The Emma Group investigation has been ongoing for some time having been opened back in November 2022 and a consultation letter issued in July 2023 (see our previous updates here and here). However, things have jumped forward today with the CMA announcing it has issued a letter before action.

The CMA has announced that it has notified Emma Matratzen GmbH, Emma Sleep GmbH and Emma Sleep UK Limited, and their directors (the “Emma Group”), that unless it commits to making changes to its practices, the CMA will commence court action.

The CMA's investigation into the Emma Group has focused on concerns regarding its online sales practices, including whether its “urgency claims” and “discounts” are misleading consumers.

Why should you be interested?

This is a very interesting development particularly because it is rare for the CMA to take businesses to court. In most cases, the CMA resolves investigations by agreeing undertakings with businesses. 

If this investigation does make it to court, we may end up with a court precedent that sheds light on what types of urgency claims and discounting practices breach consumer laws which will be of interest to a many online B2C businesses.

The DMCC Act, which will give the CMA far greater enforcement powers, has of course also now received Royal Assent. This latest action by the CMA perhaps demonstrates that the CMA is willing to flex these new powers when they arrive.