Forget Oasis, dynamic pricing could be coming for your weekly shop Opinion The rise of big data means dynamic pricing is easier to implement. Paul Ormerod asks what this could mean for consumers's everyday shopping.
The £4.2m CMA sledgehammer over drip pricing that is totally out of proportion Opinion There’s a particular kind of institutional vanity that mistakes noise for impact. It’s particularly prevalent in Whitehall and abundant especially in those – like many in our government today – who have only ever worked in the bureaucratic state or legal profession. The CMA’s triumphant announcement this week — it’s very first fine under the [...]
Drop the drip pricing: Consumer watchdog snarls at sneaky fees added late in online bookings Business Online consumers hit by ‘drip pricing’ – when last-second, unavoidable costs are added at the checkout – may be about to save some cash, as websites levying such ‘sneaky fees’ move to the forefront of a crackdown from regulators. The Competition and Markets Authority announced its latest action against this illegal-but-widespread practice yesterday. It slapped [...]
Supermarkets ‘taking mickey’ on pricing, says olive oil boss April 15, 2026 A leading retail trade body has taken on big olive oil over claims supermarkets are “taking the mickey” over their pricing of the product. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has hit back at the boss of olive oil maker Filippo Berio after he accused grocers of failing to pass falling prices onto consumers. The price [...]
Football clubs are starting to build out their legal benches April 9, 2026 As they say, if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. With the popularity of sports ever-growing, it is no surprise that lawyers are flooding into legal work involving sports. Even the driest M&A deal can be a little more exciting when it involves deals for your favourite [...]
Rightmove accused of ‘bullying’ estate agents in £1.5bn legal battle April 1, 2026 Property giant Rightmove has been accused of “bullying” its members into making payments, as hundreds of estate agents support a £1.5bn legal claim against the firm. The FTSE 100 company has been accused of charging excessive and unfair fees to the estate agents and new home developers that used its property listing portal as part [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks boom as Trump signals end to Iran war; Starmer eyes closer ties to EU April 1, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. President Trump has made his clearest indication yet that the war in Iran might soon come to a close, saying the US will “leave” Iran in “two to three weeks” when they are certain the regime will not be able to build a nuclear weapon [...]
Forget ‘price gouging’ – this is where competition is really failing April 1, 2026 Rachel Reeves is scapegoating supermarkets for rising oil prices while ignoring algorithms that can learn ant-competitive pricing strategies, says Paul Ormerod The government is desperately trying to convince the public that it is doing something about the potential economic crisis which is unfolding. The public finances are a severe constraint on its ability to throw [...]
CMA launches investigation into Microsoft amid cloud contract crackdown March 31, 2026 The UK’s competition watchdog has launched a new probe into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, as part of a wider push to loosen the grip of Big Tech on cloud, and boost competition for British firms. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will open a strategic market status investigation in Microsoft’s suite, including Windows, [...]
Top energy and City bosses called for summit with Starmer as oil surges March 29, 2026 A number of senior leaders from the likes of HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Shell will meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday as the government scrambles to help ease the unfolding energy crisis from the war in Iran. Top officials from the energy, finance and logistics sectors will attend the roundtable on Monday, [...]