Ministry to probe discounts offered in retail industry

ANKARA 

The Trade Ministry will probe discounts offered in the retail sector last month under different campaigns, including Legendary Friday.

Some consumers filed complaints with the ministry, arguing that the discounts were deceiving.

Officials from the ministry will look into whether the retailers had raised the prices ahead of the sales to give the impression that they were offering large discounts.

The ministry was already conducting inspections during the sales period, but will deepen its probe, which will include a wide range of products from cosmetics to textile and consumer electronics, amid complaints from consumers.

The Trade Ministry’s Advertisement Board will convene in January next year to discuss the matter. The ministry asked retailers to submit their defense regarding the inquiry over whether the pronounced discounts were real. The board will make the result of its probe public next month.

The board investigated 33 discount campaigns between March and November this year and issued fines for 27 of them totaling 629,000 Turkish Liras for the violation of regulations.

Meanwhile, a new report on credit card spending in November by private lender Garanti BBVA showed that e-commerce spending increased by 19 percent last month from October.

The share of credit cards in total spending increased from 26 percent to 29 percent. Sales volume in consumer electronics rose by 48 percent from October, while the increase was 16 percent in clothing. Spending on travel and transport was up 15 percent month-on-month.

Female consumers increased their spending by 22 percent, while male consumers’ spending rose by 17 percent in November.