Foodmart Inc retail grocery operations and produce department management

¶ … advertisement become an offer, one of the three elements requisite for the formation of a contract between the offeror and offeree? What special rules govern the sale of goods online, and, if this point is reached, at what point does a contract exist between the website (offeror) and the purchaser (offeree)? If, indeed an enforceable contract is formed between an online offeror and a purchaser/offeree, what remedies are available in the form of damages if that contract is breached? The case of Todd v. Foodmart calls upon us to determine an answer to all three of these questions, to decide whether Foodmart's advertised sale of discontinued chocolate sauce was an offer, whether Todd entered into an enforceable contract with Foodmart for the purchase of chocolate sauce at the advertised sale price, and whether Todd can recieve damages for breach of that contract when Foodmart refused to deliver the chocoalte sauce Todd requested.

In order to have an enforceable contract, three elements must exist: There must be an offer made to an identified offeree, which contains all material terms of the offer. In general, advertisements are not considered offers, in part because the general public is too broad to be considered an identified offeree, and in part because advertisements generally lack sufficient material terms. Advertisements are generally considered invitations; advertisements invite members of the public to make offers on goods. There are exceptions; if an ad does contain all the material terms, that ad can be considered an offer. Here, however, that is not the case. Nothing in the fact pattern indicates that Foodmart specified the quantity of chocolate sauce available, nor the time that sauce would be available at the discounted price. Therefore, because the advertisement for chocolate sauce lacked the requisite material terms, it was not an offer; and, lacking the element of the initial offer, no contract could exist between Foodmart and Todd for the sale of said chocolate sauce unless Todd made Foodmart an offer, and Foodmart accepted that offer. That is not the case; therefore, there is no contract for the sale of chocolate sauce between Foodmart and Todd.