PARIS (Reuters) -France's consumer protection authority said on Tuesday it had fined Debenhams-owned online fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million) for deceptive commercial
France Imposes €1.3 Million Fine on PrettyLittleThing for Misleading Discounts
Overview of the Fine Against PrettyLittleThing
PARIS (Reuters) -France's consumer protection authority said on Tuesday it had fined Debenhams-owned online fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million) for deceptive commercial practices.
Details of the Investigation
The fine follows an investigation by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) that found PrettyLittleThing misled consumers about the discounts they could benefit from when shopping on the prettylittlething.fr website, the authority said.
Impact on Debenhams and Future Plans
A PrettyLittleThing spokesperson said: "The issues raised were based on the period from November 2022 to May 2023, which was overseen by previous management, and have long since been resolved in agreement with the regulator."
Debenhams has said it is exploring a potential sale of PrettyLittleThing, which suffered a 23% drop in annual revenue and reported an 84.1 million pound ($114 million) pretax loss in its latest financial year, ended February 28.
This is the second time in three months the competition authority has fined a fast-fashion company over fake discounts, having hit Shein with a 40 million euro fine in July.
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(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon. Additional reporting Helen Reid. Editing by Mark Potter and Nick Zieminski)
