A well-known furniture chain with three locations on Funen, Denmark, has removed a controversial pricing feature from its website after facing public backlash and industry criticism. The feature, which displayed the lowest price within 30 days, was accused of being misleading, sparking debates about pricing transparency in the retail sector.
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The issue with the company, Ilva, drew attention to broader concerns in the industry, including similar accusations against other furniture chains. Brian Seemann Broe, director of Daells Bolighus, had previously criticised "Black Friday" promotions as a "landmark for price fraud and manipulation," and similar scrutiny has now fallen on Ilva. Legal experts labelled Ilva's pricing practices as "misleading," highlighting instances where prices were allegedly inflated before being reduced to create the illusion of larger discounts.
In response to the criticism, Ilva decided to remove the controversial feature, replacing it with clearer displays of savings in both percentage and monetary terms. This change came as part of an effort to restore consumer trust and avoid further accusations of deceptive marketing. However, this pricing issue is just one of several challenges facing Ilva, which has also been struggling with financial difficulties.
Ilva's troubles are part of a larger trend within the Lars Larsen Group, which owns several furniture chains, including Bolia.com and Sofacompany. These brands have all reported financial losses, with Ilva itself showing a pre-tax deficit of 46.4 million kroner for 2023/2024, a worsening of its 30.2 million kroner loss from the previous year. This stands in stark contrast to the performance of the group's Jysk chain, which posted a 1.1 billion kroner profit for 2022/2023.
While Ilva's revenue for 2023/2024 reached 1.4 billion kroner, the company's ongoing financial struggles are compounded by the increasingly competitive market. In late 2024, Ilva announced a strategy to downsize, relocate, or close several stores as part of an effort to restructure its operations. Currently, the chain operates two stores in Odense and one in Svendborg, although no decisions have been made regarding the future of these locations.
This downsizing plan aims to reduce the number of stores Ilva operates while increasing its total number of outlets across Denmark to 40–45. However, the chain has not yet confirmed which specific stores will be impacted by these changes.
Source: www.fyens.dk