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Supermarkets: Software

Asked by James NaishLabourDepartment for Business, Innovation, Science and TradeTabled Answered 8 September 2026UIN 22216

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment the Competition and Markets Authority has made of the availability of stable application programming interfaces from major supermarkets for third-party developers.

Answered by Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has not assessed the availability of stable application programming interfaces (“APIs”) from major supermarkets for third-party developers.

In 2023 and 2024, the CMA reviewed competition in the groceries sector and found no widespread evidence of weak competition. As part of this work, the CMA did identify issues with grocery retailers’ unit pricing practices that could affect shoppers’ ability to compare products and recommended changes to the Price Marking Order 2004. The UK government subsequently implemented reforms to unit pricing in April 2026.

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