Government steps up the fight against "fake promotions"
Today a new rule applies to avoid that consumers buying a "promotion item" actually pay more than the normal or original price. The new legislation was introduced following a European guideline.
The new rule should give consumers a better protection. As it is now, some shops artificially raise prices just before announcing promotion prices. Consumers think they are making a bargain, but in fact they are paying just as much (or even more) than the normal price.
In order to counter this, shops not only have to show the promotion price, but also the so-called reference price, the lowest "normal price" during the past 30 days. In this way, a dress that cost 100 euros during the previous month, can only cost 70 euros if they shop announces promotions of 30 percent.
The Fashion Union representing the fashion and clothing sector is not happy with the regulation. Spokeswoman Isolde Delanghe told the VRT that physical shops cannot cheat consumers anyway and that they are not or hardly doing this. She claims the problem mostly applies to online shops. "We think it is of the utmost importance that these checks are being extended to the online sector as well."