Boohoo fined £2m by French consumer watchdog over false discounts

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Fast fashion firm Boohoo has been fined 2.3 million euros (£2 million) by the French consumer watchdog over misleading pricing practices.

The Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said Boohoo – part of the recently rebranded Debenhams Group, which is listed in London – had given shoppers a false impression about the discounts being offered on the French version of its website.

Manchester-based Boohoo did not take account of previously applied promotions, or even increased prices before applying a discount, according to the DGCCRF.

It found 95% of the listings analysed failed to comply with its rules, with 40% offering no price reduction, 7% offering a smaller discount than advertised and 48% actually increasing prices.

Boohoo also used terms that are banned, such as “leather” or “suede” to describe synthetic products, going against French rules on clothes and footwear labelling.

A Boohoo spokesperson said: “These historic issues relate to a period from October 2023 to February 2024, when the business was under previous management, and are now resolved.

“We have co-operated fully with the regulator, and continue to review how we price and label our products.”

It comes amid a clampdown in France against fast fashion firms.

Chinese online giant Shein was fined 40 million euros (£34.3 million) by France’s competition watchdog in July last year for misleading discounts.