Stormberg’s offer was 600 kroner cheaper a week and a half before Black Week – E24

Stormberg’s customer, Anita Myrseth Haugerud, purchased an outdoor suit for NOK 999 at the brand’s store on November 13.

A week and a half later, Black Week began, the week in which a large part of the commercial booth carries out large promotional campaigns. By then, the item had managed to adjust upward to NOK 1,799, and was then reduced in price to NOK 1,619 with a previous price of NOK 1,799.

– I think it was a bit of fun when I found out that I had bought a garment more than 600 kroner cheaper than what was on sale during Black Week, Haugerud tells E24.

Stormberg tells E24 that they have not marketed the product as part of the Black Week campaign.

Set prices before Black Week

But there are several instances in the Stormberg online product catalog where the price was adjusted up before the sale week.

The comparison service Prisguiden, which the Consumer Agency recommends to use, shows, among other things, an all-weather jacket that increased in price from NOK 599 to NOK 1,299 from November 14 to 15, and then was offered at NOK 1,169 during Black Week.

Another example is a down jacket that was priced at 599-1299 from November 14-15, and will then be offered during Black Week for 1,169 kroner. The summary shows that the product for most of 2020 has cost much less than the sale price.

According to the Norwegian Consumer Agency, a product must have been sold at full price for a specified period for it to be considered an actual prior price.

This period is often set at six weeks, but may be somewhat longer and shorter given the volume of sales of the item.

In the case of Stormberg, there are several examples of companies selling products with an advance price only a few days before they are placed as special offer products, although the price has been much lower only a few days or weeks before.

E24 has also observed pre-priced items that cannot be found in the Price Guide overview.

In the following graphic you can see how the price developed for one of the down jackets that Stormberg had for sale during Black Week. Statistics show that the item has rarely cost as much as during Black Week, which is the last period shown in the graph below.

Could have saved 1000 kronor this summer

In other words, Stormberg customers could save a lot of money by buying certain items before Black Week.

When Haugerud informed Stormberg of the case on Facebook, he received the reply that the price of the item had been reduced to 999 kroner several times. “But it’s only for short campaigns.”

But the overview of the Price Guide shows a different picture.

Here, the outer suit that was on the market that year cost as little as 622 kroner, and before August this year, it had never cost more than the Black Week sale.

Haugerud says he has been a Stormberg customer for many years and left “a few thousand” in the store by purchasing outdoor clothing for the whole family.

– I really like Stormberg a lot for its people vision and environmental profile, so I was disappointed when I saw this, says the client.

– Will it have consequences if you buy from Stormberg in the future?

– I will continue shopping there, precisely because of its profile, but I take the offers with a pinch of salt, says Haugerud.

The Norwegian Consumer Agency warns

The Norwegian Consumer Agency, which regulates the campaign jungle of Norwegian shops, has for many years warned against lure deals, especially during Black Week.

– We have not dealt with this matter, but in general I can say that the pre-prices indicated must be established in the weeks prior to the sale. If the price has been lower than the previous price set in the last weeks before the sale, it is problematic, says the director of the department of the Norwegian Consumer Agency, Jo Gjedrem.

– Then there is the possibility that many consumers feel cheated, he continues.

The so-called deception of consumers is a violation of the Marketing Act, which the Norwegian Consumer Agency is responsible for enforcing.

Gjedrem recommends that people use price comparison services like Prisguiden, saying that the previous price shown should be the lowest price in recent weeks.

It is not a Black Week offer, but an offer during Black Week

Stormberg has been presented with the examples mentioned in the case.

E24 has requested an interview with Stormberg CEO Hege Nilsen Ekberg, but the company only wanted to answer questions via email.

– At the Stormberg online store, we have a total of 8,795 different product lines and weekly campaigns for our customers. We cannot rule out that errors in the pricing information of individual products may occur in this regard, and this is something we will investigate further, writes communications manager Ida Kristine Moe.

Questions have also been raised as to whether the company believes that the previous pricing in the case is within regulations, and whether Stormberg understands that clients may be skeptical when encountering such examples, but this is an unanswered answer.

The manufacturer of hikers believes that the products mentioned are not part of the official Black Week campaign, but are by chance offered during the week known as Black Week.

– None of the three products about which E24 has contacted Stormberg has been part of the Black Week campaign, they are not Black Week offers and therefore are not marketed this week. The 359 products that are marketed during Black Week, on the other hand, have an average discount of an additional 26.45 percent compared to the prices that products have been sold during the previous six weeks, writes the communications manager of the company, Moe, who believes that customers generally get good deals during Black Week.

– Black Week is the week of the year when prices in the online store and physical stores in Stormberg are at the lowest overall, he writes and says that many customers buy hiking clothing that week.