Commentary on Sections Multi-buy alcohol transactions (section 5)
29.The first category is the “multi-buy alcohol transactions” defined by section 5; these are transactions which may offer customers incentives to purchase higher volumes of alcohol than might otherwise be the case. These kinds of deals are commonly known as multi-buy deals, including “buy one, get one free” offers.
30.This section applies where some of the alcohol supplied in a transaction was described as being supplied free of charge where other alcohol was supplied; and where alcohol was supplied at a discounted or fixed price when purchased with other alcohol, or where other alcohol had already been supplied. It is likely that most multi-buy alcohol transactions would involve a single exchange of cash between supplier and customer, but this won’t always be the case. For instance, the price of a subsequently purchased drink might be reduced by reference to earlier purchases of drinks. The effect of this section is that in these circumstances the subsequently purchased drink and the earlier drinks will all need to be treated as a single transaction and the applicable minimum price calculated as set out in the section.
31.Section 5 requires all of the alcohol supplied in a multi-buy alcohol transaction to be taken into account when determining the applicable minimum price. This requirement avoids doubt about how the offence in section 2 affects cases where a portion of the alcohol being supplied in a transaction has no identifiable selling price, or a selling price which has been distorted by the operation of a discount.