A number of retailers, including Shanghai Landmark Department Store, a Parkson store in Beijing and a Gome outlet in Wuhan, have been found guilty of price frauds by China's top economic planning agency.
The shops were found cheating customers with "fictional" prices or by covering up terms and conditions of promotions, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website yesterday.
The commission has told local authorities to issue fines, which can be as much as 500,000 yuan (US$76,903).
In one example highlighted by the NDRC, a pair of women's shoes originally priced at 468 yuan at the Shanghai Landmark store on Nanjing Road E. were tagged 768 yuan and sold at 576 yuan during a sales event, the NDRC said.
But a manager with Shanghai Landmark's advertising department surnamed Chen told Shanghai Daily this had been a misunderstanding.
He said the price of the shoes had been cut to 468 yuan from 768 yuan at a previous sales event on April 1-7. Chen said the price was restored to 768 yuan after the event. But later, the store cut the price to 576 yuan in a separate "25 percent off" promotion.
"It's very common that department stores carry out various sales events during different holidays or periods of times, adjusting prices to attract customers," Chen said. "And we didn't cheat on customers."
That explanation failed to convince the city's price authority, however. The Shanghai Development and Reform Commission said yesterday that the actual transaction price within seven days before a sale period should be deemed the original price. The authority's price investigation took place between April 8 and 14, it said.
A Parkson store in Beijing and a Central Emporium outlet in Nanjing were also found to have marked up prices before discounting.
A Gome outlet in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei Province, was found to have persuaded customers to buy coupons without revealing their limited application.
"An 800 yuan coupon sold at 300 yuan could only be used when customers bought at least two pieces of certain types of electrical appliances worth more than 8,000 yuan," the commission said. "Some customers participated in the promotions without being informed of the conditions."
On Monday, the NDRC vowed to crack down on price frauds and manipulation with the May Day holiday shopping spree approaching.
Local authorities were ordered to keep a close watch on pricing at shopping malls, and on the price of daily necessities.
Earlier this year, several Carrefour and Wal-Mart outlets were fined 500,000 yuan for price frauds during a crackdown by the NDRC.
