Retail & Consumer Goods
Shops, e-commerce, consumer products, wholesale and distribution.
Business activities
This sector covers the following areas of business activity:
Guided journeys
Step-by-step guides for businesses in this sector:
Product compliance for manufacturers
Learn how to ensure your products meet UK safety and marking requirements before placing them on the market
Start journey →Consumer rights compliance checklist
Quick compliance check for traders selling goods, services, or digital content to consumers. Covers quality standards, remedies, distance selling, unfair terms, and enforcement readiness.
Start journey →Meet food safety requirements for your business
Register, implement HACCP, and comply with food safety law including allergen requirements
Start journey →Packaging producer compliance journey
Understand the overlapping environmental obligations for businesses that handle packaging. Covers Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), and Simpler Recycling requirements, and explains how they interact.
Start journey →Start selling products on the UK market
A comprehensive introduction to UK product safety compliance for businesses placing products on the GB market. Covers the legal framework (CPA 1987, GPSR 2005, PRMA 2025), supply chain responsibilities, risk assessment, UKCA and CE marking, online marketplace duties, and a compliance checklist. Designed for importers, new manufacturers, and online marketplace sellers with no prior knowledge of product safety law.
Start journey →Prepare your BNPL business for FCA regulation
Preparation guide for Buy Now Pay Later providers and merchants ahead of FCA regulation from 15 July 2026. Covers what is changing, whether you need FCA authorisation or credit broking permission, affordability assessment setup, advertising compliance, pre-contract disclosure, and complaints handling through the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Start journey →Product safety quick compliance check
Rapid product safety self-assessment: verify safety obligations, marking, documentation, traceability, and recall readiness for products on the UK market.
Start journey →Respond to a product safety incident
Emergency guidance when you discover an unsafe product. Stop supply immediately, notify Trading Standards and OPSS, manage the recall, and understand your legal exposure under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
Start journey →Product compliance checklist for GB market
Quick checklist to verify your products meet GB market requirements for conformity marking, safety assessment, documentation, and traceability before placing goods on the market.
Start journey →Meet environmental compliance requirements
Navigate your environmental obligations including waste duty of care, pollution prevention, packaging responsibilities, and energy reporting
Start journey →Handling customer refund disputes
When a customer demands a refund, what are your legal obligations? This guide helps you determine whether the customer is entitled to a refund, what remedy to offer, and how to process it correctly under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Start journey →Start offering consumer credit to customers
End-to-end learning path for businesses new to consumer credit. Covers understanding FCA regulation, obtaining authorisation, setting up pre-contract disclosures and affordability assessments, complying with advertising rules, and verifying ongoing compliance under the Consumer Duty.
Start journey →Respond to a food safety incident
Immediate steps when unsafe food is discovered or a customer reports illness. Stop selling, withdraw the product, notify the FSA, and cooperate with enforcement.
Start journey →Understanding consumer rights law for traders
Learn your legal obligations when selling goods, services, or digital content to consumers. Covers the Consumer Rights Act 2015 quality standards, tiered remedies, distance selling rules, unfair contract terms, and enforcement penalties.
Start journey →Building regulations compliance for renovation
Navigate building control approval, thermal upgrade requirements, and competent person schemes when renovating business premises
Start journey →Start a food business for the first time
Everything you need to do before opening a food business. Covers registration, premises, HACCP, training, allergens, labelling, and preparing for your first inspection.
Start journey →Start selling online legally
Everything you need to know before launching an online shop. Covers distance selling regulations, pre-contract information, cancellation rights, refund obligations, website compliance, consumer rights for goods and digital content, and enforcement.
Start journey →Food safety quick compliance check
A quick compliance check for food business operators. Covers registration, HACCP, allergens, temperature control, training, and record keeping.
Start journey →Improve your food hygiene rating
Practical steps to improve a poor food hygiene rating. Understand what inspectors scored, fix the issues, and request a re-inspection.
Start journey →VAT compliance for retailers
Complete VAT guidance for retail businesses. Covers pricing rules, retail schemes for calculating VAT, invoicing requirements, and submitting returns. Designed for VAT-registered retailers who want to understand their specific obligations.
Start journey →Grow your retail business
Scale your retail business - expand online, open new locations, build your team, and manage increased compliance as you grow
Start journey →Start a retail business - compliance essentials
A comprehensive compliance onboarding journey for new retailers. Covers consumer rights, pricing law, age-restricted sales, product safety, data protection, accessibility duties, and specialist licences. Designed for first-time retail business owners who need to understand their legal obligations before opening.
Start journey →Respond to a Trading Standards investigation
What to do if Trading Standards has contacted you, visited your premises, or conducted a test purchase. Covers understanding their powers, identifying the compliance area under investigation, gathering your due diligence evidence, responding appropriately, and strengthening your procedures.
Start journey →Start selling online - retail compliance
A learning path for retailers adding an online sales channel. Covers the additional compliance obligations for distance selling, including cooling-off periods, website legal requirements, online data protection, accessibility, subscription rules, and handling complaints from online customers.
Start journey →Run a retail business
Ongoing compliance and operational guidance for established retail businesses
Start journey →Retail compliance quick check
Quick compliance check for experienced retailers. Covers consumer rights, price marking, age-restricted sales, and annual compliance obligations.
