Retailers will need to be on their best behaviour when it comes to advertising and promoting their Black Friday sales, with the ACCC conducting a Black Friday sales sweep.
Focusing on a range of tactics used by retailers, the sweep aims to identify misleading or deceptive sales advertising.
“We are putting retailers on notice to review their sales advertising practices to ensure that any sales or discount claims they make are accurate, clear and not likely to mislead or deceive consumers,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe says.
“Misleading advertising may influence a consumer’s behaviour and impact their ability to make an informed purchasing decision during the sales.”
This includes misleading limited time representations that create a false sense of urgency for consumers, misleading ‘site-wide’ or ‘store-wide’ claims about sales and claims of ‘up to x per cent off’, where few products are on sale at x per cent off.
“We will pay special attention to retailers who were identified as having problematic sales practices in the sweep we conducted during last year’s Black Friday and Boxing Day sales and expect to see improved compliance across the retail sector.”
Indeed, in June 2025, Michael Hill, My House and Hairhouse online paid penalties for allegedly making false and misleading representations about their Black Friday sales in 2024.
The ACCC encourages consumers to be wary of broad claims about discounts or savings during Black Friday and to check for any disclaimers or conditions in sales advertisements.
“If consumers are waiting for the Black Friday sales to make a big purchase, we encourage them to consider checking the prices now before sales start, so they can compare the price and determine if they are making a legitimate saving.”
Main image: iStock – cyano66
