when it did arise, they offered an immediate refund to a consumer or provided them with the option to change their order to an alternative product.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that Select Furnishings did not possess the stock advertised on their website and when they received an order for a product online, they then approached a third-party supplier, who in turn would send them the product the consumer had ordered. We acknowledged that this process meant that, in the time between a consumer having ordered a product and Select Furnishings having approached their supplier, it may be that a product would subsequently have gone out of stock. We noted that when a consumer ordered and paid for a product which was out of stock, Select Furnishings offered the customer an immediate refund or the option to exchange their order to a different product.
However, we considered that a consumer would be unaware that when they ordered a product, which was described as being "in stock", there was a risk that this was not the case, because Select Furnishings would have to then order the product themselves from a third-party supplier. We considered that Select Furnishings did not make it clear to the complainant that the product they ordered was out of stock, nor did they make the complainant aware that there was a risk the product may have been out of stock and as such we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.29 3.29 Marketers must monitor stocks. If a product becomes unavailable, marketers must, whenever possible, withdraw or amend marketing communications that feature that product. (Availability).
Action
We told Select Furnishings to make it clear to consumers when a product is unavailable or stocks are limited.
