Online pricing and marketing practices face investigation
Mon, 19 Oct 2009
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched two market studies to investigate issues such as drip pricing and baiting sales, it has announced.
Both the online targeting of advertising and the advertising of prices will be investigated, with the outcomes expected in the spring.
In the first study, the OFT will investigate behavioural advertising and customised pricing, "where prices are individually tailored using information collected about a consumer's internet use".
Meanwhile, in the second, various pricing practices will be assessed to establish whether they have the potential to mislead customers in the online retail world.
Heather Clayton, OFT senior director, said the studies would ensure that the office keeps up to date with the latest developments and, in particular, on how new pricing and advertising practices are emerging and evolving online.
She added: "It is very important that the OFT's approach to potentially misleading practices remains well-informed by a sound evidence base, so we effectively protect consumers while allowing firms to compete freely."
The OFT is a non-ministerial government department given competences as the UK's consumer and competition authority.
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