Coles faces long wait for penalty decision in sham discounting court case
Australia’s second largest supermarket chain will have to wait months before it learns its fate for misleading shoppers, as a court was told of the next steps in the case.


News.com.au
June 10, 2026

The Federal Court rules Coles misled customers with fake discounts.


Australia’s second largest supermarket chain will have to wait months before learning what penalties will be imposed for sham discounting, a court has been told.

Federal Court judge Michael O’Bryan last month ruled Coles had misled shoppers with discounts on common household items under its “Down Down” promotional campaign.   

The supermarket giant had been taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over price fluctuations on 245 products between February 2022 and May 2023.

The ACCC will argue Coles should face a “substantial” penalty.

The consumer watchdog alleged Coles had sought to disguise price increases during a period of high inflation by temporarily spiking prices before offering a new “now” price as a discount.   

These were advertised in stores with big red stickers, often displaying a “was” and “now” price.

The case returned before the Federal Court on Wednesday morning to finalise next steps in the ACCC proceeding and a related class action brought on behalf of impacted shoppers.



Justice O’Bryan ordered the parties to work together to try and produce an agreed statement of facts relating to the bulk of the 245 products in line with his ruling.

For convenience, during the trial earlier this year 14 items were selected as a sample range to be argued, with the remainder now set to be decided on or before a hearing in August.

A two-day hearing was tentatively scheduled for December 16 for the ACCC and Coles to make submissions on appropriate penalties for the contravention of consumer law.


The court was told the ACCC is seeking both a financial penalty and declaratory relief.

The class action case, which so far has run alongside the ACCC’s case, may be heard during the same hearing or separated, the court was told.

During the trial, the court was told Coles had dropped its own internal policies to sell an item at a new price for 12 weeks before introducing a discount to avoid misleading customers.

But in what was described as a “race to the bottom” between Coles and competitor Woolworths, at a time when suppliers were raising prices, this period was dropped to four weeks.

Lead barrister for ACCC Garry Rich SC (centre) argued Coles was attempting to disguise price increase as discounts.

Justice O’Bryan found Coles had kept the 12-week period in place, the price changes would have been regarded by an ordinary shopper as “genuine”.

The judge found Coles’ prices increases were not “artificially high” and reflected genuine supplier cost increases.

Coles had defended the case by arguing the price changes were genuine and reflected a period of high inflation, with “Down Down” discounts representing “an indication Coles is trying to keep prices low”.

Following the decision, ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the consumer watchdog would be making “strong submissions” on the penalty to be imposed on Coles.

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said while the “level of penalty is a matter for the court to determine”, the ACCC would be seeking a “significant deterrent for such conduct”.

“We will certainly make strong submissions on the level of penalty,” she said.

Justice O’Bryan also made suppression orders over certain figures in his judgment to protect commercially sensitive information for Coles including costs and funding support provided by suppliers and calculations of gross margins for the supermarket.

The case will return to court in August.

whiteknight wrote Yesterday at 2:04pm:



Unfortunately they will put their prices up so their customers will pay the fines.

Woolies will match the price too so they'll make a lot of money
until they also get fined for their fibs.