Bananas reduced by 23 percent – supermarkets use offers like this to lure their customers. But is it really a good deal or is it just cheating? The ECJ has now made a landmark ruling.
The highest European court will decide today on a lawsuit against the discounter Aldi-Süd in connection with discount campaigns. The background to this is a lawsuit filed by the Baden-Württemberg consumer center, which criticizes Aldi-Süd for misleading information.
Traders must provide reference prices
Since 2022, retailers have had to state the cheapest price of the past 30 days for every price reduction. The consumer advice center now complains that although Aldi-Süd stated the cheapest price, discounts did not refer to this amount.
In this specific case, the slogan “Germany’s best price” was used to advertise bananas and pineapples, among other things. For pineapples, there was talk of a “price highlight” of 1.49 euros per piece, as court documents show. Next to this, a price of 1.69 euros was crossed out. However, in small print, it was stated that the lowest price in the past 30 days was 1.39 euros – and thus below the “price highlight”. For bananas, in addition to the price of 1.29 euros per kilo, a discount of 23 percent and a crossed out price of 1.69 euros were given. In small print, the discounter also stated the cheapest price in the past 30 days – but this was also 1.29 euros.
Düsseldorf submits case to ECJ
The consumer center demands that discount announcements should also refer to the cheapest price. It therefore filed a lawsuit before the Düsseldorf Regional Court. The judges wanted this question to be clarified by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has now announced its ruling.
“We very much hope that the European Court of Justice understands the Price Indication Regulation as we do,” says Cornelia Tausch, head of the Baden-Württemberg Consumer Advice Center. If the ECJ decides in this way, the Consumer Advice Center says it would have far-reaching consequences for price advertising. “This would put an end to a constant annoyance for consumers: fake price reductions through price gouging, where retailers artificially increase prices in order to be able to advertise a larger reduction later.”
Source: Stern
