Tesco ‘half-price strawberries’ deal prompts red faces and £300,000 fine
I couldn’t resist running this story about the supermarket everyone seems to love to hate. I would also be intrigued to know whether the soft fruits concerned were British and what impact this kind of pricing power has on local suppliers and their livelihoods. Also an interesting reminder of the value of local authorities in terms of the contribution Trading Standards makes to the quality of people’s lives.”The supermarket, which is trying to shed its “big and bad” image, made a £2.3m profit from the promotion after a customer complained to Birmingham trading standards, a court heard. Judge Michael Chambers said at Birmingham crown court that the case was “shocking by its very nature” because customers had a high degree of trust in national chains. For seven days in 2011 Tesco sold 400g punnets of strawberries at £3.99, reducing them to £2.99 for a further week before marking them as half price at £1.99 for a further 14 weeks. The promotion was a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act 2008, which bars retailers from running a promotion for longer than the period over which the product was sold at full price. Birmingham city council argued that the offer had been presented in a way that could mislead or deceive the average consumer into thinking they were getting a good deal. It also complained about a further promotion involving the same strawberries in which Tesco offered a free pot of single cream with each punnet but then removed the free cream offer, returning the strawberries to their “half-price” status. The guilty plea by Tesco followed a preliminary hearing this year when the supermarket argued the council lacked the jurisdiction to proceed outside Birmingham on the case. The court threw out that claim. Tesco apologised to the court for the mis-selling, and said its internal processes had been tightened to avoid any repetition. It also agreed to pay Birmingham city council’s £65,000 legal bill.”