Can a small shop risk these sale tactics?

On the public record, the competition regulator has never gone after a small shop. We looked, and we couldn't find a single case. That isn't the same as being safe, though. The rules apply to any business selling to consumers, the CMA isn't the only body that enforces them, and most of the practices in this series are crimes as well as civil breaches carrying fines of up to £300,000, or 10% of turnover if that's higher, as the CMA's own guidance sets out.

Our interest, stated first. We sell marketing, including the 90-day plan a November sale would sit inside, so telling you the rules are risky is not against our interest. We've tried to say exactly what the record shows and exactly what it doesn't.

This is the last part of our series on sale prices and urgency, checked. It reports what the evidence and the regulators say, with links to each source; it is not legal advice.

What the evidence says

On 29 September 2026 we went through every case in the CMA's case finder of the type "consumer enforcement" that had been updated since 1 January 2022. There were 41 of them, and not one was against a small independent shop. The nearest was its 2026 heating oil review, where suppliers it didn't name agreed to pay compensation. When it launched its pricing drive, the CMA said it would "focus early enforcement action on the most egregious practices which are harmful to consumers".

Trading Standards cases aren't collected anywhere we could search, so we can't tell you how likely enforcement is for a business your size. And a guess that it's unlikely is a poor thing to build a sale on.

Can you take the risk legally?

• The rules don't depend on how big you are. The CMA says its price rules apply "to anyone who sells, advertises, markets or otherwise promotes a product to customers".
• Other bodies enforce them. The CMA's enforcement guidance lists Trading Standards among the enforcers of consumer law, alongside the Financial Conduct Authority, Ofcom and the Office of Rail and Road, and notes that "Not every enforcer is authorised for every infringement".
• Most of these practices are crimes. The CMA's guidance says most banned practices are criminal offences, and that they are "strict liability offences", which means "There is no need to prove the intent of the trader". A few of them do carry a purpose in their own wording, such as a false time limit used "in order to elicit an immediate decision". The Act gives a trader two defences, due diligence and innocent publication, and the trader has to prove either one.
• The fine has a fixed ceiling. The CMA or a court can fine a business up to £300,000, or 10% of its turnover if that's higher, as both its unfair practices guidance and its enforcement guidance set out. So if your turnover is under £3 million, the ceiling for you is £300,000.

What to do instead

Use the series as a checklist: honest "was" prices, real countdowns, fees inside the advertised price, an "up to" figure your range can support, and stock messages that are true. Our 90-day marketing plan is where we'd start a November push.