👉 Background: Coles and Woolies are the supermarket giants in Australia with over 60% of the grocery market. With the cost of living skyrocketing lately, many Aussies are on the lookout for discounts. But, it seems like some of those supposed "bargains" might not have been so genuine after all.

👉 What happened: The ACCC is alleging that both Coles and Woolies have jacked up the prices on over 100 items just before putting them ‘on sale’. They apparently increased prices on certain products to make the discounts appear larger than they were.

For example:

• Oreo Family Pack was priced at $3.50 for nearly two years at Woolworths
  
• The price jumped to $5…for 22 days
• It went on discount to $4.50… and Woolworths claimed this was >10% discount from its previous pricing

👉 What else: While technically the "discounts" are accurate, this may be considered misleading pricing and could have some massive consequences for Woolies and Coles. We're talking fines of up to $10 million and a heap of pain to their already-battered reputation.

What's the key learning?

💡The damage to a company’s reputation can often be far greater than any fines they face, and regardless of the legal outcome of this case, it’s already become a PR disaster for Woolworths and Coles.

💡Coles and Woolworths weren’t exactly in Australian consumers’ good books after being under scrutiny for squeezing supplier margins, and using inflation to justify price hikes. In fact, Woolies and Coles both saw the brand trust rankings fall this year according to Roy Morgan.

💡The ACCC alleges Woolworths and Coles each engaged in this behaviour across more than 200 products. So, even if the legal case goes in favour of Coles and Woolies, the damage to their reputation has already been done.