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The Consumer Council recently exposed unscrupulous tactics used by supermarkets in charging customers exorbitantly high prices on pretence of bargains. Supermarkets advertised vigorously every Friday calling it a day of big bargain but in fact Friday was a day when goods were sold at the highest prices in the week. The so-called bargain was a smokescreen to boost sales. On average, 70% of items in ParknShop and 55% of those in Wellcome were sold at the highest prices on Fridays. Sometimes prices were marked up before the promotion to make customers believe that the bargains were good value for money. The Consumer Council advised consumers not to fall for these promotional tricks and to compare prices. It also criticized the supermarkets for their controversial marketing practices; but pointed out that practices like these are difficult to regulate in Hong Kong due to a lack of competition laws in the territory.
Ambrose Ho, chairman of the publicity and community relations committee of the Consumer Council, said that supermarkets always advertised bargain sales on newspapers on Fridays but actually prices were the lowest on Thursday instead of Fridays. The council also found that the prices of a few merchandises were marked up on Fridays and later reduced on Saturdays to lure consumers into buying more under the illusions of cut prices.
As prices were actually higher on bargain days, special offers might not be really beneficial to customers. According to Mr Ho, research found that some special prices were even higher than usual. For instance, one brand of mineral water, originally sold at HK$3.9 per bottle, was priced at HK$6.6 each and HK$8.9 for two, i.e. HK$4.45 each, in the promotion period. In effect, the same bottle of mineral water, seemingly on sale in the promotion period, was 14.1% more expensive than the original price. It was also found that prices increased at a very fast rate in supermarkets. In one occasion, the supermarkets raised the price of one brand of beer by 10.2% within just two days, from HK$5.9 to HK$6.5.
At present, more than a hundred countries and regions in the world have enacted competition laws. The ‘false bargains’ seen in local supermarkets indicates that Hong Kong lags behind in policies that will ensure fair competitions. ■translated by 開明
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