What happens if the shelf price and the till price differ? Turkey's price label rules and a store compliance checklist

What information must a price label show?

Price label rules rest on Article 54 of Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 and the Price Label Regulation based on it. According to the Ministry of Trade's guidance, the label of goods offered for sale must show the place of production, the distinguishing feature, the selling price including all taxes and the unit price.

The unit price is given per quantity, length (metre), weight (kilogram), area (square metre) or volume (cubic metre). For loose products, only the unit price is shown on the label. If the unit price equals the selling price, it need not be shown separately. Electronic and digital labels are permitted.

For loose products, tare is deducted. The amendment of 11 October 2025 defined tare as the weight of packaging, containers or similar material that does not affect the product's unit price; that weight is subtracted from the quantity sold at the scale.

If shelf and till prices differ, which price applies?

According to the Ministry of Trade's price label guidance, when the price on the shelf label and the price charged at the till differ, the price in the consumer's favour, that is the lower price, applies. If the label is lower, the retailer gives up the difference from its margin; if the label is higher, the consumer has been steered towards paying more, which is a matter for complaints and inspection.

The gap mostly opens on price-change day. The new price is set centrally and reaches the till the same day; the shelf label has to be printed, distributed and changed one by one by the store team. Under high inflation, as the number of weekly price changes grows, that gap widens. Electronic shelf labels update the label centrally; Migros had them in 816 stores at the end of 2025.

The cost of the gap has two parts: direct margin loss and the risk of an administrative fine. The example below shows the first part on a single product; the size of the second is in the inspection section.

How is the previous price set on a discount?

Under the Price Label Regulation amendment published in the Official Gazette on 11 October 2025 (issue 33044), the pre-discount price in a physical store became the lowest price applied in the 10 days before the discount; previously the period was 30 days. The amendment to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, published on 1 July 2026 (issue 33297) and in force from 1 August 2026, extended the same 10-day rule to discount announcements in every channel, including websites and mobile apps; the previous price is set by the price in the channel where the discount is made. For quickly perishable products such as fruit and vegetables, and for services, the price immediately before the discount is used.

On promotions, Article 7 of the Regulation on Principles and Rules in Retail Trade does not allow discounts without fixed start and end dates; posters and online listings must show the dates. Both rules mean the same thing operationally: each product's price history is kept, dated, for at least ten days, and the discount label is produced from that history.

Pre-discount price

Lowest selling price applied in the same sales channel in the last 10 daysIn store since 11 October 2025, online and in apps since 1 August 2026. For perishable products and services, the price immediately before the discount.

Displayed discount rate

(Previous price − Discounted price) ÷ Previous price × 100

When price history is kept in hand-maintained spreadsheets, a low price applied briefly last week is forgotten and the discount label shows a previous price that is too high.

What do inspectors check, and how large are the fines?

According to the Ministry of Trade's statement for the first half of 2023, price label inspections covered 584,953 products at 25,409 businesses, and 15,894 non-compliant products were fined a total of ₺14,991,883. The non-compliant share calculated from those figures is about 2.7 per cent.

On price increases, the Unfair Price Assessment Board (HFDK) inspects grocery chains separately. At its meeting of 11 February 2025 the Board fined bakeries, butchers and national and local grocery chains ₺52,824,640 for selling bread outside the set tariff and for excessive pricing. At its meeting of 25 June 2025 it fined chain supermarkets and food retailers ₺23,845,718.50 for unfair price increases.

How do you set up a label-to-till reconciliation in store?

Reconciliation means comparing the till price with the label on the shelf, on the same day, for every product whose price changed. The check is done by scanning on the shelf with a handheld; the result goes into the system so that a non-compliant label becomes a task for its owner and stores can be compared on the same measure.

Label-to-till accuracy rate

Compliant label checks ÷ Total label checks × 100

1. Get the list of price changesThe central list reaches the store before the price reaches the till; it states which product sells at the new price from which time.
2. Print and hang the labelsLabels are printed in product and shelf order; a new label is not hung until the old one is removed.
3. Scan on the shelfThe label is scanned with the handheld, and the till price and mandatory fields are compared on screen.
4. Record the mismatchA non-compliant label is recorded with a reason code: price difference, missing unit price, wrong shelf, no label.
5. Add a random sampleA small daily sample of products whose price did not change is also checked; that is how fallen or misplaced labels are found.

How does Mindpera track label-to-till accuracy?

In the Mind Ops module, store audits and checklists are completed on the shop floor; the label check is set up as one of those checklists and its result is read alongside sales data. Unmatched POS rows are listed with a reason code and the value of the difference.

The database calculates the previous day's accuracy rate with a defined formula; run the same report twice and the same number comes back. Agents find non-compliant labels and stores over the threshold, open a task, assign it to the store manager and follow it until it is closed; an item that stays open escalates to the area manager.

• Mind Ops: checklists, daily store scorecard, open item and escalation report.
• Mind Cost: an alert to the pricing owner when last purchase cost crosses its threshold, and a price update suggestion list.
• Mind Stock: stock and movement data for products affected by a price change, in the same model.

If the till price table, the ERP price list and label records sit in separate systems, installation brings them into a single model.