Wal-Mart fined for discount hoax

WUHAN - A Wal-Mart store in Central China's Hubei province has been fined 100,000 yuan ($15,870) for a discount hoax, the local price watchdog said Tuesday.

The store located at Xudong Avenue in Wuhan, capital of Hubei, sold a new product of Blue Moon liquid soap at a self-claimed discount price of 48.8 yuan in May. The price was 1.2 yuan higher than before the promotion, Zhang Jianmin, vice head of the Hubei Provincial Bureau of Commodity Price, told a press conference.

"When the promotion price is higher than the traceable lowest price of the period of seven days before the campaign, it is a price fraud," he said.

As of Tuesday night, Wal-Mart had not responded to the punishment.

Statistics showed that as of March this year, the US retail giant has launched 370 stores in 140 cities across China.