At the beginning of the year, discount stores competed with each other for the title of “cheapest”. TV commercials were broadcast convincing that OUR discount store was the cheapest, and stores were plastered with posters informing about the prices of “more expensive competition”. Competition also took place on the shelves. At some point, chains lowered the prices of selected products in order to appear better in the media “price baskets”. However, they could overdo it with the promotion of one product.
Vodka for less than 10 zlotys. Prosecutor's office will investigate
Namely, in February, Biedronka's offer included Parkowa vodka for PLN 8.99, in Lidl – Polna for PLN 9.99, and in Kaufland – Żubr for PLN 9.99. The prices were the result of promotions introduced by the chains, which radically lowered the prices of these specific half-liter bottles of alcohol. The problem, however, is that the price below PLN 10 for a half-liter bottle means that the alcohol was sold cheaper than the excise duty. Gazeta.pl found out thenthat the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection informed the District Prosecutor's Office of Warsaw-Mokotów about this.
The Warsaw prosecutor's office recently admitted in response to “Gazeta Wyborcza“, that it is conducting proceedings regarding illegal promotion of alcohol. – The case is ongoing – informed prosecutor Piotr Skiba, spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw. The notification concerns a breach of the Act on Education in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism, and more precisely its section on the promotion of alcohol. It is also being investigated whether the discount stores did not enter into a price collusion and whether these products were accurately excised. The illegal promotion of alcohol is punishable by a financial penalty of up to PLN 500,000.
Auditions in discount stores. Biedronka, Lidl and Kaufland will pay for vodka at low prices?
The prosecutor's office has already begun questioning. Lidl has indicated the person responsible for setting the price, and the interrogated member of the Biedronka board invoked attorney-client privilege and indicated another department that would be able to provide the appropriate information. Investigators are to contact him. The Kaufland representative has not yet been questioned, but investigators want to do so.
When the promotions were widely publicized, we sent a query to the chains in question – why do they sell alcohol at such low prices? Lidl explained that “the price of the product was dictated by market conditions and was only valid for a short period of time”. Biedronka explained that it does everything to offer products at the lowest possible prices, which also translates into the prices of products such as vodka. Kaufland, on the other hand, swore that the price reduction of the aforementioned product in the chain's stores was the result of an error, and after it was discovered, the standard price was immediately restored.