Ad description
A promotion on www.argos.co.uk stated "Save up to 20% on all Refrigeration". Underneath that text, products were listed with their original and discounted prices.
Issue
The complainant, who believed that not all items in the Refrigeration range were discounted, challenged whether the savings claims were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Argos Ltd (Argos) said all products in their refrigeration range had been reduced and they supplied spreadsheet information showing the price of each product prior to the promotion and the discounted price at the time of the promotion. They said more than 10% of the products were available with at least a 20% reduction and provided pricing calculations in support of that. They said their online system was locked to only display pricing reductions on products where the higher price had been charged for a minimum of 28 consecutive days, as per guidance set out by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS). They said that some of the products in the refrigeration range had not been sold at the higher price for a minimum of 28 consecutive days and therefore the ad only showed the reduced price and did not display the savings message on those products. They stated that the higher price period for those products prior to the offer commencing was two weeks running up to the start of the promotion. They said text was included in the offer banner stating that prices listed online already included a discount and considered that this was sufficient to avoid customers being misled as to the discount offer. They said another reason why savings information would not be displayed on the website was if the price reduction on the product was below £1 and was therefore not picked up by their system. They said they were looking at system developments to make all savings show on their website.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that, although some were not displayed with a discount or savings message, it appeared that all the products in the refrigeration range had been reduced and that more than 10% were reduced by the 20% headline saving. Although the ad included text stating that all prices listed already included a discount, because the website referred to discounts on "all" products, we considered that consumers would need to know what discount applied to each product in order to make an informed choice about which product to select.
The BIS guidelines (the Pricing Practices Guide) recommended that a price used as a basis for a comparison should be the most recent price available for 28 days or more unless the basis of the comparison was made clear in the ad. We noted that the higher price for some products had been available for 14 days prior to the offer and we considered that the absence of this time period from the ad meant that the basis of the price comparison on those products was not clear.
Because the website did not display the discount applied to every product in the range, and because it did not make clear the basis of the price comparison on those products that had not been offered at the higher price for 28 consecutive days, we concluded that the savings claims were misleading.
The ad breached CAP (Edition 12) Code rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation), 3.17 3.17 Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication. (Prices) and 8.2 8.2 Promoters must conduct their promotions equitably, promptly and efficiently and be seen to deal fairly and honourably with participants and potential participants. Promoters must avoid causing unnecessary disappointment. (Sales promotions).
Action
The promotion must not appear again in its current form. We told Argos to ensure that, where future promotions referred to discounts on "all" products, all products should display a savings message. We also told them to make clear the basis of price comparisons on discounted products where the higher price was not the most recent price available for 28 days or more.
