The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Woolworths Group (ASX:WOW), and Coles Group (ASX:COL) presented arguments in federal court on Friday over the number of sample grocery products to be used in an upcoming court case filed by the consumer watchdog in September last year, according to a same-day report by The Australian.
The ACCC sued the companies over the alleged use of misleading discounts, citing 240 grocery items with fake or illusory discounts.
Of the 240 items, Woolworths agreed to six "core samples" while the ACCC argued for a set of around 12. Meanwhile, Coles is also looking to narrow the set of sample groceries to be included in the trial.
The supermarkets argued that a larger set of products would involve more category managers and evidence.
Justice Michael O'Bryan told the parties to compromise instead, regardless of whether 12 or 16 samples were used.
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