The nation’s supermarket giants will barter with the competition watchdog on the number of items to be interrogated in court over allegations they misled customers with fake discounts.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched court actions against Coles and Woolworths, alleging they broke consumer law by bumping up prices on certain products for brief periods before lowering them again as part of Woolworths’ “Prices Dropped” and Coles’ “Down Down” promotions.
Those promotional prices – including dairy, pet food, personal care, coffee, medicine, lollies, cereal and household cleaning products – were lower than during the price bump, but higher than or the same as the regular price, it alleges.
A Federal Court hearing in Melbourne today heard disagreements over the number of sample products from both supermarkets that would be included as evidence in the trial.
Coles had agreed with 12 products – six chosen by the ACCC, three class products and three of their choosing, barrister Nicholas De Young told the court.
“We submitted and believe that was a reasonable proposal, but a minute before court, we heard they want to add an additional four,” he said.
De Young said the additional products could mean three or four more witnesses who will need to talk in detail about the price increase and promotional discussion journeys those items had.
He questioned what attributes the four items have that the existing 12 don’t.
Woolworths had proposed six products, but barrister Ruth Higgins told the court the ACCC had submitted 20 yesterday morning before reducing the number to 12 by that night.
“What we’ve been doing this morning is trying to work out why those additional products are proposed and what difference those products make,” Higgins said.
Barrister Michael Hodge said the ACCC had proposed a compromised position of 12 products for both companies, which would ensure everything could be captured.
Justice Michael O’Bryan urged the parties to compromise, giving them until June 13 to finalise a list of agreed items.
“If we’re south of 20, or even better, south of 15, then we’re in what I regard as sensible territory for conducting an efficient trial,” he said.
The consumer watchdog is seeking a significant penalty for the alleged breaches, which they say took place over 15 months.
Coles and Woolworths, which control a combined two-thirds market share, deny the allegations and say the legal cases are misconceived.
