Covid price wars are here, but check is it really cheap

The sharp rise in Covid-19 cases once again forces consumers to stay home and shop for even daily essentials like fruits and vegetables from the safety of their homes

The sharp rise in Covid-19 cases once again forces consumers to stay home and shop for even daily essentials like fruits and vegetables from the safety of their homes. This time however, brick and mortar stores are well prepared to face the competition from online stores and are offering to home deliver these goods at competitive prices. And they are using Whatsapp and text messaging to promote their business. This certainly gives consumers more choice , but on the flip side, the ensuing competition is also promoting unfair and deceptive practices inimical to consumer interest.

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The competition is most apparent on the price front , with each of them wanting to give consumers an impression that his price is the lowest, without really reducing the price, but making hyperbolic statements such as ‘Steep Price Drop’, ‘Lowest Price’ and ‘Deep Discounts’. And almost all of them use exaggerated ‘reference pricing’ to achieve their objective. Some, for example, show an imaginary ‘Maximum Retail Price’ (MRP) of vegetables to show how their prices are far lower. For example, the price of carrot at ₹25 a kilogram was compared with an MRP of ₹58 to show that there was a saving of 57 per cent or ₹33 a kg ! Now where did this MRP of ₹58 come from? The maximum retail price is the manufacturer’s suggested price for pre-packed goods , as required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules. So who fixed the MRP for fresh, unpacked vegetables? Obviously, the MRP is the highly embellished price concocted by the retailer to give consumers an impression that they are getting a discount!

Even more shocking was the retailer who claimed a ‘Price Drop’ on tomatoes. His reference price, to indicate the massive price reduction, was ₹104. Tomato prices did go up sharply by the end of September 2021 due to unseasonal rains and the resultant shortage of the commodity. But they came down subsequently with fresh arrivals into the market and as per the union ministry of consumer affairs, by December 14, their prices had come down to around ₹55 and to ₹47.52 by December 21. So on a day when tomatoes cost around ₹38 to ₹45 a kilogram, the retailer was claiming that he had slashed the price from ₹104 to ₹45!

‘Strikethrough Pricing’ is another method used by many of them to show price cuts. An imaginary, inflated price is crossed out or struck off to indicate that to be the actual price and show how much the retailer had reduced the price! For example, the price of mushroom at ₹72 for 180 gms was struck off and the selling price was indicated as ₹36, giving an impression that the seller was offering mushrooms at a price well below the market price! These are all unfair trade practices and the consumer protection regulator, the Central Consumer Protection Authority constituted under the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 will have to crack down on such deceptive pricing and protect consumers.

Another devious method adopted by some of the retailers is to quote prices for non-standard weights or for odd weights generally not used for buying vegetables and fruits. For example, the price of tomato is advertised for 900 gms, that of brinjal for 450 gms, gooseberry for 225 gms and mushrooms for 180 gms! Specifying prices for such varying weights not only confuse consumers, but also make price comparison with other outlets almost impossible. So the solution lies in making unit pricing mandatory for vegetables and fruits sold online and also for any advertisement or communication pertaining to their sale, made through the electronic media. This can be done through an amendment to E-Commerce Rules and it would go a long way in protecting consumers from unethical sale practices, particularly in these Covid times.