The Federal Court of Australia has ordered Emma Sleep Pty Ltd and Emma Sleep Southeast Asia Inc to publish a corrective notice following a breach of consumer law in the country.
Emma Sleep Pty Ltd admitted in June 2025 that it made false or misleading representations by advertising all 74 of its products online showing a purchase price alongside a higher price with a ‘strikethrough’, and displaying a percentage discount (such as ‘50% OFF’) or indicating the sale price would represent a certain saving to the consumer (such as ‘Save as much as $3,531’).
In fact, of the 74 products, 58 products had not previously been for sale at the strikethrough price or without the discount or savings. The remaining 16 products had almost never been for sale at the strikethrough price or without the discount or savings.
Emma Sleep Pty Ltd also admitted that it had made misleading representations that the discount prices were available for a limited time, by using a countdown timer that would reset during a sale campaign, and using phrases such as “Ending Soon” when the products continued to be advertised at the same or similar discount.
The Court found that the conduct arose out of a deliberate marketing strategy and that senior management turned a blind eye to whether it contravened the Australian Consumer Law. The conduct was not inadvertent or caused by a system error.
This conduct occurred between 15 June 2020 and 27 March 2023. The Federal Court also found that Emma Sleep Southeast Asia Inc engaged in the same conduct.
The Court ordered Emma Sleep Pty Ltd to pay a penalty of $7.5 million, and Emma Sleep Southeast Asia Inc to pay $7.5 million.
In an update to the order, Emma Sleep has now published the corrective notice it was ordered to do, with the notice shared on its social media page. The notice said:
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently secured a settlement with Emma Sleep after the company admitted it broke consumer law by using misleading countdown timers, and false ‘high demand’ messages and ‘discount’ claims. On 22 May 2026, the High Court order confirms Emma Sleep had behaved illegally. (See related).
