‘Everyone should stay aware of rules’

Local fashion brands with large-scale operations typically add price tags from their factories or warehouses before delivering products to showrooms, according to Shaheen Ahmed, president of the Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh, yesterday. 

However, brands with a single outlet may be putting price tags at the showroom as they bring products directly from suppliers in the absence of warehouses, he said.

He was talking to The Daily Star over the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) recently warning against keeping pricing guns at showrooms.

Exchanging views with representatives of fashion outlets at its Dhaka office last Thursday, the DNCRP said price tags should be attached at the factory level, not at showrooms or retail outlets.

The DNCRP said during market drives over the past year, price tags were found to have been changed, in most cases to raise the prices of products.

The DNCRP will temporarily shut down any outlet found having pricing guns during drives, said officials of the watchdog.

"The greater the offence is, the greater the punishment will be. Businesses should understand that if shops have to be closed for a day ahead of Eid, how much profit will be lost," said the DNCRP.

Now single outlets have to adopt alternative measures, said Shaheen Ahmed, also the owner of Anjans.

It will be better if everyone remains aware of this as the rule is the same for all, be it small or large-scale operations, he said.

At present, the association has over 100 members.