The supermarket has allegedly increased its prices to then apply “discounts” during El Buen Fin.
The head of the Federal Consumer Protection Agency (Profeco), Ricardo Sheffield, qualified the self-service store Chedraui as “King of false offers” during El Buen Fin 2021, stating that they inflated prices to later give misleading discounts.
“We have detected cases of fake offers, but they are very few. In the case of Grupo Comercial Chedraui, the week prior to El Buen Fin raised dry pet food 27% and lowered them 25% in the campaign. In the end, they were 2% higher than before El Buen Fin.”
This has been a common problem through the few years of El Buen Fin. Ricardo Sheffield highlighted a second problem with Chedraui, involving a tray that the supermarket wanted to price in US dollars.
“Products cannot be sold in any other way than Mexican pesos,” said Sheffield. “We have suspended both promotions.”
He explained that in 2020, two days before the end of El Buen Fin, there were over a thousand complaints. This year, as of November 15 there had been around 472.
Many major department stores, like Walmart and Costco, are not participating in the Buen Fin officially, and have chosen to present their own promotions.
During a routine conference where he exposed some of the complaints shared by consumers, Sheffield highlighted that this year’s most sold products are clothing items, groceries, and airline tickets.
Sales have averaged $7,000 pesos per person. Officials note that many of the purchases are done through departmental or credit cards, as well as Christmas bonus advances, which are promoted to the workers by the government.
Around 48% of users have purchased physically in stores and 51% have done so online.
In Yucatán Magazine: Here are the hard-to-find comfort foods gringos crave
