ACMA hits Lululemon with $703k fine for spam breaches
Lululemon has been fined for spamming its customers (Mumbrella)
Clothing company Lululemon has been hit with a $702,900 penalty for sending over 370,000 promotional emails with delivery and purchase confirmations that didn’t allow the recipient a way to unsubscribe.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that over five weeks during the Christmas period of 2024, Lululemon “mischaracterised service messages” including delivery and order confirmation emails, that “had a clear marketing purchase.”
Under the spam rules, even if a message is ostensibly intended to inform customers an order has been received, or a delivery is coming, if it also contained any promotional or sales content it is considered a commercial message.
“In this case Lululemon sent service emails such as shipping updates that also contained sales material and direct links to promotions,” ACMA authority member Samantha Yorke said.
“This was an easily avoidable error that has led to hundreds of thousands of marketing emails being sent without a way for people to opt out.
“Businesses need to understand that marketing messages must have an unsubscribe option and the simplest way to comply is to keep transactional or service messages separate from sales content and links.”
On top of the fine, Lululemon has entered into a court-enforceable independent review of its spam rule compliance, and must regularly report to the ACMA on its implementation of recommended improvements.
A Lululemon spokesperson sent the following statement to Mumbrella.
“We are committed to delivering an exceptional guest experience that complies with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We take this responsibility very seriously and have worked cooperatively with the Australian Communications and Media Authority to address their findings.
“We have completed a thorough review of our practices for communicating with our guests and have made updates to our standard guest journey emails, including our order confirmation and delivery notifications to ensure ongoing compliance.”
Over the past 18 months, ACMA has levelled five different fines at Australian businesses that have sent non-commercial emails with clear marketing content, totalling $6.7m in penalties.
“The law is clear – providing the ability to opt-out is mandatory for marketing messages,” Yorke said.
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