Online florist Meg's Flowers Pty Ltd has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay penalties of $1 million for making misleading representations, in proceedings brought by the ACCC.
Meg's Flowers admitted that it had breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading representations 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.
In fact, Meg's Flowers did not directly maintain any local shopfronts accessible to customers. Orders placed with Meg's Flowers 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 said.
"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 establish a compliance program, publish a corrective notice on its website, and contribute to the ACCC's costs. Meg's Flowers made admissions and agreed to make joint submissions to the Court with the ACCC on the appropriate penalty and other orders.
Early in 2022, the ACCC put the online florist industry on notice of its concerns about reports of false or misleading representations about the location of online florists and issued some recommendations to consumers.
Source: ACCC