Start journey →Start a retail business
Launch a retail business with the right consumer protection compliance
Start journey →Managing business waste and duty of care compliance
Navigate your legal obligations for business waste - duty of care, waste carriers, transfer notes, and preparing for new recycling rules
Start journey →Guidance for retail & consumer goods
Sector-Specific
- Subscription and auto-renewal compliance — Understand the new DMCC Act 2024 rules on subscription contracts. Covers pre-contract information, renewal reminders, …
- Annual retail compliance checklist — Quick annual compliance verification for established retailers. Covers consumer rights, pricing, age verification, data protection, …
- CLP Chemical Classification and Labelling — Classify, label and package hazardous chemicals under GB CLP.
- Biocides and Pesticides Authorisation — Get HSE CRD authorisation for biocidal and pesticidal products.
- Retail sector market overview — UK retail market statistics, ecommerce growth trends, and investment opportunities for retailers operating in Great …
- Specialist retail licences and registrations — Specialist licences required for specific retail activities including tobacco registration, fireworks sales, pet shops, scrap …
- Product safety and labeling requirements — General Product Safety Regulations 2005, UKCA marking, weights and measures compliance, and labeling obligations for …
- Avoid selling counterfeit goods — Protect your business from counterfeit goods liability. Covers supplier due diligence, trade mark verification, Trading …
- Health and safety for retail premises — Retail-specific health and safety obligations. Covers lone working, violence prevention, manual handling, display screen equipment, …
- Equality and accessibility for retail businesses — Understand your obligations under the Equality Act 2010 as a retail service provider. Covers protected …
- Data protection for retail businesses — UK GDPR compliance for retail businesses. Covers customer data handling, CCTV obligations, marketing consent, loyalty …
- Environmental obligations for retailers — Environmental compliance for retail businesses. Covers WEEE registration, packaging waste, EPR, carrier bag charge, single-use …
- Selling knives and bladed articles — A practical compliance guide for retailers selling knives, blades, and sharp-pointed articles. Covers age verification …
- Consumer Rights and Returns — Understand consumer rights for returns, refunds, and replacements under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
- Distance Selling and E-Commerce — Comply with Consumer Contracts Regulations for online, phone, and mail order sales.
- Age-Restricted Products — Understand legal requirements for selling age-restricted products including alcohol, tobacco, and knives.
- Sunday Trading Rules — Understand Sunday trading hours restrictions and exemptions in England and Wales.
- Price Marking for Retailers — Comply with price display requirements under the Price Marking Order 2004.
- Avoid unfair trading practices in retail — Understand unfair trading rules under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (which replaced …
- Ensure product safety compliance for retailers — Product safety compliance checklist for retailers. Covers supplier vetting, safety marking verification, recall procedures, OPSS …
- Handle customer complaints and disputes — Set up an effective complaint handling process and understand your obligations around Alternative Dispute Resolution …
- Product standards and CE marking for the Northern Ireland market — How product standards and marking requirements differ for the Northern Ireland market under the Windsor …
- UK REACH Chemical Compliance — Understand and comply with UK REACH chemical registration requirements for manufacturers and importers.
- Alcohol licensing in Scotland — How alcohol licensing works in Scotland under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 — five licensing …
- Alcohol licensing in Northern Ireland — How alcohol licensing works in Northern Ireland — court-granted licences, 5-year renewal, seven licence categories, …
- Premises licence: how to apply — How to apply for a premises licence to sell alcohol, provide late night refreshment, or …
- VAT for retail businesses — A complete guide to VAT for retailers, covering registration, pricing requirements, retail schemes, invoicing, gift …
- Use a VAT retail scheme — How to calculate VAT using a retail scheme if you sell mainly to the public. …
- Consumer rights compliance for service providers — How to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 when providing services to consumers. Covers …
- Prepare for CMA enforcement action — What to expect if the Competition and Markets Authority or Trading Standards investigates your business …
- Consumer rights compliance for traders — Your legal obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 when selling goods, services, or digital …
- Assess whether your product meets the general safety requirement — How to carry out a product safety risk assessment to determine whether your product meets …
- Packaging waste producer responsibilities — Who must comply with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, how to register and report …
- Product safety compliance checklist for the GB market — Compliance checklist for businesses placing consumer products on the Great Britain market. Covers the general …
- Distance and off-premises selling requirements — Your legal obligations when selling to consumers online, by phone, by mail order, or at …
- Handle consumer complaints about faulty goods — Step-by-step guidance for frontline and customer service staff handling faulty goods complaints under the Consumer …
- Avoiding unfair terms in consumer contracts — Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 controls which terms in consumer contracts are …
- Alcohol licensing in Northern Ireland: court-granted licences — How Northern Ireland's court-based alcohol licensing system works, including the seven licence categories, 5-year renewal …
- Section 75 claims and connected lender liability — What Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 means for lenders, card issuers, and …
- Handle early settlement and withdrawal requests — How to handle consumer requests for early settlement and exercise of the 14-day right of …
- Electrical product safety compliance — How to comply with the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 when placing electrical products on …
- Toy safety compliance in Great Britain — How to comply with the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 when placing toys on the Great …
- Consumer rights quick reference for traders — A quick reference card for traders covering what consumers can claim under the Consumer Rights …
- Write consumer-friendly terms and conditions — How to write consumer contracts that are legally compliant and enforceable. Covers the transparency requirement …
Compliance & Legal
- Doing business in Northern Ireland: key differences from Great Britain — Comprehensive reference of the key regulatory divergences between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Covers employment …
- Northern Ireland business compliance checklist — A quick compliance checklist for businesses operating in Northern Ireland. Covers NI-specific obligations including fair …