Since May 2022, a new European Directive, known as the "Omnibus" Directive, requires retailers to display the lowest price over the last 30 days prior to the discount offer. And this new rule applies to both online and in-store sales. Its purpose is to provide a better framework for the management of promotions in order to protect consumers against false discounts, which are particularly prevalent over sales and Black Friday. Except that to date, most retailers are unaware of this. Here are a few keys to understanding the concrete implications of the directive and to help you understand these measures so that you can apply them with ease.
What are we talking about?
Since 28 May, the implementation of the Omnibus Directive has forced retailers to be more transparent. They now have to display the lowest price recorded over the last 30 days or the percentage discount from that reference price. The aim is to reassure consumers and protect them from the increase in fake promotions.
Whether on a shopping site or in a shop, a promotional display must now include:
- the lowest price recorded over the last 30 days;
- the discount percentage, e.g. a discount of 25% compared to the lowest price over the last 30 days.
In other words, if you just put a promotional price on your products without the old price, you are not complying with the regulations and you risk incurring penalties in the event of an inspection: any infringement is punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros, under the heading of a misleading commercial practice.
So what difference will it make to you?
Is this information about the lowest price in the last 30 days already present in my ERP? What if it isn’t included? How do you make it appear on an already predefined label template? Will I have enough space on my labels? How will my different outlets receive and update this information?
The new legislation on the advertising of promotions, which is being applied in all European countries, raises a number of questions, and we are aware that for you, as a retailer, its implementation represents a major challenge. You will have to keep the history of the reference price, which is not always provided by your back office.
You will also have to rethink your entire strategy for displaying promotions, in other words, think of how to display a promotion on an electronic label, on a paper label, on a digital screen, on a price terminal, where to make room for this new information... and this for each shopping area. And then, of course, to modify the integration of your labels with your various partners accordingly in order to ensure an accurate and consistent display.
To make the implementation of this directive as easy as possible, we at Pricer have put our teams in place.
How can a partner like Pricer help you achieve full compliance?
Pricer is always on the lookout for new technologies and is always aware of regulatory changes that affect the retail sector.
Regarding the display of promotions, we didn’t wait for the Omnibus Directive to be implemented to offer our clients solutions, including electronic label templates that enable them to comply with the legislation. We also support them in the deployment and optimization of in-store implementation.
Here are 3 tips for achieving compliance:
- Tip 1: Check your ERP. In particular, ensure that the lowest price found has been incorporated. If not, we can extract and transmit this data to your system from our Pricer database.
- Tip 2: Get help in setting up your new e-label templates. At Pricer, we provide you with a number of templates which we can customize together according to the information to be included (barcode, reference, description, packaging, etc.).
- Tip 3: Deploy your compliant e-labels effectively. Our SaaS Pricer Plaza platform makes it possible to apply these changes and launch the update in a matter of minutes.
However, at Pricer, we believe that the level of complexity of compliance should not impact retailers' creativity and operational efficiency on a daily basis. So don't hesitate to contact us at info[at]pricer.com if you have any questions or need more information. Our team is here to help you.
