PUBLIC health experts have called for a crackdown on websites that promote ”ridiculously cheap” alcohol, claiming they fuel Australia’s drinking problem and appeal to under-age drinkers.
Group buying sites – which offer daily deals on meals, beauty treatments and household products – are increasingly emailing members with offers of up to 70 per cent discount on booze bought in bulk.
Recent offers include an Our Deal promotion knocking $140 off the recommended retail price of a dozen bottles of wine and a bottle of whisky, and a LivingSocial offer of a case of wine for $59 – less than $5 a bottle.
Catch of the Day’s Vinomofo discounted wine site has been criticised for using a trade name that directly appeals to young people, and for an ”irresponsible” competition in which entrants could win a Mini full of wine.
Advertisement
While supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have previously come under fire for heavily discounting alcohol, health experts say online traders are selling it even more cheaply but are flying under the radar.
”The big retailers have to pay distribution costs, marketing costs and retail staff costs, and that’s the thing that protects us from these ridiculously low prices on alcohol. But these costs don’t exist for online providers so they can charge whatever they like,” said alcohol campaigner Sandra Jones, director of the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Health Initiatives. ”If we had a minimum price for alcohol it would address this problem because they wouldn’t be able to sell below a set cost.”
Australia’s National Preventive Health Agency is investigating a floor price for alcohol as a measure to curb problem drinking, with recommendations to be delivered to the federal government next year.
Leave A Comment