The UK’s competition watchdog has taken mattress retailer Emma to court after it failed to address the regulator’s concerns about misleading online sales practices.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) previously opened an investigation into the company over concerns that its discounts and urgency claims, including countdown timers and high demand prompts, could be misleading consumers.

The CMA is concerned that these practices can lead consumers to make quick purchases and spend more than they otherwise would.

Following its investigation, the Authority asked Emma to make changes and agree to a set of commitments, however the company failed to take action on concerns about reference pricing.

The move comes as the the CMA continues to monitor sales practice across the sector, with this latest action part of an ongoing programme of consumer enforcement work designed to tackle potentially harmful online selling practices like urgent time limited claims.

As part of the programme, fellow online mattress group Simba Sleep was forced to change a number of its business practices.

This includes ensuring that any ‘was’ price is genuine, which means that the company must have sold a sufficient volume of product at a particular price before using this sales tactic.

In addition to the programme, from April 2025 the regulator expects to have the power to decide itself whether consumer law has been broken, and to fine companies up to 10 per cent of their global turnover.

"We have given Emma sufficient opportunity to alter the way it does business to address our concerns," explained George Lusty, CMA interim executive director for consumer protection and markets. "They have failed to make all the changes that we require, which is why we’ve progressed to court action."

The CMA said that Emma can still agree to change its practices by consenting to an order or giving undertakings to the court ahead of the case being heard.

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