The UK Competition and Markets Authority published an open letter on November 2 reminding online retailers that any delivery charge a customer cannot avoid must be included in the total price, and shown from the first advert through to checkout.
The letter, signed by Sorcha O’Carroll, Senior Director, Consumer at the CMA, is addressed to online retailers selling goods to UK consumers and timed for the Christmas shopping period. It asks businesses that have not already done so to review their website, mobile app and online advertising. “The first price consumers see should be the price they pay,” O’Carroll wrote. The CMA says many businesses have changed their pricing since the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act) came into force, and that it is concerned some remain non-compliant in how they present delivery charges.
What the letter says the law requires
Under the DMCC Act, when a price is given to a consumer in what the law calls an invitation to purchase, that price must be the total price, including mandatory delivery or collection fees. The letter says the total price must appear at every stage where a price is given, and it names those stages: advertising, product pages, carts and baskets, checkout and payment pages. A footnote adds that the total must also include any other unavoidable fees, taxes and charges.
The CMA’s price transparency guidance summary spells out how wide an invitation to purchase can be. It lists an advert in a newspaper or on TV and online marketing such as an email or a social media post, and says an invitation to purchase does not need to include a way to buy the product. The rules apply to anyone who sells, advertises, markets or otherwise promotes a product, from early-stage advertising to the final sale.
Flat delivery charges on a basket
Many retailers charge one delivery fee per order however many items are bought. The letter says that in that case the retailer must still show the total price of the products, including the mandatory delivery fee, throughout the shopping process. It allows a breakdown alongside the total, and gives one option: show each product’s price both including and excluding delivery.
Optional delivery charges
Where delivery charges are optional, such as next-day delivery, the retailer must tell customers clearly throughout the process that the charges apply. If the amount cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the retailer must explain that an additional charge may be payable. The letter says customers should not have to search through separate pages, hidden menus or expandable sections to find this.
Marketplaces, comparison sites and search engines
The letter extends the requirement beyond shops. It says online marketplace operators, comparison sites and search engines that show prices from several retailers must also make complete pricing information available. When a marketplace lists items from different traders, each with its own delivery charge, the delivery price should be included in the total price of each product. A base price excluding delivery may also be shown, provided the total is presented clearly and in a way the consumer is likely to see.
What the CMA says it is looking for
The letter lists four practices the CMA treats as non-compliant:
- displaying a product price without the mandatory delivery charge in the total price;
- leaving applicable mandatory delivery charges out of basket totals or order summaries;
- failing to give information about optional delivery fees, or placing it behind links, separate pages, pop-outs, expandable sections or drop-down menus;
- failing to give information about delivery charges until late in checkout.
It says the CMA will continue to monitor pricing across online retail and will take enforcement action if non-compliance appears to continue.
Penalties and past enforcement
The letter says the DMCC Act gives the CMA the power to impose substantial penalties and to require redress to affected consumers. The guidance summary puts the ceiling at a fine of up to 10% of turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater, plus orders to compensate customers. According to the letter, the CMA has already enforced the drip pricing rules against four businesses, imposing fines totalling more than £5.1 million and securing more than £1.35 million in refunds.
What it means for the marketing leader
Pricing on a product page is usually owned by e-commerce and finance. The letter puts advertising first on its list of stages, which brings paid social, shopping feeds, display creative and promotional email into scope. Those assets are built and approved by marketing, often weeks before Black Friday, and often by agencies working from a product feed that carries the item price alone.
In our reading, the exposure sits in three places. The first is shopping and marketplace feeds, where the price field may exclude a flat delivery fee that the site adds at the basket. The second is creative with a hard-coded price, such as “from” prices in social and display ads, which the guidance says should include any mandatory per-transaction charges. The third is promotional email, which the guidance lists by name as an invitation to purchase.
The CMA’s attention to comparison sites and search engines also matters for any brand that sells through third-party listings. If a marketplace shows a total that includes delivery and your own ad does not, the two prices will disagree in front of the same shopper.
Checks to run before the Christmas peak
Pull the price field from every product feed you send to shopping, marketplace and social platforms, and confirm whether it includes mandatory delivery. Audit live and scheduled creative for headline prices, including “from” prices, and check each against the delivered total. Review Black Friday and Christmas email templates for price blocks that pull from the base price. Ask each agency and marketplace partner to confirm in writing how delivery is handled in the prices they display. The CMA points businesses to its CMA209 guidance, and paragraphs 5.2 to 5.21 cover delivery fees.
Our report on the FTC’s orders to nine companies on personalised pricing covers a related U.S. inquiry, and our analysis of four readings of the EU cookie mandate shows how one rule can be interpreted in several ways before enforcement settles it.
