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  • Flight Centre fined $252,000 for misleading promotions

    Flight Centre fined $252,000 for misleading promotions

    Flight Centre Travel Group has paid $252,000 in fines after misleading customers with unclear promotions during the 2018 Christmas and 2019 Easter periods.

    The travel group offered customers who spent $1500 on a holiday package during these periods a $250 voucher to use for their next holiday – though failed to disclose that the next holiday needed to be worth more than $5000 to qualify.

    According to the ACCC, over 35,000 customers received these vouchers as part of the promotions.

    “We are concerned that consumers were enticed to purchase their holiday through Flight Centre to obtain a voucher they were not able to use without spending another $5000 when this was not adequately disclosed,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said.

    “Businesses are warned that the terms and conditions of any deal or promotion must be prominent so that consumers understand what is involved in redeeming the offer.”

    In addition to the fine paid, Flight Centre has also waived the $5000 minimum spend condition and has extended the redemption period for the vouchers. Those earned during the 2018 Christmas period will be extended from 30 June 2019 to 31 December 2019, while those earned during 2019 Easter will also be extended to 31 December 2019.

    The ACCC notes that the payment of a penalty specified in an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of Australian Consumer Law.

    Earlier this year, the ACCC also targeted online retailer Kogan for misleading promotions, stating it made “false or misleading representations about a 10 percent discount promotion”, and would be taking the retailer to court.

    The consumer rights commission alleged Kogan had advertised a 10 percent discount on certain products, though raised the price of around 600 products before the promotion began – in some cases by at least 10 percent.

    “We allege that Kogan’s advertisements were likely to have caused consumers to think they were getting products below their usual price,” Court said in a statement in May.

    “In fact, Kogan had inflated product prices which we say created a false impression of the effective discount.”

    At the time, Kogan denied the allegations, stating they ignore critical facts and matters that are relevant to the situation.

  • Ted Baker Boost Store Network in China with JV

    Ted Baker Boost Store Network in China with JV

    Fashion brand Ted Baker has formed a joint venture to expand its network in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

    A new company will take over the three Ted Baker China stores already operating in Hong Kong and the six on the mainland. It will operate all Ted Baker future stores, concessions and online channels in the three geographical markets.

    Ted Baker will invest about RMB30 million (£3.4 million) in the new venture, which will be co-owned with Shanghai LongShang Trading Company (LS). LS will assign its rights under the JV to a newly incorporated Hong Kong investment vehicle to be wholly owned and formed by LongGoal Holdings and Infra-Apparel Group.

    Lindsay Page, acting CEO of Ted Baker, said the company is excited about the growth potential for the brand across China.

    “Over recent years we have invested in introducing the Ted Baker brand to Chinese customers, and we are confident that the creation of this JV will build on this platform and deliver meaningful long-term growth. In LongGoal and Infra-Apparel, we have extremely capable partners that bring local market expertise to our brand and already well-established design, buying and merchandising skillset.”

    Page said the brand firmly believes China has the long-term potential to become one of the largest single global territories for the Ted Baker brand.

    The Ted Baker China JV will have six directors, evenly split between Ted Baker and the JV Partner. The JV is expected to break-even in the 2021/22 financial year.

    In a statement, Ted Baker said LongGoal and Infra have a wealth of experience in digital marketing, e-commerce operations and building successful joint ventures in China.

    Infra-red has expanded the Golfino brand to 60 stores across China during the last five years and has strong digital-marketing and e-commerce operations experience.

    LongGoal is the current distributor of Gant, operating more than 165 directly owned and 25 sub-franchised locations in China, along with 44 directly owned and franchised Bebe stores.

    The new joint venture will be focusing on expanding the Ted Baker brand into tier 2 and 3 Chinese cities.

    Chen Xiaoling, chairwoman of LongGoal, said Ted Baker’s global lifestyle appeal has resonated well in China, and the company is confident in its ability to grow it further and faster.

    “In more than 20 years, LongGoal has amassed an infrastructure and presence in more than 65 cities, which presents a strong, compelling and proven platform that Ted Baker China can leverage. The transformational JV we’ve forged brings together a leading brand, strong management team and unparalleled opportunity to expand Ted Baker into cities that desire its fresh vision of style,” she said.

    Jing Yin, co-founder and chairwoman of Infra, described Ted Baker as an amazing brand that her company has admired for a long time.

    “[Ted Baker] has already demonstrated its relevance and appeal in the Chinese market. Our knowledge and experience in building fashion brands through stores, concessions and online should prove invaluable to Ted Baker and we look forward to working together.”

    The new venture is condition on approval from Chinese regulatory authorities.

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