The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is poised to ban Amazon from claiming it can guarantee next day delivery for its Prime customers.
According to The Times, the ASA believes Amazon’s “unlimited one-day delivery” claims are misleading, and Amazon will be told to remove it from its website and advertising.
Instead, Amazon will reportedly be ordered to make it clear that some items are not able to be delivered the next day.
It’s another blow for the ecommerce giant which may face paying a new online tax under Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Amazon’s corporation tax bill dropped by 38 per cent last year to £4.6 million, even after its operating profits tripled.
Hammond believes a new online retail tax would create a “level playing field” between online and high street retailers, who have to pay higher rates of business tax.
The ASA began its investigation after it received more than 200 complaints that Amazon had failed to meet its pledge on parcel delivery.
In its ruling, the ASA said it had found evidence that a “significant proportion of Prime-labelled items were not available for delivery the next day”.
“Because consumers were likely to understand that, so long as they did not order too late, all Prime items would be available for delivery the next day… we concluded that the ad was misleading,” the ASA ruling will state, according to The Times.
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