ACCC accuses Coles of 'planned' campaign to mislead customers   

16 Feb 2026
ABC News

The ACCC has delivered its opening remarks in the landmark Federal Court case against Coles.

In short:
There has been intense debate about the pricing of more than 200 products at the opening of the landmark ACCC vs Coles court case.

Lawyers representing the consumer watchdog have labelled Coles's price discounts "utterly misleading".   

Coles has rejected the allegations as part of its opening remarks, which will continue tomorrow.


Supermarket giant Coles has been accused of a "planned" campaign to mislead customers over price discounts on the first day of a bombshell Federal Court case.

The consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is suing the supermarket giant in a lawsuit that a former ACCC boss has called "the case of the century".

The opening arguments this morning looked at the prices Coles charged for 245 common household products under its famous "Down Down" promotions. The promotional program has been in place since 2010.

The ACCC's legal counsel, Garry Rich, claimed in his opening remarks Coles had jacked up its prices for a short period before discounting them to a price that was actually more than, or the same as, the regular price.

Here's what's at stake when the ACCC takes Coles to court

The "case of the century" is set to play out in the federal court this month, with the ACCC taking on supermarket giant Coles for what it claims are "illusory" discounts.

Mr Rich said Coles customers had been repeatedly deceived by the supermarket and the pricing was not "fair dinkum".

"Why on earth are you telling your customers the price is going down? They're not,"  he said.   
Evidence would show the conduct was "planned" and Coles had "disguised" price rises as price discounts, he said.

Internal compliance documents from Coles about the "Down Down" program showed there were key changes to policy guardrails on the discount program before the allegedly misleading conduct, he added.

Mr Rich alleged all but one of the promotions would have been prohibited under the earlier policy and the price changes had more to do with the commercial consideration of chasing Woolworths on pricing.


Dog food pricing 'utterly misleading'
There was also intense debate over the meaning of the price of dog food and what a reasonable shopper would have thought, with Justice Michael O'Bryan pushing back on important elements of the ACCC case.

For a period of almost 300 days between April 2022 and February 2023 Mr Rich told the court that Coles offered a 1.2 kilogram loaf of Nature's Gift Wet Dog Food for $4.


The pricing of this Nature's Gift dog food was the focus of the ACCC's opening arguments.

Then for seven days the price rose by 50 per cent to $6.

On the eighth day the price was set at $4.50 — 13 per cent more than customers had been paying for all but seven of the previous 303 days — with Coles labelling the product "Down, Down".

Mr Rich said while that statement was "literally true" it was also "utterly misleading".

"It did not disclose that a reasonable consumer would not have understood that Coles had increased the price to $6 for just 7 days, immediately before the promotion, and that for 296 days before that, the price was $4,"  he said.
"By making the statement it did, without disclosing those crucial qualifying facts, Coles led reasonable consumers into error.

"It caused them to assume that the "Down, Down" price of $4.50 was a genuine reduction to, or discount from, the previous regular price of the product. That assumption was wrong.

"A reasonable consumer who knew the real facts would not think the price of the dog food has gone down, nor would they think that a price of $4.50 would be a genuine reduction or discount."


Coles has been accused of a "planned" campaign to mislead customers. 

Justice O'Bryan pushed back and argued the first, or "regular" price, in the case of the dog food at $4 was "irrelevant".

He said circumstances had changed due to an increase in costs and it was not a reasonable comparison with the "Down, Down" price of $4.50.

Mr Rich did not agree.

"You can't tell that the second price is a short-term price unless you understand the history of the product," he said.

Coles rejects allegations
Coles was able to make a brief response in opening remarks this afternoon.

John Sheahan KC rejected the ACCC's allegations Coles ran a planned campaign to mislead consumers.

He said customers would have been aware they were shopping in an environment of "sudden materially increasing prices".

"Grocery shoppers at Coles are much more attuned to these things than anyone around these tables are likely to be," Mr Sheahan said.

The tactics Coles and Woolworths use to keep prices high, and competitors out

Coles are bastards.

whiteknight wrote on Feb 16^th, 2026 at 5:45pm:


How much tax does Coles pay on their profits?

Do the mum and dad investors who bought shares in Coles get a return on their investment when profits are up?

Do the Aldi profits go in the pocket of some foreigner?

Daves2017 wrote on Feb 16^th, 2026 at 11:17pm:


So 2 major US shareholders have 12.24%?

I sold my Coles shares when they got rid of shareholder discount then bought Woolworths shares.

whiteknight wrote on Feb 16^th, 2026 at 5:38pm:


Coles is blaming supplier costs for high retail prices.  Bernie Fraser is blamimg lack of competititon for the Coles-Woolworhs duopoly.

How do you break-up that duopoly, while guaranteeing lower prices?

ACCC case against Coles
2026-02-16
greens.org.au
The Greens have welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Federal Court action against Coles over alleged misleading “specials” and pricing conduct.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Senator Larissa Waters:

“Another day, another big corporation ripping off ordinary people.

“Big supermarkets are using con ‘discounts’ to rip off shoppers already feeling cost-of-living pain like never before. Labor can not shrug off this blatant corporate price gouging that is driving inflation and making the cost of living worse for everyone.   

“Fake bargains and inflated shelf prices would explain Coles managing to squeeze $1 billion in profit out of ordinary people while they struggle to make ends meet.

“Labor must stand up to their big corporate donors who are making massive profits while everyone else struggles to get by.

“The Greens are proud to have led the charge on supermarket price gouging with our inquiry and divestiture Bill in the last parliament and we will continue to fight for a system that doesn’t put profits before people and farmers.”

Quotes attributable to Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim:

“The ACCC’s action against Coles today confirms what people across Australia already know -  when corporations have too much power, they use it to squeeze everyday people.”

“These alleged illusory ‘discounts’ are one symptom of an economy where dominant firms can rort the system while households struggle with cost-of-living pressures.”

“This case comes after the Greens-led Senate inquiry exposed how Coles and Woolworths use their market dominance to gouge prices and exploit customers.

“The ACCC itself has said competition is weak and that pricing behaviour needs scrutiny.”

“We need laws that make price gouging illegal across the economy, not just in supermarkets, so corporations can’t exploit times of financial pressure to hike prices with impunity.

“And we need divestiture powers so the ACCC and the Federal Court can break up firms that misuse their market power.”

greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 16^th, 2026 at 5:54pm:



What Coles is doing is standard practice in the retail trade.
It's been going on at least since I was a boy.

I used to work in that trade in the school holidays in my last few years at high school
and also at Uni especially for the Xmas rush - easy to pick up jobs then.
I remember writing out price tickets myself -
the boss would have a list of the real price -
you had to write a higher price - you made a guess -
crossed it off then wrote the true price underneath it.
Coles has just been singled out - they all do it.

I sometimes follow prices in other stores to this day.
I see it all the time especially in jewellery stores.
I remember a watch once -
it was on sale for $470, with $650 crossed off.
I bought the same watch model on eBay for $215 out of Singapore. 
It was a genuine Seiko - I even sent it to a real Seiko dealer to
have the advance/retard adjusted - and they did it all for free under warranty. 

If Coles gets a $100 million fine will they put their prices up to pay for it?