Meg’s Flowers has to pay $1 million in penalties after deceiving customers by making false statements about its location.
The retailer admitted to stating that it was a local florist located in each of the towns, suburbs or localities referred to in 156 websites and in 7,462 Google advertisements.
However, Meg’s Flowers did not directly maintain any local shopfronts accessible to customers. Orders placed with the retailer were fulfilled from any one of 11 Meg’s Flowers premises or, in some instances, by subcontractors.
“By making misleading claims about the location of the florists, Meg’s Flowers denied some consumers the opportunity to make an informed decision to support a local business and likely denied truly local businesses the opportunity to make a sale to those consumers,” ACCC commissioner Liza Carver says.
Early in 2022, the ACCC put the online florist industry on notice with its concerns about reports of false or misleading representations about the location of online florists and issued some recommendations to consumers.
“Making false or misleading representations to consumers is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law. We remind businesses in all industries that the claims they make about their products and services including claims about the location of their business, must be accurate and not mislead consumers.”
The court also ordered that Meg’s Flowers establishes a compliance program, publishes a corrective notice on its website and contributes to the ACCC’s costs.
