An investigation by consumer group Which? has found questionable and “dodgy” pricing tactics at SportsDirect.com, that it believes may be breaking the law.
Which? is urging the the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate, after it discovered SportsDirect.com’s reference prices could be misleading.
Researchers analysed the prices of 160 different products sold on the Sports Direct website and found examples where the saving suggested by the higher reference price did not appear genuine.
Like many retailers, Sports Direct harnesses Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs), along with similar terms like Manufacturer Suggested Retail Prices (MSRPs) and Suggested Retail Prices (SRPs), to highlight savings on its website. However, Which? readers have repeatedly flagged the company’s use of these prices as potentially misleading.
The investigation by Which? revealed instances where other online retailers did not offer products at the RRP or MSRP stated by Sports Direct. In many cases, these other retailers’ prices were equivalent to or even lower than Sports Direct’s advertised prices.
For 58 of the 160 products studied, Which? found no retailer selling them at or above the Sports Direct reference price. Looking at 73 Frasers Group own-brand products, 53 were sold at or above the SportsDirect.com reference price at other retailers – but these were all websites owned by Frasers Group.
“In our view, some of Sports Direct’s uses of RRPs and MSRPs could be ‘misleading actions’ under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (which were in force when this research was undertaken), as they could mislead people about the value of a product and savings they could make,” said Ellie Simmonds, senior investigator and writer at Which?
At the time of publication, Sports Direct have not provide a comment.
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