Online retailers must take care with printed brochure prices, says ad watchdog

Retailers whose prices fluctuate in line with demand and withcompetitors' prices should not use printed brochures foradvertising, according to the UK's advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has said that printedbrochures are an "unsuitable medium" for companies such as onlineretailers whose prices were subject to change. Telling customers tocheck the web for latest prices is not sufficient to protectconsumers, it said.

The ASA has reprimanded online electronics retailer Dabs.com foran incorrect price in one of its printed brochures. The regulatorhad investigated a customer complaint that a laptop computer wasnot available at the price advertised by Dabs.com.

While part of the inaccuracy was due to an error, part of it wasdue to the fact that underlying price had changed. Dabs.com toldthe ASA that it had to keep changing its prices because of thenature of the online electronics retail market.

"[Dabs.com] explained that the prices the complainant had seenon their website … were subject to regular fluctuation and couldchange daily, which was the nature of a competitive industry thatoperated in a live environment," said ASA's summary of thecompany's arguments. "Dabs.com said the prices could have changedsince the ad had gone to press but pointed out that the ad stated'check for latestprices'."

The ASA said, though, that this was not good enough, and thatconsumers should be provided with accurate prices for goods.

"We considered consumers would expect an advertised price to becorrect at the time they saw an ad; it should reflect the price atwhich the laptop was sold while the ad was in circulation," saidthe ASA's ruling.

"The text 'check for latest prices' did not make sufficiently clear that the pricesin the ad were subject to regular change; we considered that abrochure was an unsuitable medium for advertising their productsbecause it was likely to remain in circulation after prices hadchanged," said the ASA.

The price for the laptop in question was lower than the actualprice to a consumer because the VAT rate had been left off it inerror. In addition to that, though, the underlying price hadchanged since the publication of the brochure.

The regulator said that the advert was misleading because thelaptop was not available at the advertised price at the time theadvert was in circulation.

Dabs.com was told to make sure that prices stayed stable while aprice-specific advert was in circulation, and was also told not touse the advert again.