Women’s fashion retailer Supré has been issued a five-figure penalty after a state fair trading body said that poorly placed clothing and signage at one of its stores had misled shoppers.
According to Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT), several of its inspectors visited the retailer’s Chermside store in August this year as part of ongoing compliance spot checks.
OFT alleged that its officers found two clothing racks with signage reading “$10 and under”, yet two of the garments scanned at $15 — 50 per cent higher than the advertised sale price.
“Representations about price should always match the price charged to consumers at the checkout,” Fair Trading’s executive director, Brian Bauer, said.
In ruling that Supré had made misleading representations about its pricing to consumers, OFT hit the company with a $12,600 “civil penalty notice”.
It added that parent company Cotton On Group had subsequently advised that it would provide additional training to staff about signage and product placement, customer escalation processes and the need to honour the lowest advertised price.
“This outcome should act as a warning to other retailers to check their signage and product placements to ensure they are not misleading their customers,” Mr Bauer said.
“Businesses should check and identify any potentially misleading information before distributing it or displaying it to consumers.”
Supré has been contacted for comment.
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