Bevilles Pty Ltd - s.87B undertaking

From September 2005 to June 2006 Bevilles Pty Ltd (Bevilles), a jewellery retailer operating 24 stores located in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, published and disseminated a number of catalogues in which some jewellery items were advertised with two prices, a high price struck through with a diagonal line above a more prominent lower price.

Based on sales information provided by Bevilles, the ACCC was concerned that the two-price advertising of some items misrepresented, in breach of sections 52 and 53(e) of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (the Act), the usual selling price of the item immediately preceding publication of the catalogue, and also the amount of savings available to consumers who purchased the item during the catalogue promotion.

In response to the ACCC’s concerns, Bevilles provided the ACCC with court-enforceable undertakings to:

• not engage in two-price advertising of jewellery items unless the higher price is no greater than the price at which Bevilles most frequently sold the item in the eight weeks prior to the promotion or, where Bevilles had not made any sales, it had offered the item for sale at the higher price in the eight weeks prior to the promotion;
• distribute a correction notice to residential letterboxes in the regions in which Bevilles’ April/June 2006 catalogue was distributed, and display the correction notice within its stores and on its website; and
• implement a trade practices compliance program that includes complaints handling procedures and practical trade practices training for its employees.