• The Biedronka chain of stores misled customers during its “Special Wednesday” and “Valentine’s Wednesday” promotional campaigns.
• “100% moneyback as a voucher” — the promise was simple, and consumers were surprised when they learned about the rules and limits after they had made their purchases.
• The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of nearly PLN 105 million on Jeronimo Martins Polska.

At the beginning of last year, Biedronka stores held one-day-only promotional campaigns called “Special Wednesday” and “Valentine’s Wednesday”. Customers were encouraged to buy specific products for which they were supposed to receive a “100% moneyback as a voucher”. However, it turned out that the terms and conditions for redeeming the voucher were more complicated than presented in advertisements on the radio, in the mobile app, on Biedronka’s Facebook profile and in the chain’s stores. Consumers could not redeem it with their next purchase of any product, as suggested by the advertising slogan. Therefore, for violating the collective interests of consumers, the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, imposed a fine of nearly PLN 105 million on Jeronimo Martins Polska.

Promise vs reality

The promise of “100% moneyback as a voucher” sounds very attractive and simple, but in the case of Biedronka it was misleading. Consumers did not have the freedom to use the funds from the voucher as they wished. There were specific rules and restrictions imposed on its use, which Biedronka customers usually found out about only when they received the voucher together with their shopping receipt.

“The app said: buy Wedel chocolate-covered marshmallows and get a free voucher in the amount equivalent to your purchase. The same information was presented next to the product. Yet once the purchase was made and the voucher came out of the cash register, it turned out that it was for the PURCHASE of juices with a minimum value of PLN 25” — this is one of the complaints about unclear and selective information about the promotion.

What do tulips have to do with frozen foods?

In most cases, the products covered by the promotion were not related to those for which the voucher was received. For example, the purchase of sausages entitled the customer to a voucher for fruit and vegetables, the purchase of chocolate entitled them to a voucher for cosmetics, and the purchase of meat entitled them to a voucher for drinks or sweets. In addition, in order to use the voucher, you had to make another purchase from the category specified by the retailer and spend a certain amount.

“What do tulips have to do with frozen foods?”, “When I received the voucher, it turned out that it could only be used to purchase laundry detergent”, “Your promotions are becoming more and more complicated (…). You are being misleading and failing to provide essential information.” These are select excerpts from many signals received from confused customers of the Biedronka chain who wanted to take advantage of the promotion, encouraged by the promise of “100% moneyback as a voucher”.

We will tell you about this, but not about that

Consumers had no real opportunity to familiarise themselves with the actual terms and conditions of the promotional campaigns when they decided to take advantage of them, encouraged by the advertising. What Biedronka customers were not told in the advertising materials was essential for assessing the attractiveness of the promotion and making purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, the product categories for which the voucher could be redeemed, the condition of making a purchase for a minimum amount that exceeded the value of the voucher, the limit of one voucher per person, and the limit on moneyback for products sold by weight could only be found in the terms and conditions on the biedronka.pl website, the bulletin board (usually located behind the checkout registers) or on the voucher itself, which was received after making a purchase. As customers rightly pointed out in comments on the company’s Facebook profile: “Biedronka, this information should be displayed directly with the voucher advertisement. You are being misleading and failing to provide essential information”. This method of communicating key information about the promotional campaign is insufficient, as confirmed by the proceedings conducted by the President of UOKiK.

– In its advertising message encouraging customers to make purchases, the company omitted essential information and conditions of the promotional campaign, including its limitations. It indicated that the products could be purchased “for free” and described the voucher as “free”. This could have led consumers to make the decision to take advantage of the promotion, thinking that they would be able to save money on products that they could freely choose themselves. The selection of advertising content and the way it is presented must not mislead consumers. Marketing messages should contain the most important information from the consumers’ point of view, so that they do not have to go search for it on their own. Businesses are obliged to communicate this information at the right time, clearly and unambiguously – said Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The evidence gathered showed that the business deliberately violated the collective interests of consumers during the “Special Wednesday” and “Valentine’s Wednesday” campaigns.

The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of nearly PLN 105 million (PLN 104,722,016) on Jeronimo Martins Polska. The decision is not final, and the company may lodge an appeal with the court.