Extension of a discount campaign

Discount campaigns are particularly popular advertising measures during the pre-Christmas season. However, it must be noted that this must not constitute a breach of competition law. Whether an extension of a time-limited discount campaign is anti-competitive had to be decided by the Regional Court of Hamburg (LG Hamburg).

A company advertised its products with so-called "Golden Weeks", a discount campaign which was supposed to take place between 14 and 23 November.

In some of the company's branches, however, the sales campaign ran beyond the stated time period.

The claimant saw in this an anti-competitive misleading of consumers.

Court decision

As the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has already decided in another case (Judgment of 07.07.2011, Az. I ZR 173/09), the Regional Court of Hamburg (LG Hamburg) decided by judgment of 17.06.2015 (Az. 408 HKO 17/14) that the extension of a time-limited sales campaign without any particular reason is anti-competitive.

The court justified its decision by stating that the customer is placed under pressure by the specified time period to make a decision hastily as to whether they wish to take advantage of the time-limited offer. If there were in fact no need for such haste and possibly hasty decision-making, since the offer would also be valid later, this would constitute misleading conduct and thus a breach of competition law.

Furthermore, no reason for the extension was apparent.

Conclusion

Advertising companies are not permitted to arbitrarily shorten or extend time-limited sales campaigns. They are bound by the time limits they advertise. Therefore, the terms and conditions of discount campaigns must be drawn up and observed with the greatest care.