Context
The ASA has published a Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) article in relation to pricing transparency. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) came into force last year, which replaced the Advertising Codes’ previous underpinning legislation. Also, in November 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published guidance for businesses on the price transparency provisions of the DMCCA. This article considers the new legislation and the CMA guidance.
Key points to note
- The CMA’s guidance states that advertised prices must be realistic, meaningful, and attainable. Indicative prices, such as “From £X”, must not exaggerate the availability of a product or the amount of benefit likely to be obtained by a consumer, and must be supported by evidence.
- The CMA sets out, in its guidance on unfair commercial practices, the factors in deciding what counts as “reasonable” in terms of the time period and quantities. These are the nature of the product itself, the extent of the advertising, and the price.
- Consumers must be told the price that they will be paying in full as soon as possible. Sometimes, this is very straightforward, but consumers often find themselves surprised by surcharges. If a consumer must pay a fee in addition to the cost of the item they are buying (e.g. mandatory delivery fee, call-out charge, local taxes), this must be included in the price they are shown upfront.
- If a fee cannot be calculated until you have further information about the consumer, you must include the minimum they will pay. For example, if an item has no free delivery option, the price shown must include the cheapest delivery fee. If it is not possible to calculate a fee, the ad must make clear that the fee is excluded from the advertised price and state how it will be calculated. The CMA’s price transparency guidance states that this information should be presented with the same prominence as the headline price. And, as soon as the fee can be reasonably calculated, it must be included in the total price.
- Where ‘periodic pricing’ is used, or where prices are to be paid in instalments, the total price must still be made clear upfront.