00:02Today's hearing was based on dog food. It heard about toothpaste and deodorant with several Coles
00:08senior managers taking the stand here at the federal court in Melbourne. Now the ACCC clearly
00:14had a tin of dog food in its sights with it claiming that price movements on this are an
00:20example of illusory or fake discounting using Coles's down-down promotion. Now we heard from
00:28a Coles manager about that pricing during sometimes tense and extended questioning. We also heard how
00:35sensitive Coles is to price movements by its major competitor Woolworths. The court also heard about
00:41how Coles negotiates with its suppliers on price increases. It was a rare insight into the
00:48negotiations that do happen behind the scenes. Another Coles senior manager was grilled about
00:53pricing on deodorant which was another example of being shown how sensitive Coles is to price
01:00movements by its main competitor. More Coles managers could front up here to the federal court tomorrow
01:06before the ACCC enters into its closing arguments and then Coles gets a chance to defend itself with
01:13its closing arguments. Now the stakes here are very high. One former ACCC boss has said that this
01:20is the case of the century. Coles is up facing a massive fine if it loses this case and it
01:28faces
01:28reputational damage at a time where faith and trust in the major supermarkets has been dropping.
Comments