LONDON — High street sportswear giant Sports Direct has come under scrutiny after consumer watchdog Which? claimed the retailer may be misleading shoppers with its use of Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) — potentially giving a false impression of the value of its deals.
The consumer group has reported Sports Direct to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), urging the regulator to investigate whether the retail chain’s pricing practices breach consumer protection laws.
Which? said it launched an inquiry after being tipped off by readers about suspicious RRP claims on SportsDirect.com, with consumers questioning whether the advertised savings were genuine.
The retailer, part of Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, frequently displays products with strikethrough RRPs or MSRPs (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices) to suggest customers are receiving a substantial discount. However, Which? researchers found that many of these supposed ‘full prices’ could not be verified anywhere else online.
Out of 160 popular items examined on Sports Direct’s website, Which? said that 58 had no evidence of ever being sold online at the stated reference price by any other retailer. For another 53 items, the only sellers charging at or above the reference price were other Frasers Group retailers, including USC, Studio, and Get the Label.
Notably, these were almost exclusively own-brand products from names like Slazenger, Everlast, Lonsdale, and Jack Wills, all of which fall under the vast Frasers Group portfolio.
For example, Which? highlighted a Jack Wills Hunston logo hoodie advertised for £24 at Sports Direct with an MSRP of £54.99. However, this price point couldn’t be found elsewhere — and where the hoodie did appear on other platforms, such as Amazon, it was still supplied by Sports Direct or sold at the lower price.
Similarly, Slazenger men’s tennis shoes were listed at £32.99 against an MSRP of £64.99. Yet Which? found these shoes only sold by other Frasers Group-owned outlets, with none of them offering the shoes at or above the quoted RRP. In one case, they were just a penny more expensive, priced at £33.
In a separate case, Which? found a Whitaker Somerfield long sleeve equestrian base layer sold at Sports Direct for £8, claiming an RRP of £35. Unlike the other items, Whitaker Somerfield is not owned by Frasers Group — but researchers still couldn’t locate the product being sold elsewhere online, apart from through Frasers-owned websites. The highest price found was £18 — half the advertised RRP.
Which? says such practices could be a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which ban businesses from giving consumers misleading price comparisons. Lisa Webb, a legal expert at Which?, warned that these inflated RRPs may mislead shoppers about the true value of their purchase.
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“If Sports Direct is misleading customers by inappropriate use of RRPs to dupe them into thinking they are getting a good deal,” Webb said, “then the competition regulator needs to step in and take strong action to stop this from happening.”
She added that consumers should be wary of seemingly generous discounts on Sports Direct’s website and always compare prices elsewhere before making a purchase.
“Shoppers should take any big discounts at SportsDirect.com with a pinch of salt and make sure they compare prices with other retailers before parting with any hard-earned cash,” Webb advised.
The CMA has not yet commented on whether it will open a formal investigation into the matter. However, the case highlights ongoing concerns about how retailers use reference prices in an era of online shopping where price transparency is key to consumer trust.
Sports Direct declined to immediately comment on Which?’s findings or the referral to the competition watchdog.
