Over the years, shopping baskets in retail chains have been checked, and comparisons between them have been conducted in various occasions such as before holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Passover, etc.). These examinations and comparisons have been given extensive publicity in a variety of media and were used as tools for assessing the consumer price applied in the different retail chains. In the last eighteen months, Consumer Council Patrols (SEMEL) have been investigating dozens of products in hundreds of outlets across the country.
Many consumers plan and direct their purchases according to information provided to the media in order to save expenses in large concentrated purchases, which they perform before holidays.
As part of its war against cost-of-living that has skyrocketed in recent years, the Consumer Council has followed up after the prices fluctuation in retail chains and has characterized the behavior of these chains following the publication of the results of shopping basket surveys.
The follow-up survey conducted by the Consumer Council last Passover has revealed that some retail chains have reduced their prices before the date of publication of the shopping baskets in the media, but have significantly raised their prices immediately after publication of the various shopping baskets.
In such situation, the consumers were misled to conduct their purchases according to the publication of the prices in the retail chains and according to the rating of the chains and paid for their purchases higher prices than those who were just published and that are no longer relevant.
Israel Consumer Council CEO, lawyer Mr. Ehud Peleg, says that "this practice is improper and unfair and is likely to mislead consumers, especially during large and concentrated purchases for the holiday". See attached letter by the Council CEO.
In light of these facts, the Council has decided to monitor the fluctuation of prices in the retail chains before, during and after publication of prices of the shopping baskets in the media.
Israel Consumer Council CEO, Layer Mr. Ehud Peleg, has informed retail chains' CEOs about the Councils' decision to conduct comparisons and its intention to publish the conduct of the chains at the end of the examination, as part of its effort to improve level of fairness in commerce.
