Pier 1 Advertises False ‘Original’ Product Prices Online, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action claims Pier 1 Imports has advertised false “original” prices for items on its website in order to trick shoppers into believing the products are available at a discount.

According to the 27-page case, the retailer’s false reference prices artificially inflate the perceived value of its home furnishings, décor and other products, such that consumers pay more for and buy more of the items than they otherwise would.

“Consequently, false reference pricing schemes enable retailers, like Defendant, to sell products above their true market price and value—and consumers are left to pay the price,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit contends that Pier 1 is well aware of consumers’ susceptibility to bargains, and that they usually have little information about a product, other than its price, with which to assess the item’s value. 

According to the complaint, Pier 1 exploits these behavioral tendencies to boost sales by advertising products on pier1.com with fictitious “original” prices and a corresponding sale price. The suit says these false reference prices, which are crossed out alongside the purported sale price, serve to “creat[e] an impression of savings” and trick shoppers into thinking they’re getting a “deep discount” on the item. The case claims, however, that Pier 1’s products are never sold at the advertised strikethrough prices, and that the false reference prices are “part of a larger scheme to deceptively manufacture false discounts to incentivize consumers to make purchases.”

According to the suit, “[t]he only plausible explanation” for Pier 1’s alleged false reference pricing scheme is to artificially inflate the value of its products and drive sales.

“Defendant has, and without intervention will continue to, increase sales by creating the illusion of short-lived bargains through purporting to offer products on sale from false original prices,” the complaint states.

Under California law, a retailer may only discount a product from its own original price or a competitor’s price for up to 90 days. After that point, the seller must either return the item to its original price or disclose to customers the date on which the product was last offered for the advertised reference price. Additionally, the purported former price of the product must have been one at which the product was sold “on a regular basis” for “a commercially reasonable period of time,” the suit relays.

According to the case, Pier 1 does not disclose anywhere on its website that its products were never sold by the retailer or competitors for the advertised “original” prices. Per the suit, the absence of these disclosures and Pier 1’s use of fictitious reference prices render the retailer’s conduct “inherently misleading.”

The suit looks to represent anyone in California who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, purchased from Pier 1 Imports’ e-commerce website one or more products at a discount from an advertised reference price and has not received a refund or credit for their purchase. 

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