Wonthaggi shoppers give Coles the thumbs down down

CUSTOMERS of Coles in Wonthaggi gave their supermarket of choice the thumbs “down down” as they entered the store in the Wonthaggi Plaza complex on Thursday afternoon this week.

Many of them were well aware that Coles Supermarkets Australia, which disclosed sales of almost $45 billion in 2025 and a gross profit of $11.8 billion, had been found guilty in the Federal Court earlier in the day of false or misleading representations about their ‘Down Down’ discounts, in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The proceedings related to 245 common products sold by Coles.

The ACCC alleged that Coles temporarily increased the price of each product by at least 15 per cent for a relatively short period of time, before placing it on a ‘Down Down’ promotion at a price that was still higher than, or the same as, the price it had previously sold for before the price increase.

The ACCC alleged that the discounts were illusory and that the representations were false or misleading, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

The ACCC has also commenced separate proceedings in the Federal Court against Woolworths Group Limited for allegedly breaching the Australian Consumer Law by misleading consumers through discount pricing claims on hundreds of common supermarket products.

Although neither company has been fined for the alleged conduct, sharemarket activist and founder Crikey.com, Stephen Mayne, who believes Woolworths is in danger of a similar ruling, will be facing fines that could top the $100 million mark each, making them the biggest such fines in Australian retail history.

Speaking on ABC Radio, Mr Mayne said there may have been a bigger fine that ultimately wasn’t paid, but should Woolworths be found similarly guilty, he predicted these would be the biggest fines awarded and the biggest paid.

“Obviously, our big two supermarkets look like they've been done blatantly rorting it and together that they're probably going to face the largest fines that the ACCC have ever secured, and which will actually be paid. There was one bigger one, but I'm not sure it actually got paid in the end. But, yeah, look, I think it's dramatic. I mean, Coles fought this. Woolworth has also fought it,” said Mr Mayne.

Asked if the funds could be paid back to the customers, potentially via the supermarkets’ loyalty programs instead of going into the government’s coffers, he admitted it would be “a dog’s breakfast” given the number impacted not involved in the loyalty programs.

But he said that shareholders had already penalised the firms for their conduct with Coles’ shares down 2.3% on the decision and Woolworths copping in a pre-emptive hit, off 1.6% on the day.

A young mum with her husband, and baby in the pusher, heading into the Wonthaggi Plaza on Thursday this week gave her view.

“People are definitely encouraged by the specials they see with their purchasing behaviour but if you watch it closely enough, you can see that some of the specials aren’t as special as they make out,” she said.

“I suspected there was an issue there so I’m not surprised they got fined but it’s a real problem that an organisation as big as Coles can do something like that.

“It’s pretty disgusting, really,” she said.

Another shopper making her way into the Plaza, intending to visit Coles after a stop at the bakery, was equally pleased to see Coles brought down.

“I think it’s a great decision. Any kind of deception in trading, especially on food, is a real problem because you’ve got a lot of people who are poor and homeless who have to prioritise food. Even with regular mums and dads, it’s not a great idea not to be fair and equitable with food consumption.

“So, anyone who would say they are going to discount the price on something and then deliberately not do that is really poor behaviour.

“Advertised specials make a difference to how customers spend their money and for that to be proved to be misleading is pretty disappointing.

“Visually, people are drawn to red signs or stickers, and the prospect of a bargain will tend to trick the mind when in fact, it’s not real.”

The hearing involved an agreed list of sample products from the total of 245. The Court found that Coles made misleading representations in 13 of the 14 ‘Down Down’ tickets that were considered in the liability hearing.

“We welcome the Court’s finding that Coles breached the Australian Consumer Law,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“The ACCC brought this case in the public interest because we considered that Coles’ pricing practices within its ‘Down Down’ program made it harder for customers to identify genuine value for money while shopping for household essentials.”

“We had received complaints by consumers about the ‘Down Down’ discounting claims made by Coles. We understand how important it is for consumers to get value for their supermarket purchases, and decided to take action to test the discounting practices in Court,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“This case has increased transparency and accountability in relation to Coles’ Down Down program.”

The Court will determine penalties and other orders sought by the ACCC at a later date.

Background

The ACCC instituted proceedings against Coles in September 2024.

The ACCC alleged that Coles made false or misleading representations to consumers about the prices of 245 products between February 2022 and May 2023.

These products include Arnott’s Shapes biscuits, Band-Aids, Bega cheese, Cadbury chocolates, Coca Cola soft drink, Colgate toothpaste, Danone yoghurt, Dettol multi-purpose wipes, Fab laundry liquid, Karicare formula, Kellogg’s snack bars, Kleenex tissues, Libra tampons, Lurpak butter, Maggi two-minute noodles, Nature’s Gift dog food, Nescafe instant coffee, Palmolive shampoo, Rexona deodorant, Sakata rice crackers, Sanitarium Weet-Bix cereal, Strepsils lozenges, Sunrice rice, Tena pads, Viva paper towels, Whiskas cat food, and Zafarelli pasta.

The liability hearing involved an agreed list of 12 sample products from the total of 245. Two of these products were placed on the Down Down program twice.

Coles is the second-largest supermarket chain in Australia, operating more than 840 stores nationally.

Coles introduced the ‘Down Down’ Program in June 2010 and marketed it as a promotional campaign designed to reduce the regular shelf price of commonly purchased products - which offered customers predictable and reliable value on the items they purchased the most, reducing the cost of their shopping basket.