Price comparisons and savings claims

The comparison conveyed to customers must be genuine.

A savings claim is assessed by the overall impression it creates. Labels such as 'was/now', 'save', 'down down', 'RRP' or a crossed-out price can communicate a specific factual comparison even when no explanatory sentence is used.

Recent court and enforcement activity has reinforced that a short-lived, inflated or rarely charged reference price may not support the savings impression conveyed to customers. The safest approach is to preserve product-level price history and approve the exact comparison before publication.

Build a claim file for the exact product and period.

• Record the SKU, variant, channel, geography, campaign dates and exact artwork.
• Preserve price history, actual sales volumes and the period used as the comparison.
• For RRP or competitor comparisons, verify the source, currency, market, product identity and how current it is.
• Avoid treating a short-lived, rarely charged or artificial price as the ordinary reference price.
• Set an expiry or recheck date so a claim does not outlive its evidence.

Check every place the price appears.

A defensible claim can become misleading if the product page, search tile, cart, discount code, loyalty offer or checkout uses a different comparison or hides a condition.

• Review headline and qualification together at ordinary screen sizes.
• Confirm the same price and conditions flow through feeds, marketplaces and affiliates.
• Test stacked discounts, member pricing, multi-buy offers and exclusions.
• Give customer-service teams the evidence and approved explanation.

Use a repeatable approval control.

Require the campaign owner to state the customer-facing comparison, attach product-level evidence and obtain approval before launch. Spot-check live claims and keep the final evidence with the final creative, not in separate systems that cannot be reconciled later.

Questions to ask

Focus on the decision and the evidence.

1. 01

   What comparison will the ordinary customer understand?

2. 02

   Does evidence support that comparison for the represented product and period?

3. 03

   Do headline, qualification and checkout information align?

Primary sources

Check the controlling material.

• Official price-display guidance ↗
• Competition and Consumer Act 2010 — current text ↗

Recommended training

Practical support

Apply the guidance to your facts.

Identify the exact product, claim, customer journey, supplier, legal entity or process involved. Preserve the information that supports the current position, record unresolved facts, assign an owner and confirm the point at which specialist review is required.

Important information

Check the current position.

This resource is general information, not legal advice. Laws, official guidance and proposals can change. Do not rely on a title or summary alone to decide whether a requirement applies to a particular entity, product or activity.