Around 30 percent of online retailers have raised their prices over the last 30 days, according to retail price tracking site Hintaopas (platform is 'PriceSpy' in English).
The site reported that the price of around 15 percent of those retailers' products has increased by more than 15 percent.
According to the firm, the reason for the price hike might be due to the upcoming Black Friday sales. It said that the higher a retailer's prices are ahead of the seasonal sales rally, the bigger the discounts will seem during it.
At the beginning of 2023, Finland introduced a law requiring retailers to show consumers the lowest price their products have sold at over the past 30 days. The law is aimed at combating temporary price hikes — artificially raising product prices in order to make 'discounts' seem larger.
However, according to Hintaopas, the reforms made to the Consumer Protection Act may be encouraging price increases as it does not adequately prevent artificial discounts.
"Raising the price ahead of sales is a legal sales gimmick and part of stores' pricing strategy. But if it is done to achieve the highest possible discount percentages during Black Friday sales, it is misleading consumers," Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, Hintaopas' country manager in Finland, said in a press release.
She added that prices for many popular products in Finnish and Swedish online stores have been higher than normal during the month of October over the past couple of years.
Hintaopas asked consumers whether they believe that some shops intentionally raise prices before the mandated 30-day review periods begin, with 86 percent of respondents saying they think that is the case. Last year, the proportion saying the same thing stood at just 55 percent.
According to Matinvesi-Bassett, the Consumer Protection Act would need further reform to address the matter.
"From the consumers' perspective, it would be good if the 30-day review period were extended to, for example, 90 days. Compliance with the law should also be monitored better than it is now," she said in the release.
The Hintaopas consumer survey was carried out by data research firm Bilend in October. It queried around 1,000 Finns aged between 18 and 75 in an online survey.
Edited at 10:04 on 12 November 2025 to note that the price tracking company's platform in English is called PriceSpy.
