Omnibus Directive in your online store: what changes from 1 January 2023

From 1 January 2023, an online store that announces a discount must also show the lowest price of that product from the 30 days before the sale started. That’s it in a nutshell. In practice, the Omnibus Directive means one thing for an online store: a crossed-out price alone is no longer enough. I’m writing this for owners and admins of small and medium stores running WordPress with WooCommerce or PrestaShop. We’ll go through what the law says, what you need to change in your store and how to handle it technically before New Year.

What does the Omnibus Directive change in an online store from 1 January 2023?

Every time you announce a discount, you show the lowest price from the 30 days before it was introduced. That’s all. The EU directive is brought into Polish law by an amending act, the act published in Dziennik Ustaw (the Polish Journal of Laws). The new rules apply from 1 January 2023, including online sales. One caveat: this is not legal advice. If your store runs into unusual situations, talk them through with a lawyer.

Lowest price from 30 days: what exactly do you have to show the customer?

Next to the sale price, you show the lowest price the product sold for in the 30 days before the discount. Not only on the product page, but everywhere you advertise a promotion with a price: on banners, category listings and in newsletters. Watch out, because people often get this wrong. It is not the crossed-out price or the regular price (those usually show the last price before the sale, not the minimum over the whole period). An example? A jacket on sale shows its current price plus a note with the lowest price from the previous 30 days.

Price cuts and the law: when does the obligation apply to your store?

The obligation kicks in the moment you tell customers about a discount. Not with every price change. A regular price list update with no sale message doesn’t trigger it. So when do you need to keep it in mind? Most often with:

• seasonal sales and end-of-collection clearances,
• discount codes and coupons and special occasion campaigns,
• Black Friday and holiday promotions,
• discounts on individual products marked on the site.

And that’s the end of the „let’s raise the price a week before the sale” trick. Customers see the price history, so it simply stops working. Specific exceptions are set out in the act itself, so if in doubt, check it yourself.

What to prepare in your store before 1 January 2023 - a checklist

Five steps. Ideally while it’s still December:

1. Check whether your store records product price history.
2. Find out which templates display sale prices.
3. Add a spot in them for the lowest price from 30 days.
4. Review your promotional messages outside the product page.
5. Test how it displays on a few products on sale.

You have to collect price history in advance. Without data from the last month you can’t show the correct value, no point pretending otherwise. In a small company, the work is usually split between the store admin, a developer and someone from marketing.

Omnibus in WooCommerce: how to show the lowest price from 30 days

WooCommerce doesn’t keep price history by default. So you need an add-on or custom code. One ready-made option is the Product Price History plugin from K4.pl. It stores price history in a separate database table, calculates the lowest price from the last 30 days on its own and shows it on the product page when the product is on sale. Hooking it up to a WooCommerce store is simple, and customers see right away how much they really save. But what if you have unusual templates or a heavily customised promotion process? Then, in my view, a custom-built solution will serve you better.

Omnibus in PrestaShop and other platforms

The rule is the same everywhere. Only the implementation differs. In PrestaShop, check whether your store version or an installed module records price history and shows it on products on sale. When choosing a module, look at three things:

• whether price history is saved automatically on every change,
• whether the lowest price appears only during an active promotion,
• whether the display works properly with your theme.

The same criteria apply to any other e-commerce platform.

In short: for an online store, the Omnibus Directive means your price data has to exist before you start announcing sales. Start collecting price history now, so that on 1 January 2023 you have complete data for the full 30 days. After that, all that’s left is making sure the lowest price appears wherever you tell customers about a discount. It’s doable.

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