Fresh legislation has come into force affecting shoppers at Britain's major supermarkets, including Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi, Waitrose and Lidl. The new rules demand prices be displayed clearly on all products, with standardised measurements designed to reduce confusion and assist customers in comparing prices while better understanding money-saving offers.
Expanded Unit Pricing Requirements
The changes have expanded unit pricing requirements to additional items including cereals, pasta, dried fruits, detergents, cleaning products and cosmetics, with metric measurements requiring standardisation - per kilo, litre, metre - regardless of product size.
Practical exemptions apply for mixed product bundles, such as gift hampers containing items normally sold using different measures, while deposit amounts must be excluded from the displayed selling price.
Loyalty Card Discounts and Price Transparency
When retailers offer different prices for identical products, such as loyalty card discounts, they must prominently display both the standard price and the discounted price, with conditions for obtaining the lower cost shown clearly alongside the product. The overhaul is intended to improve pricing transparency and simplify comparison shopping, requiring retailers to review their pricing systems, deliver staff training, and potentially redesign both physical and online price displays.
Alexa Lamont, Managing Associate, Knowledge Lawyer said: "The reforms are designed to enhance transparency and make it easier for shoppers to compare products across a wider range of goods. The additional preparation time will allow retailers to adapt their systems and processes to meet the new requirements when they come into effect."
Stricter Standards for Price Presentation
The reforms introduce stricter standards for how prices must be presented. One of the most substantial changes involves expanding the range of products that must display unit pricing alongside their selling price. The new rules will require unit pricing for additional categories of packaged goods, including cereals, pasta, dried fruits, detergents and cosmetics. This expansion means consumers will have better tools to compare value across a much wider range of everyday products.
Under the new regulations, when metric unit prices are displayed, they must be shown using standard measurements: price per kilogram, litre, metre, square metre, or cubic metre, as appropriate. This requirement applies regardless of the product's actual size.
Mixed product packages are subject to exemptions, recognising the complexity of certain retail offerings. Under the new rules, retailers won't be obliged to display a unit price for packages containing different items sold together, where some products are typically sold by weight, like cheese, others by volume, such as wine, or at varying individual prices when bought separately.
Ms Lamont added: "There are also reforms as to how retailers handle different pricing tiers, particularly loyalty card schemes. When retailers offer different prices for the same product - such as a standard price and a discounted price for loyalty card members - they must display both prices clearly." For instance, if a retailer offers a product for £5 normally, but £4 with a loyalty card, both prices must be clearly displayed alongside an explanation of the loyalty card requirement, positioned where customers can easily see it when considering the purchase.
