Glasses retailer calls for clarity

In an application to the Federal Court, Specsavers claims its rival engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct over particular frames it advertised for sale at 70 per cent off or 40 per cent off usual prices.

Specsavers says in its court application that contrary to those representations, the spectacle frames were not heavily discounted and that in one advertisement the Optical Superstore offered a complete set of glasses - containing frames and prescription lenses - at a price that appeared to be for the whole item when it was for the frames only.

New pricing laws introduced on May 25, and backed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, require businesses to be clear about prices in their advertising and marketing material. The laws crack down on the practice of luring customers with a low price that is never charged when extras and other charges are included.

The amendments to the act require that if businesses choose to advertise a part of the price of a particular product or service, they must also provide a single figure that reflects the total price.

Specsavers' claims against the Optical Superstore come at a time when players in Australia's $1.3 billion optometry and dispensing sector battle for market share as consumers increasingly view prescription glasses as a commodity rather than an expensive fashion item.

Traditional operators such as leader OPSM face new competition from companies such as supermarket chain Woolworths, which recently entered the market with its own discount chain.

The British-based Specsavers opened its first store in Australia in February last year and is now the second-largest optical retailer after Luxottica, the owner of OPSM.

Specsavers, which has 173 retail outlets, is also involved in a legal wrangle in the NSW Supreme Court with Luxottica over allegations of a breach of copyright and misuse of confidential Luxottica information.

In Federal Court documents lodged last month, Specsavers took aim at the Optical Superstore, a Melbourne-based retailer with 59 stores throughout Australia. Specsavers is claiming a breach of three sections of the Trades Practices Act and seeks a range of injunctions against the Optical Superstore's advertising and promotion as well as damages and costs.

The Optical Superstore did not return a phone call by BusinessDay. The case continues.