Sports Direct ‘ripping off’ customers with misleading deals

Sports Direct has been accused of potentially misleading customers by using Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) to suggest deals that may not be as advantageous as they appear, according to consumer group Which?.

The watchdog has reported the retail giant to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after receiving tip-offs regarding the use of RRPs.

Sports Direct frequently uses comparative RRP figures to imply that customers are getting a cheaper deal.

However, Which? researchers were unable to find some items sold at Sports Direct's stated RRP price anywhere else online.

In addition to RRPs, the chain also uses terms such as Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) or Suggested Retail Price (SRP), which the watchdog believes consumers would interpret as equivalent to an RRP.

Which? initiated its investigation into the pricing of 160 popular products on SportsDirect.com after receiving tip-offs from its readers about "suspicious" RRPs.

Overall, for 58 of the 160 products investigated, Which? found no retailer selling them online at or above the Sports Direct reference price.

For a further 53, Which? did find the product at or above the reference price at another retailer, but in each case that retailer was part of the Frasers Group, Sports Direct’s owner. All of these items were Frasers Group own-brand products.

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Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has a large portfolio of brands under its umbrella including Jack Wills, Slazenger, Everlast and Lonsdale.

Frasers Group also owns various retailers such as USC, Studio, and Get the Label, which sometimes appeared to be the only sellers of these particular brands, Which? said.

Which? found a Jack Wills Hunston graphic logo hoodie in green for £24 at Sports Direct, with the item advertised as having a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of £54.99.

Which? researchers could not find the item sold or supplied by anyone other than Frasers Group retailers.

It was £40 on Amazon – which is supplied by Sports Direct – but all the other retailers sold it at £24.

Which? also found a pair of Slazenger men’s tennis shoes selling at Sports Direct for £32.99 – nearly half the MSRP of £64.99.

Which? found the trainers sold on eight other websites, but the owner or seller was always part of the parent company.

Seven retailers sold them for £32.99, or in one case £33. Only one retailer, Slazenger itself, sold them at the MSRP.

A Whitaker Somerfield long sleeve base layer for equestrian sports was also selling at Sports Direct at £8 with an RRP of £35.

Unlike the other examples, Whitaker Somerfield is not a brand owned by Sports Direct or Frasers Group, but Which? researchers could not find it sold or supplied by anyone else online other than Frasers Group retailers.

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The highest price found was £18 – still a long way short of the supposed £35 reference price, Which? said.

Which? said it believed some of Sports Direct’s uses of RRPs and MSRPs could be “misleading actions” under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, as they could mislead people about the value of a product and savings they could make.

Which? legal expert Lisa Webb said: “If Sports Direct is misleading customers by inappropriate use of RRPs to dupe them into thinking they are getting a good deal, then the competition regulator needs to step in and take strong action to stop this from happening.

“In the meantime, shoppers should take any big discounts at SportsDirect.com with a pinch of salt and make sure they compare prices with other retailers before parting with any hard earned cash.”

Sports Direct declined to immediately comment.