Like millions of Australians, I shop at Coles. I’m not as careful as I should be, but I try to buy things advertised as being discounted, or on special. But after following a recent case before the federal court, I’ll be checking my old receipts before accepting such claims. In particular, I’ll be avoiding “Down Down” promotions. On the evidence before the court, such promotions are routinely used as a way of implementing price increases.

The facts of the case are simple and apparently uncontested. One example is particularly striking. Over a period of nearly a year, Coles offered a 1.2kg loaf of Nature’s Gift wet dog food for $4. Then, for seven days, the price rose by 50% to $6. On the eighth day the price was set at $4.50, more than customers had been paying for all but seven of the previous 303 days, with Coles labelling the product “Down Down”.

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The only unusual feature of this path to higher prices was the short duration of the large increase. According to Coles’ lawyers, the more common pattern was to raise the price for six to 12 weeks, then partially reverse the increase and advertise “Down........

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