How to Spot a Fake Discount at a Swiss Supermarket: A 2026 Guide

How can you tell if a Swiss supermarket discount is real? The 60-second method: check the unit price per kilo or per litre (Grundpreis), compare it to the private label alternative on the same shelf, compare the offer to the same product at the other Swiss retailers in Rappn, and read the small print on the price tag. If two of those four checks come back odd, the "Aktion" is not what it looks like.

In Switzerland, "50 per cent off" is a legal claim. The federal Preisbekanntgabeverordnung (PBV, SR 942.211) regulates what counts as a real comparison price. The catch is that the rules give chains enough room to engineer a fake without technically breaking the law. Here is how that works, and how to see through it.

Sources checked: May 2026. Federal ordinance SR 942.211 (PBV), UWG SR 241 articles 16-20 and 24, SECO control campaigns 2024-2025, March 2026 SECO ruling on Migros and Coop multi-buy tags, May 2026 SECO intervention against IKEA Switzerland, K-Tipp Aktion analyses 2017-2025, Beobachter August 2025.

Rappn is the only neutral grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer.

What Swiss law actually requires

Swiss price disclosure is governed by the Preisbekanntgabeverordnung (PBV), ordinance SR 942.211, in force since 1978 and based on articles 16 to 20 and article 24 of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG, SR 241). The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) holds federal oversight, while day-to-day enforcement sits with the cantons.

The PBV permits three kinds of comparison price:

• Selbstvergleich (self-comparison): the seller's own previous price. This is what "reduziert von CHF 8.90 auf CHF 4.45" means.
• Konkurrenzvergleich (competitor comparison): a clearly identified competitor's price.
• Einführungspreis (introductory price): the launch price for a new product.

On 30 October 2024 the Federal Council reformed the Selbstvergleich rules. The change, AS 2024 621, took effect on 1 January 2025. Sellers can now choose between two regimes:

• the old short-term rule: the previous (struck-through) price must have been valid for at least twice as long as the discount, and the whole comparison can run for a maximum of two months, or
• the new unlimited rule: a Selbstvergleich can run indefinitely as long as the previous price was actually charged for at least 30 consecutive days beforehand.

The new option, while reducing red tape for retailers, also widens the door for what shoppers know as Mondpreis: lifting the regular price for a brief period only to discount it from that artificial peak.

The 7 most common fake-discount tactics

1. The Mondpreis (moon price)

A "regular" price that was raised days or weeks earlier specifically to be discounted from. Since 1 January 2025, a 30-day reference window is enough for a legal Selbstvergleich, which makes this even easier than before. The fastest tell is to compare the "discounted" price against the same product at the other Swiss retailers in Rappn: if Coop, Aldi or Lidl are selling the same item cheaper as their regular price this week, the headline percentage off is measured against a temporarily inflated reference price, not against the real market.

2. The multi-buy ambiguity

"CHF 3.70" in big letters, valid only if you buy two. CHF 4.95 in small letters if you buy one. In March 2026, SECO ruled that Migros's price tags for these multi-buy promotions were not compliant with the PBV, and called Coop's practice borderline. Migros agreed to redesign its tags Switzerland-wide. Until that rollout is complete, read the small print before reaching for the shelf.

3. The Aktion that is more expensive than the private label

K-Tipp tested three weeks of Coop and Migros Aktionen across roughly 70 products and found that a corresponding Prix Garantie or M-Budget item was usually cheaper than the discounted branded version. The "20 per cent off" Tartare cream cheese still cost more per gram than the always-available private label cream cheese sitting next to it.

4. The different-size trick

A six-pack at "Aktion price" placed next to a twelve-pack at normal price. Per-unit, the multi-pack is sometimes the more expensive option. Per-unit price (Grundpreis, mandatory under article 9 of the PBV for most packaged goods) is the only reliable comparison.

5. The member-only "regular price"

In May 2026 SECO intervened against IKEA Switzerland for the same pattern: a large "Family price" advertised as if it were the regular price, with the actual price for non-members printed small and easy to miss. Migros Cumulus-Specials and Coop Supercard prices use a similar logic. The conditions are legitimate, but only if you read the tag.

