Almost sold out: Online retailers caught for urgency tactics, misleading claims to pressure shoppers

Three online retailers have been caught for using urgency tactics and misleading claims to pressure shoppers into buying from their platform, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) said on Monday (May 18).

The retailers —Seager Inc, Origin Sleep and Light In The Box — allegedly featured "dark practices" on their web pages.

Following investigations, Seager Inc's Boarding Gate, which specialises in goods related to travel, was allegedly found to feature dynamic numbers that supposedly showed the number of people looking at products on its website or placing items in its shopping cart.

This created an "illusion of real-time visitor activity and high demand" and was found to be fake after CCS examined the website's source code and determined that the numbers were randomised.

Origin Sleep also allegedly featured a similar message on its website to mislead and urge customers into buying products.

"The mattress retailer displayed misleading cart activity claiming 'Other people want this. XX people have this in their carts now'," CCS said.

These claims were without evidence and customers were purportedly further urged to buy as a countdown timer ticked down, warning them that their product had been "reserved" for a limited time.

However, these messages and timers did not have any real impact on product availability or shoppers' ability to buy, the commission said.

Moreover, Origin Sleep also allegedly ran time-limited sales that weren't actually time-limited at all — "Flash Sales" in January seamlessly led into "Valentine's Day Sales", which subsequently became "CNY Sales". 

Light In The Box's alleged misdeeds were brought to light by an European regulator after the company featured "almost sold out" warnings on their online products.

Contrary to warnings, the clothing sales company operated on a made-to-order procurement model and had minimal or no standing inventory.

"In reality, these scarcity labels were applied randomly for promotional effect."

Additionally, Light In The Box would also allegedly offer 'discounted' prices for goods, juxtaposing them against higher 'original' prices that were never actually offered.

'Dark patterns' in the digital marketplace

One of the retailers investigated also allegedly claimed that it had designed its website based on a template purchased from an overseas vendor, CCS said.

"Businesses cannot disclaim responsibility for their obligations to consumers regardless of whether they purchased third-party templates or designed the websites themselves."

Chief executive Alvin Koh said that "dark patterns" are difficult to detect and erode consumer trust in the digital marketplace.

"CCS will continue taking firm action to protect consumer trust and honest businesses from those who choose to compete unfairly," he said.

All three companies have since ceased their misleading practices and told CCS that they are committed to avoiding unfair trade practices in the future.

Consumers who encounter unfair trade practices can report them to the Consumers Association of Singapore at 6277 5100 or through their online complaints portal at https://complaints.case.org.sg/.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com