Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Consumer definition

What does Consumer mean? A consumer is, in practice, an individual who acquires goods, services or digital content for personal use, not for the purposes of a trade, business, craft or profession. The precise meaning is statutory and context‑specific. England & Wales and Scotland: The Consumer Rights Act 2015, s2(3), defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession (capturing mixed‑purpose purchases where the business purpose is not predominant). The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 instead asks whether a party “deals as consumer”, a distinct test relevant to exclusion and limitation clauses. The Sale of...

UK business-to-consumer e-commerce: platform regulation, consumer law, data protection and online contracting—key legal issues, reforms, cross-border considerations, AI, advertising and security

Published by a LexisNexis Commercial expert

Practice notes

Practice Note

This Practice Note highlights some of the principal legal considerations to bear in mind when engaging in online trade with Consumers. The term ‘consumer’ varies across statutes, yet typically denotes a natural person acting for reasons wholly or chiefly beyond that person’s trade, business, craft or profession. Broad commercial law topics—such as the state of goods, standard of services, competition, and taxation—are not examined in depth in this Practice Note. Additional legal obligations may influence particular online ventures depending on sector-specific regimes or the nature of the goods or services offered (eg rules relevant to financial services, consumer credit, ticket sales or resales, unsolicited products, auctions, gambling, or online pornography); where pertinent, these should be reviewed and likewise fall outside the scope of this Practice Note. For guidance and commentary on business-to-business (B2B) e‑commerce, consult Practice Note: Business to business e‑commerce—legal issues. This Practice Note includes references to assimilated law. Assimilated law is the term applied to retained EU law (‘REUL’) that continues to have effect after the close of 2023...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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