Why boards must take charge of digital pricing practices
In FMCG CEO Magazine, Untapped Pricing examines a growing challenge for FMCG leaders: how to design digital pricing practices that drive growth without eroding value or trust.
Regulatory pressure on digital pricing practices is intensifying fast. This year alone, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched formal investigations into multiple businesses for suspected breaches of consumer protection law, with fines now reaching up to 10% of global turnover. If digital pricing regulatory risk is increasing, who actually owns it — and how confident are we that our practices would stand up to scrutiny?
Written by Untapped Pricing commercial experts Rick Mather and Jenny Millar, the article shares how FMCG boards and senior leaders can improve digital pricing practices to reduce friction, build trust, and support sustainable growth while standing up to regulatory scrutiny.
In the article, we dig into:
- The digital pricing and promotion practices now attracting CMA scrutiny
- Why tactics like drip pricing, fake scarcity and hidden fees erode trust faster than they protect margin
- How fragmented ownership of pricing decisions creates unintended compliance and reputational risk
- What effective board-level governance of digital pricing looks like in practice
If you’re an FMCG board member or senior leader looking to protect margin while building customer trust in digital channels, this is a timely read.
Related: Our pricing strategy work helps FMCG boards and leadership teams bring clarity, alignment and governance to digital pricing decisions..
Article excerpt
A compliance crisis in the making
Published by FMCG CEO Magazine ‧ January 2026 ‧ by Rick Mather and Jenny Millar
“This year, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched formal investigations into eight businesses for suspected breaches of consumer protection law in their online pricing practices.
Armed with new direct enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the CMA is examining drip pricing, pressure-selling tactics, fake scarcity claims and hidden mandatory fees. The sectors in the spotlight include event ticketing, fitness memberships, driving lessons and, significantly for FMCG readers, major online retailers of homeware, furniture and electrical appliances – among them Wayfair, Marks & Spencer Electrical and Appliances Direct.
This is not a routine probe. Fines can now reach 10% of global turnover, and the CMA has simultaneously written to more than 100 additional companies warning them to review their practices. For consumer-goods boards, the message is unambiguous: digital pricing has moved from an operational detail to a strategic, enterprise-wide risk that sits squarely in the boardroom.
What exactly is under scrutiny & what does this mean for the FMCG industry? The CMA is targeting four core practices…”
