Temporary injunction as result of discount campaign

The central office for counteracting unfair competition has obtained a temporary injunction from the Saarbrücken district court against Praktiker and its current 20 per cent discount campaign. Test purchases made before and during the discounting campaign revealed that Praktiker had increased product prices at the start of the campaign. These price increases were observed in the case of three of the ten articles purchased. At the worst, this means that the consumer could purchase a product at a lower price before the start of the campaign than after deduction of the advertised discount.
Praktiker considers this temporary injunction to be not founded on fact. On the contrary, the correct version according to Praktiker is that, in the run-up to the company’s national 20 per cent discount campaign, which began last Friday, the price of the three articles concerned had been temporarily reduced within the framework of a promotional campaign in reaction to the competition’s current knockdown prices. The prices of the articles concerned were then restored to the previous normal range level once this promotional period had expired. In conclusion, Praktiker declared that the case under consideration is simply a form of sales promotion that is accepted as standard retail practice.