New laws to make supermarket pricing clearer, thanks to Which?
Unit pricing on supermarket shelves has historically been inconsistent, confusing, and not always easy enough to read, Which? research has shown.
Following years of Which? campaigning, the current law on unit pricing is to be overhauled to make it easier for shoppers to accurately compare prices on a wide range of goods.
What is unit pricing?
Unit pricing requirements apply to a wide range of goods where the same type of product can be sold in different ways. This includes food and many other products sold by supermarkets and other types of retailer. Soft drinks, for example, could be sold in one litre bottles, two litre bottles or multipacks of cans or smaller bottles. This can make it difficult to compare which is better value for money.
The unit price for a product is published alongside the headline price, enabling you to compare value by the cost per unit (per 100g or 100ml, for example).
How easy is it to spot the cheapest groceries?
In August 2022, Which? investigated supermarket unit pricing, finding it was often unclear, inconsistent, or even absent.
Our research found 72% of people couldn’t spot the cheapest fizzy drinks in a range of real-life examples from supermarkets. Meanwhile we also found shoppers could pay up to 346% more by going for different sizes of exactly the same product.
The investigation revealed different units used for the same types of item, as well as confusing terminology and unit pricing that was hard to read, obscured, or missing entirely.
New unit pricing laws
The findings from our unit pricing investigation fed into Which?'s Affordable Food For All campaign, launched two years ago as the country faced the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
The campaign called for clearer pricing in supermarkets and more budget-range groceries in supermarket convenience stores. More than 113,000 people signed our petition.
This led to Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco introducing more budget-range or cheaper items at hundreds of their convenience stores and Tesco adding unit pricing to Clubcard offers.
It also saw the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) clamping down on unit pricing by writing to a number of retailers and recommending updates to pricing legislation.
The government has now produced new regulations to reform the Price Marking Order, which governs the rules around unit pricing. The changes, which will come into effect in October 2025, include:
- Making the measures for unit pricing of products consistent
- Making it clearer that unit pricing has to be legible
- Making unit pricing compulsory for products on loyalty offer and certain types of multibuy.
Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy, said, 'Which? has long campaigned for clearer pricing on supermarket shelves. The current system can be inconsistent and confusing, making it difficult for shoppers to compare prices across different product ranges, loyalty schemes and multi-buy offers.
'These changes could be a game-changer for anyone trying to find the cheapest products on their weekly shop. They will make it easier for consumers to compare items, helping them save money and choose the best value item for them.'
More to be done on pricing
Which? believes there's still more to be done to encourage retailers to apply best practice in their pricing, and to help shoppers access affordable goods.
We think the introduction of widespread loyalty pricing means that guidance around pricing promotions – which doesn't mention loyalty pricing at all – is no longer fit for purpose. So we're calling for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's (CTSI) Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices, which helps retailers apply the law on pricing, to be updated with specific guidelines for loyalty prices.
We are also concerned that millions of people are excluded from accessing lower loyalty prices at major supermarkets and health and beauty retailers because their age, lack of address or level of digital access means that they are unable to sign up for loyalty schemes. We believe the lower prices offered by loyalty schemes should be available to those who are ineligible to sign up through no fault of their own – and we're calling on retailers to find a solution to this issue.
The Competition and Markets Authority is also looking into supermarkets' pricing practices more widely and is due to report later this autumn.
- Find out more: loyalty prices aren't always as good as they look
