The situation
A planned discount campaign with the price history of each product
A Polish electronics retailer plans a three-week Black Friday campaign in its Polish and German webshops. Some products were reduced in October, some went up in price in early November, and a few launched last week. The creative agency wants to know what it can put on the banners: a percentage, a struck-through price or the recommended retail price.
The marketing lead needs a ruling per product type before the banners are made. The work is in the price history: which price counts as the prior price, how the October reductions affect it, what to do with new products, and whether comparisons with the recommended price fall under the same rule.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The prior price: lowest in 30 days
- Any announcement of a price reduction must show the prior price: the lowest price the trader applied in a period of at least 30 days before the reduction. Member states may set different rules for perishable goods and for goods on the market for less than 30 days.
- The percentage is measured against that price
- The Court of Justice held in Aldi Süd (C-330/23) that an announced reduction, including a percentage, must be calculated from the prior price. A price rise just before the campaign does not make the discount larger.
- Progressive reductions can keep the first price
- Where a reduction grows during a campaign without interruption, member states may allow the prior price to be the price before the first reduction. Check whether each country uses that option.
- The rule covers announced reductions
- The rule applies when a trader announces a reduction of its own price for goods. Comparisons with a manufacturer’s recommended price are judged under the general rules on misleading practices instead, so they must not mislead.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Polish retailer, webshops in Poland and Germany. Product A cost PLN 999, was reduced to PLN 899 in October and went back to PLN 999 on 1 November. For a Black Friday price of PLN 799, what prior price must we show, can we advertise 20% off, and do the rules cover comparisons with the recommended retail price?
You start with
A planned discount campaign with the price history of each product
- 01
Describe the campaign
Give the products, their price history and the planned banners. azta searches the Price Indication Directive and the Polish and German implementing law.
Cited research· Free - 02
Read the Court’s judgment
Ask how the Court of Justice and national courts have applied the rule. azta summarises the decisions with links to the full text.
Case-law search - 03
Write the campaign note
Ask for a note by product type: the prior price to show, the percentage allowed and the wording to avoid. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Brief the agency
Export the note to Word for the creative agency, with an annex of the products to change.
Word export· Pro You send
A campaign note on how each reduction may be announced
What you get
A campaign note on how each reduction may be announced
Campaign note · draft
Black Friday 2026: how to show reductions
Prior price. For each reduced product, show the lowest price we applied in the 30 days before the campaign price starts. For product A, that is the October price of PLN 899, not the current PLN 999.
Percentages. Any percentage on a banner must be calculated from that prior price. For product A, PLN 799 against PLN 899 is a reduction of about 11%, not 20%. Banners showing 20% off for this product must be changed.
New products and recommended prices. Products launched in the last 30 days are listed in the annex with the rule each country applies. Comparisons with the manufacturer’s recommended price must not be presented as our reduction and must say clearly what the reference price is.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
22 minutes a month
At €75 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 27
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,025
- More campaign price checks a quarter
- 2.3
- Return on Pro
- 6.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- Dziennik Ustaw
- Gesetze im Internet
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
What stays with you
- The price history from your pricing system.
- The final banner wording.
- Deciding how close to the line the campaign goes.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the rule apply to services?
- The prior-price rule comes from the Price Indication Directive, which covers goods. Discounts on services are judged under the general rules on misleading practices. Ask with the facts and azta cites both.
- What about prices for loyalty-programme members?
- Ask with the details of the programme. National guidance and decisions differ, and azta cites what it holds.
- Can azta read our price history?
- Yes. Upload the export and ask about specific products. azta points back to the rows it used.
