This emerging retail giant has sold 87 products recalled in NZ

Store says it’s working to strengthen compliance systems and processes, but Consumer NZ says number of product recalls in general is concerning. Photo / Supplied

In Part II of the asbestos play-sand scare story, Ruth Brown looks beyond those products and more broadly at the monitoring of retail goods for safety, including online sites like the popular Temu and Shein. To read Part I, go here.

A quick look at
Product Safety NZ’s list of product recalls in March shows a girl’s bike sold at PD Mart; three separate dinosaur toys sold at PD Mart; an electric cake toy, magic wand – one pink, one blue, PD Mart … the list goes on. Apart from the bike (no manual), these products don’t meet safety requirements because of small parts that can be a choking hazard for children under three.

PD Mart is an international retailer founded in South Africa in 2010 and described as a $2 shop on steroids. Formerly known as Panda Mart, it opened its first New Zealand shop in Auckland in 2023 and a Christchurch store in 2024.

Product Safety NZ is the division of the Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment that oversees the safety of products other than food, medicines and vehicles, publishing product safety and unsafe goods notices issued by the Commerce Commission. Its website lists 87 recalled products sold by PD Mart, including baby products, toys, bikes, walkers, car seats and electronics. The retailer has a “corrective notice” on its home page linking to these recalls.

PD Mart has sold 87 products recalled in NZ. Photo / Supplied

Last September, the commission issued a “Stop Now” notice over a child car seat sold at PD Mart. “What it’s saying is we, the commission, consider that this is a really dangerous thing that you’re doing and we’re instructing you please to stop doing this right now,” explains commission chair John Small.

The commission has a team of four inspectors out in the field ensuring compliance with a set of eight product safety standards and seven unsafe goods notices. The product safety standards cover baby walkers, children’s nightwear, children’s toys, cigarette lighters, household cots, pedal bikes, sunscreens and multipurpose ladders. The seven products on the unsafe goods list are: small, high-powered magnets, chainsaws without a chain brake, lead in children’s toys, hot-water bottles that do not meet the standard, candles and candlewicks containing lead, pistol crossbows and inclined infant sleep products.

The commission’s policing role is limited to these unsafe goods and the eight items covered by product safety standards, says Small. (Electrical items fall under the Electrity Act, monitored by WorkSafe NZ). As for product recalls, “if we see someone still selling a recalled product, then they’re very clearly in breach and we’ll go after them,” says Small.

But how do people who have already bought these goods know they’ve been recalled? Ian Caplin, MBIE’s consumer protection spokesperson, says responsibility for advertising and informing customers about a recall rests with retailers, who are also required to notify MBIE of any recalls. “Failure to notify MBIE of a recall is an offence under the Fair Trading Act and a business could be fined up to $600,000.”

PD Mart told the Listener it has been working “to strengthen our compliance systems and processes”. “As a relatively new retailer, we acknowledge that there have been areas where our understanding of specific regulatory requirements needed improvement,” a spokesperson said.

As an organisation, we would say don’t shop at Temu or Shein if you’re thinking about buying toys for your children.

Gemma Rasmussen, Consumer NZ

Independent agency Consumer NZ says the number of product recalls in general is concerning and it plans to put more resources into the issue this year. Since the first recall of sand products on November 12, 103 items of all types have been recalled.

Gemma Rasmussen, Consumer’s head of research and advocacy, says internal standards are high at large retailers such as The Warehouse, Kmart and ToyWorld, “because it’s very bad business practice to be selling unsafe products”. Occasionally, unsafe products can slip through, “but it’s not like New Zealanders need to suddenly be incredibly afraid of everything on the shelves being unsafe.”

However, Rasmussen does think in the case of asbestos-contaminated play sand the cost of testing and clean-ups should be covered by Kmart and other suppliers.

The bigger concern for Consumer NZ is the $2 stores and cheaper outlets, such as PD Mart, where products are imported and recalls have been more frequent. “They’re not doing the internal checking which those big stores are.”

She says although the Commerce Commission is monitoring PD Mart, the stores are free to continue operating. “I’m not hearing about really large fines. It’s not sending a message of deterrence to other businesses.”

Then there are the offshore retailers such as Temu and Shein, which have proved a big hit with Kiwi consumers with their low prices and money-back guarantees. “As an organisation, we would say don’t shop at Temu or Shein if you’re thinking about buying toys for your children, or if you’re thinking about electronic products. Product testing has consistently shown high rates of failure or of being unsafe,” says Rasmussen.

She’d like to see updates to the Fair Trading Act and Consumer Guarantees Act to accommodate e-retailers, including higher penalties for businesses providing unsafe products.

Small says the likes of Temu and Shein already fall within the Commerce Commission’s responsibilities. “If they are advertising for sale goods that are on our lists, then we have jurisdiction and we will exercise that. We keep an eye out for it and if we see unsafe goods being sold or things in breach of the product safety standards, then we go to the trader.”

With children’s toys, a list of items are excluded from product safety standards, as set out in the Product Safety Standards (Children’s Toys) Regulations 2005. They include dummies, flotation aids, plasticine and playground equipment such as swings and seesaws.

Toys that are covered include rattles, squeeze toys, push-and-pull toys, puzzles, jack-in-the-boxes, stuffed animals and cars and trucks.

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