A half dozen shops in Qatar have temporarily lost their discount licenses and face stiff fines for violating the nation’s sale promotion rules, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has said.
Three other shops are being allowed to retain their licenses but must also pay QR5,000 each for noncompliance to Ministerial Decision No. 5 of 1984, with respect to selling through sales, promotions and discounts.
The nine stores were not named by the MEC, but the ministry said the violations were found during a recent inspection campaign in malls across the country.
For many shops, advertising promotions is a good way to entice customers into patronizing their outlets.
Summer festival
Summer is a popular time for such sales, and eight of Qatar’s malls have been offering special discounts and raffle draws during this month’s Summer Festival.
Shops in Qatar planning to hold sales are required to apply in advance to the MEC, which issues licenses for specific discount periods. The ministry also monitors sales to make sure the prices are actually reduced during this period.
This is the third time in a year that the ministry has penalized shops for running bogus sales. In January, 37 violations were issued to stores in 10 malls across the country for apparently running fake promotions.
And a month before that, 12 stores were booked for not maintaining the authorized sale prices during the duration of their promotions.
In a statement yesterday, the MEC urged consumers to compare the prices of items on sale with their original cost. The ministry added that shoppers have the right to receive a detailed invoice of both prices to confirm the promotion.
Thoughts?
We have to praise the good stuff Qatar does and this is right up there. Not a problem unique to Qatar but many unscruplous shop owners and workers use such tricks to decive customers in parting with their money. Hopefully they will think twice now before commiting such acts of dishonesty.
Though, I would be more satisfied with the temporary closure of the shop, even for one day, for deceiving customers through its promotion / discounts. 5,000 is too small of a penalty that will make them learn their lesson.
I think the fine is adequate. In order to make up a loss of QR5,000 the retailer will need to sell a minimum of triple that value in goods.
The owner makes 10 times that amount daily. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to pay the extortionate rent in the big malls.
Great for customers to know that “Sale”s in Qatar are genuine where cost, selling and sale price are approved by the Ministry however why restrict business from more than 50% sale….worldwide you have sales up to 70+%.
btw is “Promotion” a sale or is that a loophole in the law?
They should make the names public so we can refrain to ever buy anything there.
Nope. The owner will not be happy, and will use the new social media law to sue the Ministry. He will win the case and the Ministry will pay him compensation. We are not going to upset the owner and make him lose money and customers because of few items sold at an expensive price.
I know it doesn’t make sense but these are the rules here 🙂
You are again right: non sense tends to be the rule here 🙂
The fact that retail outlets need a “discount license” and ministry approval for any sale is ridiculous. Stores everywhere in the world have “promotions”; any shopper knows that these can be dubious and can certainly be trusted to decide for himself. Just more red tape at best, and opportunities for corruption at worst.
5,000 riyals seems like a small amount. For a shop or retailer. 50,000 riyals would be more fitting and a good deterrent.