Consumer watchdog Which? has detailed findings of a recent investigation into potentially misleading pricing tactics from a number of furnishing retailers.
As part of a wider investigation into sales practices at online retailers, Which? spent more than 10 months tracking the prices of more than 40,000 products at nine home furnishing brands.
These included Argos, Blinds Direct, Blinds2Go, Dunelm, Furniture Village, Ikea, John Lewis, Very and 247 Blinds.
“We found examples of potentially misleading sales practices at 247 Blinds, Blinds Direct, Furniture Village and Very,” Which? said.
“We’re concerned that these examples could make shoppers think they’re getting a better deal than they are. We’ve shared our results with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and we’re calling on businesses to change their practices to put a stop to dodgy pricing.”
Which? detailed a breakdown of its investigation, which included praise for other furniture retailers. “We were impressed with the sales we saw at Argos, Blinds2Go, Dunelm, Ikea and John Lewis,” Which? said.
“Across all these retailers, we found that 12% of sale products or fewer had intervening prices, and 5% or fewer used ‘was’ prices for longer than the product was actually sold at that price.”
