28/09/2017

While confirming that price comparison sites and other apps help people shop around and force businesses to ‘raise their game’, an in-depth study by the Competition and Markets Authority has also concluded that improvements are needed to help people get even better deals.

Consequently, even though 90% of people surveyed for the study were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ satisfied with the site/s they used, CMA’s final report still recommends clear ground rules on key issues for all online investigation tools.

CMA also promises to take enforcement action where the law may have been broken and has already opened up a competition law investigation into a home insurance products comparison site.

CMA’s ‘Clear, Accurate, Responsible and Easy-to-use (CARE)’ ground rules require sites to be clear about

  • how they make money, how many deals they are displaying and how they are ordering the results
  • how they protect personal formation and how people can control its use

Additionally, CMA recommends that

  • sites should be made as easy as possible for people to make effective comparisons or use different sites, for example through better information about products
  • all regulators with a stake in this area should work together to ensure people are well protected

‘Digital comparison tools market study’ provides access to the all the documents – including consultation responses – relating to the study from its launch in September 2016 to the publication of the final report in September 2017.

‘Price comparison website: use of most favoured nation clauses’ sets out the case information and timetable of an investigation commenced this month by the CMA into the suspected illegal use of ‘most favoured nation clauses‘ by a price comparison website dealing with home insurance products.

In online retail law, ‘most favoured nation’ clauses require the provider of a product or service to price it as low or lower than the price at which the product is sold at rival outlets. Evidence relating to the home insurance case arose from CMA’s market study into digital comparison tools.