6. The predictable seasonal cycle

K-Tipp has analysed Coop and Migros Aktionen from 2017 to 2025 and found that the same products go on Aktion in the same week of the year, every year. If the wine assortment is at minus 20 per cent every late February, the "regular price" the rest of the year is in part a stable Mondpreis. See also the Swiss supermarket promotion calendar.

7. The both-priced phantom Aktion

K-Tipp documented cases of products carrying an Aktion sticker while a non-Aktion variant of the same product sat on the same shelf at the same price. The discount is real for the package wearing the sticker; the rest is paid full price by anyone who does not notice.

How to verify a discount is real, the 60-second method

A four-step check anyone can do in a minute, without leaving the aisle:

1. Read the unit price. Look for the Grundpreis (CHF per kg, per litre, or per piece). If the unit price is higher than what you usually pay for the same category, the discount is cosmetic.
2. Look at the private label one shelf over. If the Aktion price on the branded item is still higher than the everyday Prix Garantie or M-Budget alternative, the cheaper choice is the regular one.
3. Compare across retailers in Rappn. A real Aktion is cheaper than the same product at Coop, Aldi or Lidl this week. A Mondpreis often isn't, because the "discount" is measured against a temporarily inflated reference price at the same retailer.
4. Read the small print on the tag. Multi-buy condition, member-only condition, smaller package size: each can turn a headline price into a misleading one.

If two of these four checks come back odd, treat the Aktion as cosmetic.

Recent real examples

These are public, documented cases from 2025 and 2026:

• March 2026, Migros and Coop: After complaints to RTS's consumer programme A Bon Entendeur, SECO assessed Migros price tags for multi-buy Aktionen as not compliant with the PBV and Coop's as borderline. Migros is updating tags nationwide.
• May 2026, IKEA Switzerland: After a complaint by Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, SECO ruled IKEA's Family-price tags non-compliant. The chain agreed to adjust signage on roughly 15'000 articles.
• 2022 to 2024, K-Tipp private-label investigations: documented systematic price increases on M-Budget and Prix Garantie items (up to 100 per cent on individual SKUs), much of it not flagged in retailer communications.
• Beobachter, August 2025: identified three recurring tricks across Lidl, Denner, Coop and Migros: package-size manipulation, misleading competitor comparisons, and non-comparable products presented as comparable.

Your rights as a Swiss consumer

If you believe a Swiss retailer is using a misleading discount, you have free options:

• Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz (SKS) in German-speaking Switzerland: reports cases to SECO.
• Fédération romande des consommateurs (FRC) in Romandie: same role for French-speaking Switzerland.
• Associazione consumatrici e consumatori della Svizzera italiana (ACSI) in Ticino.
• K-Tipp / Saldo: independent consumer magazines that regularly investigate retailer pricing.
• Direct report to SECO via the PBV contact form, or to your cantonal consumer-protection office, which runs the day-to-day inspections.

The PBV is enforced. SECO runs annual control campaigns (food retail in 2024, hairdressers in 2025), and the regulator does intervene when a complaint reaches it, as the Migros and IKEA cases this year show. For the broader context on how Swiss Aktionen actually operate see how Swiss Aktionen work, and for the related practical playbook see save money on Swiss groceries.

How Rappn helps surface real versus fake Aktionen

Rappn shows the live shelf price of every tracked product across all seven major Swiss chains (Migros, Coop, Aldi, Lidl, Denner, Aligro, Otto's) at the same time. When a product goes on Aktion at one chain, Rappn shows you what every other chain is charging for the same product right now, so you can see immediately whether the "discount" is actually cheaper than the competition or just cheaper than the same retailer's temporarily inflated Vorpreis. Setting a Swiss grocery price alert on a product you buy regularly means Rappn pings you when the cross-retailer cheapest hits your target, not when one chain runs a Mondpreis.

Rappn takes no payment from retailers, runs no commercial bias, and presents the cheapest offer wherever it is. The next time you see a "50 per cent off" tag, the app will tell you what every other Swiss retailer is charging for the same product right now. That is the difference between a real saving and a Mondpreis.