History of Prices and Changes Regarding the Omnibus Directive, Coming into Effect on January 1, 2023.

We have prepared a new price history update that adjusts the SOTESHOP online store to the changes that came into effect on January 1, 2023. Among other things, there is an option to show the lowest price on the product card in the last 30 days before the discount, advanced discount handling and additional configuration.

• What is the Omnibus Directive?
• What changes on January 1, 2023 in Poland?
• What has changed in SOTESHOP?
• How to configure the price history in the store?
• Discounts
• Price history chart
• Lowest product price 30 days before the discount
• Update in SOTESHOP 8.1.5 version
• Questions and answers
• E-commerce dictionary

What is the Omnibus Directive?

The Omnibus Directive, more precisely the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/2161 of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU as regards better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules, introduces significant changes in the field of consumer protection law.

Learn more: Omnibus Directive - revolution in consumer law.

High penalties for entrepreneurs

In order to ensure the effectiveness of the regulations introduced, the legislator provided for high sanctions for entrepreneurs who do not comply with the changes. Thus, in the case of failure to fulfill the obligations related to informing about the reduced price, entrepreneurs will face financial penalties of up to PLN 20,000. If the violations are repeated three times within 12 months - the penalty may amount to even PLN 40,000.

Find out more from the article: Omnibus Directive - High penalties for entrepreneurs for not complying with new regulations

What changes on January 1, 2023 in Poland?

As can be read in the above article: “According to Article 7 of the Directive, Member States were obliged to adopt and publish the necessary provisions for the implementation of this Directive by 28 November. Its application will begin on 28 May 2022.”.

In Poland, the relevant regulations came into force on January 1, 2023. They impose additional information obligations on entrepreneurs, including online stores, including:

• Presenting, in addition to information about the reduced price, also information about the lowest price of a given product or service that applied in the 30 days before the reduction.
• Indicating whether and how it verifies a given opinion as to whether it comes from a person who actually used or purchased the product.

What changed in SOTESHOP?

The first version of the price history appeared in SOTESHOP almost a year ago on 30-03-2022, during this time we have collected a lot of information from our customers and prepared a new version of both the price history and reviews.

Check out the article about the first version of the price history: Adapt your store to legal changes. Product reviews, search and price history.

Description of new updates related to the Omnibus Directive:

• Price history
  • Showing the lowest price 30 days before the discount.
  • Adding support for discounts in the price history.
  • Additional configuration of the price presentation.
  • Corrections of the look on the mobile version and the last price.
  • Update of the chart with the price history.
• Reviews
  • Additional marking of reviews confirmed by purchase.

How to configure price history in the store?

Price history is available in the standard SOTESHOP 8 online store software without any additional fees. Just download the store update.

Watch the short video and learn how to activate price history in the store.

See documentation: Price History

How does price history work?

Price history works automatically and does not require additional daily work on the part of the store. The system analyzes price changes and saves them in the database, so that this data can be presented to customers. This applies to both price history and finding the lowest price after a discount.

Discounts

In price history, data is remembered when the product is saved. If the product had an active discount, e.g. for the category, then the price with the discount will be saved. If we change discounts in the store and add them to many products, then after the change, the Task Schedule task: Price History Update must be performed.

If a task schedule is configured in the store, this operation will also be automatically invoked daily at night, in case such a task has not been performed earlier.

We recommend configuring the task schedule to fully utilize the price history feature. Check the documentation: Task Schedule

Price history chart

The price history chart shows all price changes in the last 30 days. The chart shows data from each day, and below the chart is a table with information when the price changed.

Lowest product price 30 days before the discount

Information about the price reduction is displayed both on the product card and on the price history chart window, where additional information about the date of the last price change and the date of the lowest price in the last 30 days is placed.

In the store, information about the lowest price can be presented only for the price reduction or for each price change. The type of presentation can be changed in the configuration.

Update in SOTESHOP 8.1.5 version

The second update of the price history module was released on 2023-01-18. We took into account the customers' comments and added several improvements and corrections. List of the most important changes:

• Removal of the requirement to configure an additional task of the Schedule.
• Adding the saving of discounts (without the need to configure a separate Schedule).
• Configuration of data presentation.
• Price saving corrections.

Shops in which an additional frontend schedule has been configured do not have to delete it, the system will automatically recognize the configuration and adjust the task execution.

Questions and answers

How often does the system save prices?

The system remembers the price from each day. If the price is changed several times a day, the last change of the day is saved in the history.

How does the system recognize the price reduction?

Recognition of changes, including reductions, of the price is based on comparing the current price with the last product price, at least from the previous day. If we raise and then lower the price within one day, but it will be higher than the last price, the system will treat it as a price increase, not a reduction. Additional information appears after the price change.

Can I manually trigger an update of the price history?

The price history is automatically remembered when the product is saved. If the discount is changed for many products, you must manually trigger the "Update Price History" task in the Schedule.

E-commerce dictionary

Omnibus price

Definition: "the legally required information about the lowest price of the product applicable in the 30 days before the promotion, discount, etc. is introduced, placed next to the promotional, discounted price". The rules and requirement to inform customers about the omnibus price were introduced by the so-called Omnibus EU Directive (Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of the EU 2019/2161 of 27 November 2019), which aims to increase consumer protection in e-commerce.

E-commerce Dictionary: Omnibus Price

Price History

Definition: "information about the price made available to the consumer in a transparent manner by the trader". The legal requirement to inform the customer about the applicable lowest price for the product or service at the time of the promotion, discount was established by the so-called Omnibus Directive. The regulations came into force in Poland on 1 January 2023 and are aimed at increasing consumer protection.

E-commerce Dictionary: Price History

Related Pages

• Documentation - Price History
• Documentation - Task Schedule
• SOTESHOP Online Store