Target says Kmart has ceased disputed price comparisons
Dow Jones News Service
Published 08/31/01
Target Corp. of Minneapolis said that rival Kmart Corp. has
"permanently removed" from its stores all "Dare to Compare"
price comparisons, but a Target spokesman said the company is
still pursuing litigation accusing Kmart of false advertising.
A Kmart representative wasn't immediately available to
comment.
On Aug. 21, Target sued Kmart in a U.S. District Court in
Minnesota, alleging that 74 percent of the price comparisons in
a nationwide Kmart ad campaign were flawed.
Kmart's response at the time was that it would "vigorously
defend its right to continue to share competitive pricing
information" with customers.
Kmart's ads compare its prices with competitors such as Target
and Wal-Mart and grocer Kroger.
The trouble, according to Target officials, is that many of
Target's prices quoted in the ads are wrong. And Kmart often
gets its own prices wrong, the complaint states.
"Kmart is lying to consumers," Target's general counsel, James
Hale, said this month. "When you see this kind of thing, it
makes you really mad," Hale said, noting that Target first got
wind of the price comparison displays from its employees when
they comparison shopped at Kmart.
Target hired a research firm that sent out a team of price
comparison investigators in five cities nationwide in late July
and early August. The cities surveyed included Minneapolis
and St. Paul.
In a prepared statement at the time the suit was filed, Kmart
denied the claims and said customers like the competitive
pricing ad campaign. "It is unfortunate when a competitor has
to resort to needless, costly litigation when they discover that
they are falling behind in pricing in the retail arena," the
statement said.
The suit comes at a time when Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart
are all furiously competing for increasingly price-conscious
customers. While Wal-Mart competes largely on price and
Target differentiates itself as the "upscale discounter," Kmart
has struggled to define itself.
-- Staff writer Janet Moore contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
