Online fashion and home furnishings retailer Debenhams has been told to clarify savings claims on future adverts after being found to mislead consumers.

A paid-for Facebook ad for Debenhams, seen on 9 March 2024, featured text that stated “Step into Spring with up to 60% off fashion, home and beauty at Debenhams”. Below, a carousel of images featuring different products were shown next to text stating “UP TO 60% OFF” and a “Shop now” link.

A single complainant, who understood that not all products featured in the ad were available at the advertised discounted price, challenged whether the claim “UP TO 60% OFF” was misleading and could be substantiated.

In response, Debenhams explained third-party suppliers decided whether to participate in a promotion, and as such, it was beyond their control if those partners chose to exclude certain products from a Debenhams promotion.

In addition, due to the products featured being from third-party suppliers, who controlled their own pricing due to legal reasons, Debenhams said they were unable to obtain the relevant sales data.

However, since the complaint had been made, they said that the relevant team had been notified of the complaint and their internal processes had been revised to ensure future compliance with the CAP Code.

The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim “Step into spring with up to 60% off fashion, home and beauty” alongside a carousel of images featuring three different products and further text that stated “UP TO 60% OFF” to mean that those products featured in the ad were explicitly included in the promotion, and would therefore be discounted by up to 60%.

“We did not receive the pricing history for any of the products from Debenhams and, therefore, we could not determine the usual selling price of the products featured in the ad,” the ASA stated. “However, we noted that in screenshots of the three product listings shared by the complainant at the time the ad was seen, only one of the three product listings appeared to have a promotional price applied.

“This was demonstrated by a crossed-out reference price, alongside a lower promotional price, and the text “Save 60%”. The other two product listings included no such information and presented only one price, with no indication of having been reduced in price. Because we had not seen evidence that those products were available at the advertised promotional discount, we considered the use of the claim alongside those product images was misleading.”

Furthermore, the ASA added that the retailer had not demonstrated that the savings claim represented a genuine saving against the usual selling price of the item due to no sales data being provided.

“We considered the ad was misleading and concluded it had breached the Code,” the ASA said. “The ad must not appear in the form complained of. We told Debenhams to ensure that their future savings claims did not mislead and were substantiated against the usual selling price of the products.”