Intentional Neglect of Retail Giants?

With the land of digital cable slowly overtaking traditional cable, manufacturers and retailers are now required to properly label and communicate to consumers the mandated switch to digital cable beginning next year. According to an article on Thursday April 10th on CNNMoney.com, several retailers are being fined millions of dollars for not disclosing this information to consumers in the fear that it will decrease sales on specific electronics not suited for digital cable.

It is obviously unethical from a business and marketing perspective to not openly provide customers with all the necessary information for making smart decisions. Many of the consumers that were not made aware of this future transition are going to be out tens or hundreds of dollars when they realize they must either buy new televisions or go out and purchase the converter boxes. Just like any product, any information that is necessary to the decision to purchase a product must be adequately disclosed or otherwise it can be considered false advertising or neglectful. Consumer’s go to these retailer’s, specifically electronic focused stores such as Best Buy, for advice and knowledge on what televisions to buy and all of the relevant information pertaining to each model. Many consumers, who have no knowledge on flat screens, plasmas, LCD’s, etc, rely on the selling associates to provide them with accurate information that is in the best interest of the customer.

Another issue that is concerning is that these retailers such as Best Buy and Wal-mart were given notice of this requirement last year. They had sufficient time to re-adjust their business plan and budgets to handle this forecasted shortfall. It appears that retails may have intentionally neglected to disclose this information to consumers or at least make mention of the switch to digital.