Competition, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Retail

In the Rimi sticker campaign, which lasted from January 16 to May 15, shoppers had to collect a certain number of stickers for buying the Bosch goods for 62 % discount prices. However, according to the consumer rights watchdog’s information, the prices of the Bosch products sold as part of the marketing campaign, were the same or even higher than the prices of the same products sold by other retailers without discounts.

Although Rimi Latvia representatives claimed that the Bosch products sold in the Rimi sticker campaign were not exactly the same examined by PTAC, the consumer watchdog concluded that Rimi Latvia had not studied prices on the Baltic market properly before launching its campaign and that by promoting the campaign Rimi Latvia used unfair business practices by misleading consumers about its discount prices.

PTAC decided to ban Rimi Latvia from using such unfair business practices in the future and to impose a EUR 20,000 fine on the retailer for the violations.

Rimi Latvia retailer is going to appeal a EUR 20,000 fine imposed on the company by the Consumer Rights Protection Center (PTAC) for using unfair business practices in its sticker campaign, in which consumers were invited to collect stickers for buying various goods of the Bosch brand for discount prices, Rimi Latvia marketing and PR head Kristine Ciemite told LETA.

“Rimi Latvia does not agree with the PTAC interpretation regarding this particular sticker campaign. Its mechanism, prices and principle were worked out in collaboration with the manufacturer – Bosch. This campaign has been conducted in collaboration with Bosch in many countries, including in such well-known retail chains as Rewe and Edeka in Germany. It was conducted also in Latvia based on the same principles,” Ciemite said.

In her words, Rimi Latvija will soon file a lawsuit with a court to contest the Consumer Rights Protection Bureau’s ruling, as the retail company category disagrees with it.

As reported, Rimi Latvia turned over EUR 870.429 mln in 2017, which was a 4.8% rise against 2016, and the company’s profit grew 27.3% y-o-y to EUR 40.847 mln.

Founded in 1992, Rimi Latvia is fully owned by Rimi Baltic, a member of the Swedish retail group ICA.