The 2026 Price Marking Order Changes for Retailers

Since 6 April 2026, the rules on how prices are shown in shops in Great Britain have been tighter. Two amending orders changed the Price Marking Order 2004: the Price Marking (Amendment) Order 2024 and the Price Marking (Amendment) Order 2025. The 2024 order was originally due to start on 1 October 2025; the 2025 order moved that date to 6 April 2026. The GOV.UK guidance, published on 22 September 2025, confirms that "the amendments made by both these orders come into effect on 6 April 2026."

For anyone who looks after shelf-edge labels, SEL strips or promotional POS across a number of stores, the changes touch templates, ticket layouts and how promotions are signed. This is a summary of the official texts, not legal advice.

Why the rules changed

In January 2024 The Grocer reported that the Competition and Markets Authority "has backed government proposals to tighten regulations around how retailers display unit prices". The Department for Business and Trade's proposals included "potential mandates to ensure retailers use consistent measurements to display unit prices" and "clear legibility criteria for how unit prices are displayed". Those are the two threads that run through the final rules.

What changed

1. Unit prices per kilogram or litre

The 2004 order, as originally made, let a list of products in its Schedule 1 carry unit prices in smaller units. Under article 14 these were grams or millilitres: 100 for products such as biscuits, crisps, coffee, soft drinks and confectionery, 10 for herbs and spices, and 75cl for wine.

The 2024 order says: "Omit article 14 (units of quantity)" and "Omit Schedule 1". The unit price is now the price for one item where a product is sold by number, and otherwise for one kilogram, one litre, one metre, one square metre or one cubic metre. In the words of the GOV.UK guidance: "Whether displayed in weight or volume, the label must show the unit price per kilogram or litre as applicable."

2. Every price needs its own unit price

A new article 7A, inserted by the 2024 order, covers products sold at more than one price, such as loyalty prices and multibuys. The trader must show "each selling price and each unit price applicable to the product", and must display any conditions, such as needing a loyalty card, "in close proximity to the product".

The guidance gives two examples. For a product at £2, or £1 with a loyalty card, "both the 'normal' and 'loyalty' selling price and unit price must be displayed together". For boxes of cat food at £4 each or 2 for £7, "both the individual and the offer selling and unit price would need displaying". An offer like that does not meet the exemption for assortments in Schedule 2. The guidance also asks that "care should be given to not give one set of prices prominence over the other."

3. Legibility

Article 7 now requires prices to be "displayed using a font which is clear and of reasonable size". The guidance defines legibility as "legible to a consumer that is not sight impaired". It allows that "the unit price may be a smaller size than the selling price to avoid potential confusion", and adds: "Text wrapping should be avoided and the unit price presented on a single line."

4. Reductions

Article 9, as substituted from 6 April 2026, allows a general notice that products are reduced only where "it is not reasonably practicable to indicate the reduced selling price or unit price" for each product, and the details of the reduction must be "prominently displayed, unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible". The guidance says the government considers "not reasonably practicable" to be "a high threshold", and that the provision is "not to be relied upon where individual repricing is merely inconvenient". For promotional items generally, it says traders "should endeavour to display the unit price, as well as the selling price".

What did not change

• Small shops. A small shop is still one with a relevant floor area of no more than 280 square metres; the guidance says the definition "has not been amended by PMO 2024". Small shops remain exempt from unit pricing for products "pre-packaged in a constant quantity", though "this exception does not apply to products sold from bulk".
• Where it applies. The order "applies to Great Britain". Northern Ireland has its own Price Marking Order.
• Who enforces it. "Criminal enforcement of the PMO may only be undertaken by trading standards", and the guidance directs enquiries to "your local trading standards department".

What it means for shelf-edge labels and promotional POS

The changes land on printed material as much as on pricing systems. Across a multi-site estate, these are the checks worth making:

1. Audit every SEL template. Each one needs room for a per-kilo or per-litre unit price on a single line, at a clear and reasonable font size.
2. Redesign loyalty and member price tickets. Both prices and both unit prices sit together, with the condition shown close to the product, and neither price set given more prominence than the other.
3. Check multibuy POS. A "2 for" offer on identical items needs the individual and offer selling prices and unit prices. If those sit on a shelf barker or strip, it needs the space.
4. Treat any POS that carries a price as part of the price display. Wobblers, header cards and promotional strips should be checked against the same points as the shelf-edge label.
5. Plan for store formats. If the estate mixes small shops with larger stores, the exemptions differ, so check whether you need different template sets.
6. Re-check after each change. A rule change means a reprint, and a reprint means checking that every store received the new labels and took the old ones down.

The GOV.UK guidance has fuller worked examples, and your local trading standards team can advise on specific cases.

Talking to us

If you are reviewing shelf-edge and promotional print across your stores after the April changes, we are happy to talk through what you have and what it needs.

Sources

1. The Price Marking (Amendment) Order 2024 (SI 2024/1055), legislation.gov.uk (accessed 27 October 2026)
2. The Price Marking (Amendment) Order 2025 (SI 2025/592), legislation.gov.uk (accessed 27 October 2026)
3. Price Marking Order 2004: government guidance, GOV.UK (accessed 27 October 2026)
4. CMA backs proposals for tighter unit pricing rules for retailers (30 January 2024), The Grocer (accessed 27 October 2026)
5. The Price Marking Order 2004, Schedule 1 (as made), legislation.gov.uk (accessed 27 October 2026)
6. The Price Marking Order 2004, article 14 (as made), legislation.gov.uk (accessed 27 October 2026)
7. The Price Marking Order 2004, article 9 (version from 6 April 2026), legislation.gov.uk (accessed 27 October 2026)