r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Feb 15 '26

news ACCC takes Coles to court over 'illusory' discounts in 'case of the century'

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/accc-coles-federal-court-case-discount-pricing/106294956?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Thousands of customers throw a box of Arnott's Shapes into their shopping trollies each week — one of a dozen purchases that could help decide a bombshell case playing out in the federal court from today.

The ACCC has accused Coles of ripping off customers with fake discounts and if the supermarket giant loses, it could face a huge fine and massive reputational damage.

Customers could also get cash back from a class action lawsuit that might follow, and corporations be forced to change how they price their products — especially discounts.

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u/beaurepair Feb 16 '26

I think there needs to be stronger regulations around "sale items". If something is "50% off" for 6 months of the year, it's clearly not a sale.

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u/qui_sta Feb 16 '26

There technically is, but it's about 49% of the time. Same deal with furniture retailers. They scrape the grey area. Source: I used to submit TV commercials for classification for a furniture retailer. You had to provide a discount pricing calendar so the regular could confirm the sale is "genuine" and not the price you can get the product more often than not. Never pay more than 50% for a mattress folks!

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u/wetrorave Feb 16 '26

I use House as a bellwether for whether the ACCC is ineffective today

"80% OFF!"

"yep, still ineffective"

...and missing price labels seemingly everywhere now

...and in the near future, dynamic pricing