Ad description
A claim on www.mysupermarket.co.uk, promoting a supermarket price comparison website, stated "mySupermarket is a completely FREE website which allows you to compare store prices as you shop & get the best possible deal for your groceries".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "the best possible deal" was misleading, because mySupermarket only compared prices in five stores.
Response
mySupermarket Ltd (mySupermarket) explained that the claim had appeared on a landing page reached when terms such as "groceries", "supermarket deliveries" or "compare supermarkets" were entered on a search engine. They said that part of the website featured price comparisons for groceries from Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado, and that over 70% of groceries bought in the UK were purchased from one of those stores.
mySupermarket stated that the wording "the best possible deal" appeared in the context of a claim that the website enabled the comparison of store prices "as you shop". They said that clearly indicated use of the "pass-through functionality" of their site, which allowed customers to buy groceries from the five supermarkets listed directly through the mySupermarket site. They also pointed out that the claim appeared above logos of each of the five supermarkets for which prices were shown on the site. They said those logos were not separated from the claim by a great distance and could be seen without having to scroll down the page. They considered that the inclusion of those logos made clear to the consumer which stores were used in the price comparison.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA noted that the claim "mySupermarket is a completely FREE website which allows you to compare store prices as you shop & get the best possible deal for your groceries" appeared above logos for Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado. Although the claim was not immediately followed by the logos, the two did appear close together on the page and the logos attracted attention by dint of their size and colour. We considered that, given the visibility of the logos, the average consumer would be likely to understand that the website allowed customers to compare store prices only in those stores.
We also noted that the claim "get the best possible deal for your groceries" was presented as a consequence of consumers being able to "compare store prices as you shop". In our view, that wording clearly envisaged consumers using the website to buy their shopping directly through the site, and therefore from one of the stores listed. We considered that most consumers would understand that "the best possible deal" referred to a comparison only of the prices listed on the site, and would realise that that comparison would exclude those stores which were not listed.
Because we were satisfied that the average consumer would not interpret the claim "the best possible deal", in combination with the claim "compare store prices as you shop" and the five featured supermarket logos, to mean that a comparison between every grocery store was available through mySupermarket, and because we considered that it was clear which stores the comparison would relate to, we concluded that the claim was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification) and
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
