Key points

• The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lets the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) designate firms with strategic market status (SMS) in a digital activity and impose conduct requirements on them.
• The CMA has designated Google in general search and Apple and Google in mobile platforms, and has been consulting on measures that include fair ranking, choice screens and app store terms.
• For retailers, the regime is relevant to how they are found in search, how they sell through apps and what data and terms they receive from the platforms.
• Conduct requirements are not self-executing. The CMA is proceeding step by step, and retailers have an opportunity to give evidence that can shape the measures.
• Retailers should review their reliance on SMS platforms, record how ranking, fees and terms affect them and decide whether to engage with the CMA.

A new regime for digital markets

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 created a regime that is separate from the ordinary competition rules and that operates in addition to them. The CMA can designate a firm as having strategic market status in respect of a digital activity if the firm has substantial and entrenched market power and a position of strategic significance, and the firm meets a turnover threshold. Designation lasts five years and is followed by conduct requirements, pro-competition interventions and, where needed, enforcement.

The regime sits within the CMA’s Digital Markets Unit. It is intended to be proportionate and evidence-led, with engagement from the designated firm and from third parties who depend on it. The statute includes strong enforcement tools, including penalties of up to 10 percent of global annual turnover for breaches of conduct requirements.

Who has been designated

In October 2025 the CMA designated Google as having strategic market status in general search and search advertising, and designated Apple and Google as having strategic market status in mobile platforms. It then began consulting on the first conduct requirements and on roadmaps for the areas where it expects to act. The measures under discussion include fair and transparent ranking of search results, choice screens that let consumers select their default search service and browser, clearer treatment of publishers’ content, and fair terms and steering options in app stores. Timetables and details can change, and companies should consult the CMA’s published materials for the current position.

Why retailers should care

Retailers are not the target of the regime, but they are among those who depend on SMS platforms. Search is a principal route to customers, and search advertising is a major cost. Mobile app stores are the channel for retailers’ own apps, and the rules on payments, steering and data affect margins and customer relationships. Changes to ranking and presentation can alter traffic and the economics of paid and organic search.

Possible benefits include more transparent ranking, clearer rules on how retailers’ listings and reviews are treated, more room to steer customers to a retailer’s own website for purchases and better access to data. The same measures may also bring changes retailers need to plan for, such as new choice screens that shift traffic between search engines, or changes to product listing formats.

Participating in the process

The CMA has said that it relies on evidence from third parties, including those who are affected by the designated firms’ conduct. Retailers can respond to consultations, give evidence on how ranking changes, fees or terms have affected them and raise concerns about specific practices. Trade associations can coordinate submissions. Retailers who rely heavily on a platform sometimes worry about reprisals, and the CMA has procedures for protecting confidential information.

Participation should be considered carefully. Submissions can be disclosed in part or referred to in published documents, and statements about a platform’s conduct should be accurate and supported. Legal review is advisable before a submission goes in.

Relationship with other rules

SMS conduct requirements apply alongside the Competition Act 1998, the Platform to Business regulations and the consumer protection provisions of the same Act, which give the CMA direct fining powers for breaches of consumer law. Retailers that sell on a marketplace should also be aware that the marketplace operator is subject to the consumer regime and may pass obligations on to sellers, for example on pricing, reviews and returns. In the European Union, the Digital Markets Act applies to designated gatekeepers with different obligations, and a retailer operating in both markets should track both.

Preparing

Measure dependence. Identify the share of traffic, sales and customer acquisition that comes through SMS platforms and the main terms that apply to the relationship.

Keep records. Document material changes to ranking, display, fees, data access and terms, with dates and effects. These records are useful evidence if the retailer chooses to engage with the CMA or later brings a claim.

Review contracts. Examine advertising, app developer and marketplace agreements for terms that might change as conduct requirements take effect, such as default settings, data use and dispute processes.

Plan for change. Consider how shifts in search defaults, app store rules or ranking could affect marketing budgets and customer journeys, and test alternative channels.

Watch the timetable. Follow the CMA’s consultations and roadmaps, and assign someone in the business to track them.

Looking ahead

The regime is new and the first conduct requirements will set the tone. The CMA has said it wants to act quickly where it can, and to avoid heavy-handed measures that could reduce innovation. Retailers that are organized and that give clear, evidence-based input are most likely to influence the result.

Priya Raghunathan and Helena Strand in London advise retailers, brands and platforms on the UK digital markets regime, CMA engagement and related competition and consumer law questions.