Victoria Robinson, a partner in Buckles Law’s Corporate and Commercial team, discusses the new rules on online reviews, explaining what retailers can and cannot do, where the legal risks now sit, and the simple steps businesses should take to stay compliant.
For those selling to the public, online reviews are an integral part of the buyer’s decision-making process. Research from Which? found that 89% of consumers consider reviews before purchasing, and in the childrenswear market, where trust and quality are everything to a cautious parent, that figure will feel entirely credible to anyone running a retail business. The rules around how businesses can obtain, manage and present those reviews have changed. A wave of high-profile regulatory investigations launched in March 2026 suggests the authorities recognise the influence of reviews and the need to consider their authenticity.
What changed and when
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC) came into force in April 2025 and reshaped the legal landscape surrounding online reviews in ways many businesses have yet to fully absorb. For the first time, certain practices relating to reviews are classified as banned outright, meaning they are automatically deemed unfair and illegal under consumer law. There is no grey area, no mitigation, and no benefit of the doubt. Those banned practices include posting fake reviews, publishing paid-for or incentivised reviews without making that clear to consumers, hiding or suppressing negative reviews, and presenting star ratings in a way that gives a misleading picture of a business. Businesses found to have broken these rules can be fined up to 10% of their annual global turnover by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which now has the power to make that determination without going through the courts.
Investigations you may have seen in the headlines
In March 2026, the CMA’s website names the following businesses now under investigation: Autotrader and its review platform Feefo, the funeral services group Dignity, food delivery platform Just Eat, and pasta brand Pasta Evangelists. No findings of infringement have been made at this stage, and all businesses are entitled to respond to the CMA’s concerns. But the breadth of the investigation is the point, covering funerals, food delivery and car sales. No sector is beyond scrutiny, and the CMA has been explicit that it has given businesses time to get their practices in order before it started its investigations.
What this means for independent retailers
The practical implications for childrenswear retailers are straightforward once you understand where the lines are drawn. Asking satisfied customers to leave a review is perfectly legal and good practice. Sending a follow-up email after a purchase encouraging honest feedback is fine. Responding professionally to negative reviews, even disputing a review you believe to be unfair through the relevant platform’s process, is also acceptable. None of that falls foul of the new rules. Where businesses can run into trouble is when they cross the line from encouraging genuine feedback to trying to engineer the outcome they want. Offering a discount, a gift, or any other incentive in exchange for a positive review is now illegal, unless that incentive is clearly disclosed to anyone reading the review. Asking employees, friends or family to post reviews posing as genuine customers is illegal. Paying a third-party to generate positive reviews is illegal. And ignoring or actively suppressing negative reviews, rather than responding to them, may now expose a business to regulatory risk depending on how review platforms moderate and display that content. The most serious end of the spectrum involves posting fake negative reviews about a competitor. This has always carried legal risk, but the DMCC adds a further layer of consumer law liability.
Steps worth taking now
If you have not already assessed how your business manages customer reviews, now is the right time to discuss with everyone in the business how reviews are requested and how they are currently being handled.
Now is the time to:
- Review how customer feedback is requested
- Check whether any incentives are offered and whether these are visible
- Ensure review moderation processes are transparent
- Train staff not to post or solicit misleading reviews
- Review third-party agency arrangements concerning online reputation management
Platform terms of service also matter here. Google, Trustpilot, Feefo and others have their own rules governing review integrity, and a breach of those terms can result in reviews being removed or accounts being suspended, quite apart from any regulatory consequence. The CMA has said it expects to update on the current investigations in September 2026. Between now and then, the message for retailers is simple: reviews are one of your most valuable commercial assets and protecting their integrity is not just a legal obligation, but good business.