Online florist Meg’s Flowers has to pay $1 million in penalties after the Federal Court found the company falsified claims that it was a local florist located in multiple towns, suburbs, or localities that it posted on its websites.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought Meg’s Flowers to court, noting that the flower shop did not directly maintain any local shopfronts accessible to customers, contrary to its claims in 156 websites and in 7462 Google advertisements.

The misleading advertisements occurred between January 1, 2019 and February 10, 2022, on seven of Meg’s Flowers’ websites referring to Ashgrove, Caboolture and Tewantin in Queensland; Lane Cove in New South Wales; Mawson Lakes in South Australia; Sunbury in Victoria, and Ellenbrook in Western Australia.

The advertisements contained a reference to a suburb or town in the domain name or website heading; a photograph of a florist’s store showing a scooter branded ‘Meg’s Flowers’; and the statements “It’s the local approach” or “our fantastic local service.”

The advertisements also included the statement “the finest quality flowers in [suburb or town]” or “direct from our [suburb or town] florist”; geographical details about the relevant suburb or town; and/or a copyright notice on the website including the words “Meg’s Flowers [suburb or town].”

However, the ACCC said that orders placed with Meg’s Flowers were fulfilled from any one of 11 Meg’s Flowers premises, or, in some instances, by subcontractors.

The misrepresentations were found to be in breach of the Australian Consumer Law. 

“By making misleading claims about the location of the florists, Meg’s Flowers denied some consumers the opportunity to make an informed decision to support a local business, and likely denied truly local businesses the opportunity to make a sale to those consumers,” said Liza Carver, ACCC commissioner.

“We remind businesses in all industries that the claims they make about their products and services, including claims about the location of their business, must be accurate and not mislead consumers.”

Meg’s Flowers is owned by Flowerscorp Pty, which receives customer orders for floral and other gift products through its location-based websites and/or via its Brisbane-based call centre.