Each store that encourages you to buy under the promotion (“PLN 500 cheaper”, “Cheapest this year”!) is obliged to provide the closest price of the product for the last 30 days from January 1st. In this way, the customer can make sure that the price has not been increased, only for the store to reduce it in a moment as part of the “promotion”. Unfortunately, what customers had previously guessed was confirmed. We check how the stores coped with the new obligation.
When the price of a suitcase from the well-known Wittchen firm dropped from PLN 599 to PLN 279.90, it was a signal to those who had been putting off buying a suitcase that it was time to order a suitcase. Half the price - no regrets! And were it not for the fact that the EU Omnibus Directive required stores to report the lowest price of a product in a promotion within 30 days, we would never have known that a moment before the promotion a suitcase cost PLN 237.
More examples of these “promotions” from Wittchen can be found in the company’s online store. Shame on a brand that likes to position itself as an exclusive company? Everyone will judge for themselves, but we must admit that Wittchen at least had the courage to comply with the new rules. Not all stores are ready to display prices before the promotion.
Stocks are sewn with thick threads
While we guessed that the promotions in the stores were far-fetched: the stores either raise prices, then lower them and announce a big promotion. Within three days we had evidence that many stores were dishonest. From January 1, stores are required to report the minimum price of the goods within 30 days from the date of the announcement of the promotion. The buyer can check if the price is too high, then miraculously drop.
The obligation to report the lowest price in the last 30 days is imposed on sellers by the EU Omnibus Directive. It does not matter if the sale takes place online or in a stationary store.
Media Markt does not list prices for the last few days, but does not shout that it is cheaper by 500 PLN.
We reviewed electronics stores to see if they provide accurate promotional information. Media Markt invites you to “winter warehouse ventilation”, but there is no information on prices for the last 30 days for goods. For balance, however, we add that the store does not convince that it has any promotions, does not show crossed out prices and does not announce that the refrigerator is PLN 400 cheaper today - it simply represents the prices.
“Currently, our online store has suspended displaying discounts. The prices presented by us correspond to the prices at which the buyer can actually purchase the goods and which, as we assume, are understandable to our buyers. This action aims to present our price offer to customers in a simple manner and to ensure that the new form of price reduction notification can be implemented in the coming days in a friendly and transparent way for our customers,” explains Violetta Batogh, MediaMarktSaturn. Representative of Poland.
The client will quickly check if this is a real promotion
The Rtv network Euro Agd reports the price for the last 30 days so that everyone can see that part of the promotion was actually a breach of customer trust. We tracked the “promotional” prices for 21 products that first appeared on January 3 in the “Discount Zone” section on the main page of the online store. 9 products could be bought cheaper 30 days before the promotion. The price of 7 items has not changed in 30 days, and 5 items have indeed been offered at a lower price than in the last 30 days.
If you have comments, the information about the lowest price in the last 30 days can be written in larger font Rtv Euro Agd. The small gray letters are not visible at first glance, although when the client knows where to look for them, he can make a comparison.
Price information for the last 30 days, apparently, is a bit embarrassing for the Avans network, because it gives them in smaller print than, for example, in Steam, that delivery is possible the next day. What the buyer sees on the website of the online store is information about the price before the “discount” and - in red - how much he will win by making a purchase. Abbreviations were only in the name? Differently. The TV, which is worth PLN 3199.99 in the promotion, until recently could be bought for PLN 2599, another model has really fallen in price by PLN 150. Thanks to the new duty, the cat-and-mouse game of retail chains will stop. Customers will be able to check if they are being treated fairly. If they are not embarrassed that they will pay more for the product in the “promotion” than it cost in the last 30 days, this is their decision - it is important that they do this consciously.
Prices for the last 30 days cannot be checked in some clothing stores (Reserved, Greenpoint, H&M), but they are listed in the CCC online store, Agata and Black Red White furniture stores, Rossmann and Hebe pharmacies…
Not all advertised products are subject to the Omnibus Directive.
Also, brick-and-mortar shop customers will see how the Omnibus Directive works in practice. Pricing information for the last 30 days has already appeared on Biedronka’s price lists, but the chain clarifies in the post that certain product categories are excluded from the new commitment. The exception applies to products with a shelf life of more than 30 days.
– Thus, regulations imposing an obligation to inform about reference prices do not apply, for example, to i.e. fresh meat, dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables. The principles of the directive also do not apply to shares other than ordinary shares, i.e. they do not apply if conditional shares are introduced, such as “buy 2, pay 50 percent for the second”. cheaper”, “buy for 50 zł, you get x,” explains Adam Słomkowski, senior lawyer in the legal department of the Biedronka chain.
Some clever logic was used by Biedronka in her online store. There is no information about the lowest price in the last 30 days, but only the unit price and the reference price. Only after hovering over a small question mark does the legend appear, from which we learn that the unit price is the current price, and the reference price is the lowest price we are looking for in the last 30 days.
This is still better than in the Lidl online store, where there is no information about the price before the promotion.
Reporting the lowest price in the last 30 days is an obligation, failure to comply with which may result in the provincial inspector of the Trade Inspection imposing a fine of up to PLN 20,000 on the store. zloty. If the inspector fails to provide the required information three times within 12 months, the fine will increase to PLN 40,000. zloty.
The requirement to provide the lowest prices in the last 30 days is not the only change in the law that came into effect at the beginning of the year that benefits consumers. We write more about them in the text at the bottom of the page.
- Changes made in January are not only the recently unveiled issue of providing the lowest price in the last 30 days. It is also worth paying attention to the mechanism of responsibility for the reliability of the opinions presented by the seller. Naturally, changes of this type cause not only doubts, but also temptations. Already in the first days of its application, we see both the need to clarify, for example, the relationship between the new regulations in B2B sales, and simply attempts to get around them by manipulating the price results of the last 30 days. We just have to wait for some issues to be resolved in practice, says attorney at law Tomasz Palak, whose comments on the amendments to the law can be found on the website tomaszpalak.pl.
Source: Wprost
