Coles lost ‘Down Down’ fight but won Canberra’s price gouging war

It is ironic that the supermarket giant has been found guilty of moving too fast to provide cost-of-living relief to shoppers at a time of rapid inflation.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has won an important legal battle against Coles supermarkets over misleading advertising on 245 products in its “Down Down” campaign, but the supermarket will take some comfort from the ruling.

While the Federal Court finding is a reputational setback and will likely result in a heavy fine for Coles, the Victorian-based supermarket chain will take some solace from legal clarity about “was/now” pricing and other comments about cost recovery by Justice Michael O’Bryan.

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Coles lost ‘Down Down’ fight but won Canberra’s price gouging war

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