RRP is the recommended retail price a brand publishes for a product, used across the UK and Europe where an American brand would say MSRP.
Oct 29, 2026
RRP stands for recommended retail price: the price a brand suggests a retailer charges the end customer. It also goes by suggested retail price (SRP) or list price. In the UK and EU it is quoted including VAT, because it is the price a shopper pays at the till.
On a linesheet, the RRP sits next to the wholesale price. The gap between the two is the retailer’s margin.
They describe the same number. MSRP is the American term and RRP the British and European one, and a brand selling into both markets will see the two used interchangeably on the same linesheet.
What sets them apart is the law around them. In the EU and the UK a recommended price is exactly that: a brand may publish it but may not require a retailer to sell at it. Agreements fixing resale prices are prohibited, which is why the word is recommended.
The wholesale price is what the retailer pays the brand, quoted excluding VAT. The RRP is what the brand expects the retailer to charge, quoted including VAT.
A jacket that wholesales at €40 with an RRP of €100 leaves the retailer €83.33 once 20% VAT is taken out, a margin of about 52% on the net price.
Most brands work forward from the wholesale price:
RRP (incl. VAT) = wholesale price (excl. VAT) × multiplier
In fashion and lifestyle the multiplier usually sits between 2.2 and 2.8. Basics that turn over quickly sit at the lower end; premium or slow-moving lines at the higher end, because the retailer carries the stock for longer. The result is then rounded to a price point the market expects, such as €99.95 or £85.
Because VAT rates differ, the same multiplier leaves a different margin in each country. A buyer in a 25% VAT market keeps less of a €100 RRP than one in a 19% market, which is one reason brands set RRP per market.
No. A retailer in the UK or EU can sell above or below the RRP. What competition law prohibits is a brand forcing a fixed or minimum resale price, whether through contract terms, threats to stop supply, or withholding discounts. This is called resale price maintenance, and it is treated as one of the most serious restrictions in a supply agreement.
A brand can still publish an RRP, set a maximum price, and decide which accounts it opens. It cannot make the RRP a condition of doing business.
Retailers have a rule of their own to follow. In the UK, an advert claiming a saving against RRP needs that RRP to be a genuine price the product has sold at, not an inflated reference. The ASA’s guidance on RRP claims sets out what counts.
RRP is how a brand says where it expects to sit. It sets the multiplier a buyer can plan against, anchors the price across markets so one territory does not undercut another, and gives the brand a reference point when an account discounts early.
RRP is also a currency problem. An RRP set in euros does not convert cleanly into pounds or dollars once duty, freight, and local VAT are applied, so brands usually publish a separate RRP per market rather than one converted figure. US RRPs, or MSRPs, are quoted before sales tax, so they are not directly comparable with a European RRP either.
The same applies one step earlier, to the wholesale price itself: see how wholesale price lists work per currency.
Recommended retail price. In the US the same figure is usually called MSRP, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
After. In the UK and EU, an RRP includes VAT because it is the price a consumer pays. Wholesale prices are quoted excluding VAT.
Yes. RRP is a recommendation, so a retailer can charge more. It is uncommon, because shoppers can usually see the brand’s suggested price elsewhere.
No. Retailers are free to discount below RRP. It is the brand that breaks competition law if it forces a minimum resale price.
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