Boots ‘extremely remorseful’ after pleading guilty over misleading Black Friday prices

Boots has pleaded guilty to breaching legislation aimed at protecting consumers from misleading prices during sales periods following an investigation by the consumer watchdog.

The breach identified by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) was said to have occurred in the 2023/24 winter sales season, a period which covered the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales windows.

Summonses relating to three separate products being sold by Boots over that time frame had been issued and after the company issued a plea of guilty in connection to one of those products – an Oral B electric toothbrush – the other two summonses were withdrawn with the agreement of both parties.

The Dublin District Court was told that one toothbrush was advertised for sale at €470, down from a price of €999.99. However, CCPC investigators found it had been selling at a price of €470 in the days leading up to the Black Friday sale starting.

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Another Oral B toothbrush which was advertised as being on sale at €240 – down from €599 – had actually been on sale in Boots for less than the sale price before the Black Friday sale started. CCPC investigators found it had been priced at €228 in the 30 days before the sale began.

A bottle of Dior Homme aftershave which was said to be on sale for €104.55 down from €123 was actually selling for €95 in the days before the Black Friday sale began.

Appearing before Judge Anthony Halpin, Eoin MacAodha of Eversheds Sutherland - representing Boots Retail - said the pharmacy chain was “extremely remorseful” for the pricing discrepancies and said they were as a result of human error and represented a tiny fraction of the products on promotion over the Black Friday 2023 sales period.

Boots joins a list of three other retailers who have fallen foul of sales pricing legislation introduced in 2022.

That law requires traders to base any discount on the lowest price in at least the previous 30 days, and to display that price clearly on any price tag or advertisement.

Lifestyle Sports, DID Electrical and Rathwood Home and Garden World all pleaded guilty to similar breaches at a District Court hearing in Dublin in March, following an online pricing sweep conducted by the CCPC.

Their cases concluded on Monday with the probation act being applied after the companies made a donation to the Penny Dinners charity.

The probation act was similarly applied to Boots with the retailer being spared a criminal convictions after it too agreed to make a €1,000 donation to the Penny Dinners charity.

Boots had been listed to come before the court in connection with the investigation in March along with the three other retailers although the hearing was pushed back at the retailer’s request.

Under Irish law, retailers are free to set prices without any interference from third parties but they must display whatever those prices are clearly and in a way that is not misleading.

Pricing rules were toughened up in 2022 amid concerns that some retailers were loosely interpreting the existing system to create the impression in consumers’ minds that some discounts were bigger than they actually were.

Under existing legislation, the maximum fine that can be imposed on any retailer found to have breached the law is €5,000.

The CCPC has called for tougher laws to give it the power to impose larger fines including percentages of turnover for serious offences.

Speaking after the hearing, the chairman of the CCPC Brian McHugh said “misleading sale discounts harm consumers and harm competition. Businesses need to be able to compete for consumers openly and honestly on price.”

He added that “transparency around sales discounts allows consumers to make informed decisions about their purchases and to shop with confidence.”