Photo: 123rf
Online retailer 1-Day has been fined for misleading consumers with false "today only" deals.
The retailer has been fined $840,000 for promotional claims which misled consumers about how long its daily deals would run for and the quantity of stock available.
1-Day, which is owned by The Warehouse Group, promoted its daily deals as 'for today only', despite often rolling them over consecutive days.
It had also been programmed to progressively reduce the quantity of stock displayed as available throughout the day so consumers were not seeing accurate information about the stock available.
Commerce Commission General Manager of Fair Trading Vanessa Horne said the claims were often not based on the actual stock available for purchasing the respective products from 1-Day.
Horne said the promotion of daily deals and use of a countdown timer gave the impression that goods were available at an indicated price for a limited time and a stock level indicator gave the impression that stock was running out.
"In a physical store, we wouldn't expect a retailer to say there's one item left, when a number of items remain on the shelf or in the stockroom. The same goes for online - any representation about available stock needs to be truthful."
In sentencing in the Auckland District Court on 7 September, Judge Winter said the purpose of the defendant's misleading sales techniques was to pressure potential purchasers into making a snap or quick decision to purchase from the defendant company.
"The misleading conduct was therefore a central plank of the defendant's business strategy."
Following contact from the Commission, 1-Day has ceased its use of the countdown timer and stock indicator.
It no longer offers Daily Deals.