RRP
Recommended retail price
An RRP, or recommended retail price, is the selling price a manufacturer or supplier suggests for a product, which the retailer is free to set differently.
- MSRP
What it means
A supplier file can carry two prices: the trade price you pay, and an RRP. Trading standards guidance defines an RRP as “a price that a manufacturer or supplier has independently recommended”.1
It is a recommendation, not a rule. The CMA calls RRPs “a legitimate means of doing business”. But it says suppliers “should not directly or indirectly force retailers to sell their products for a price at or above particular levels”.2 Your selling price is your own decision, and for UK shoppers it includes VAT.3
Showing an RRP beside your price is a comparison with rules of its own. The same trading standards guidance says to tell shoppers “clearly and prominently” that the higher price is an RRP, not a price you have charged. It adds: “An RRP must represent a genuine selling price.”1
Think of it like this
The price printed on a paperback’s cover is an RRP in all but name. The bookshop can charge it, beat it or ignore it, and the figure only tells you what the publisher had in mind.
For example
A bathroom supplier’s row reads Trade £312.50 and RRP £625.00. The retailer sells the bath at £479.00, so 479.00 GBP goes in the feed and the page’s markup. Neither supplier figure is the price on the page.
Why it matters
A feed built straight from the supplier file can send the RRP to Google while your page shows your own price. Google compares the two, and a product whose landing page price does not match its feed “may be disapproved”.4
Not to be confused with
An RRP is not a trade price. The trade price is what the supplier charges you. The RRP is what it suggests a shopper pays you.
Sources
- Business Companion (Chartered Trading Standards Institute). Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices.
- Competition and Markets Authority. Everyone loses out with resale price maintenance.
- Google Merchant Center Help. Product data specification.
- Google Merchant Center Help. How to fix: Mismatched product price.