Kmart Australia cops $1.3m penalty for spam breaches
Kmart Australia has been hit with a $1,303,500 fine for sending more than 200,000 marketing emails in breach of Australian spam laws.
An investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that Kmart sent 212,471 unsolicited emails between July 2022 and May 2023 to shoppers who had already unsubscribed to their mailing list.
Spam laws require that senders of e-marketing have consent from the recipient.
The ACMA issued the fine after alerting Kmart “on multiple occasions” that its consumer marketing was in breach of Australian laws.
“When a customer decides to opt out of a marketing mailing list, businesses are obliged to fulfil that request,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
“The rules have been in place for nearly 20 years and there is simply no excuse. Kmart’s case is particularly concerning as it went on for such a significant period.
“Kmart was given more than enough notice it may have a compliance issue, and it should have done more to address its problems before we had to step in and investigate.”
Kmart has also entered into a comprehensive two-year court-enforceable undertaking by an independent consultant, who will review its compliance with spam rules, with the retail giant to make changes as required.
“Any business that conducts e-marketing should be actively and regularly reviewing its processes to ensure it is complying with the rules,” O’Loughlin said.
ACMA have been cracking down on Australian business who don’t comply with advertising laws. Yesterday, Seven was slapped with a $13,320 fine for breaching online gambling advertising rules, while last week Uber was hit with what O’Loughlin called “an avoidable error”. Ticketek, DoorDash and CommBank have also been fined for non-compliance in recent months.
A spokesperson for Kmart gave the following comment to Mumbrella: “We regret that any customers received emails from Kmart when they had opted out. These issues should not have occurred, and we are actively working to strengthen our systems.”
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