From “nudges and sludges” to “confirmshaming,” dark patterns are the colourfully-named web design tricks retailers use to manipulate consumers online.
Dark patterns include last-minute fees, complicated opt-out processes and — in the case of confirmshaming — using emotive language to guilt or panic you into doing something you’d rather not, such as buying extra items at checkout or allowing browser notifications.
The practice has become so common that the UK’s privacy and competition regulators teamed up to deliver a paper highlighting and defining the uses and harmful effects of dark patterns. The paper is aimed at retailers and designers and flags the legal and ethical fallout of infringing consumers’ “ability to exercise meaningful choice and control.”
But on which UK websites do consumers encounter the most dark patterns on their journey from browsing to paying for products online?
Following our investigation into America’s worst dark pattern offenders, our team has now visited the most popular retail websites in the UK and logged any dark patterns that appeared in our journey from the home page all the way through to the transaction page.
Sections
Key Findings
- Amazon.co.uk is the retail website in the UK with the most dark patterns — ten per transaction.
- Shein customers will likely encounter eight dark patterns while shopping — the most of any UK clothing retailer.
- The UK supermarket with the most deceptive patterns is Ocado, with a total of seven dark patterns from homepage to checkout.
Amazon is the UK Retail Website with the Most Dark Patterns
Clothing retailers tend to have the most dark patterns, with seven fashion stores among the 20 biggest offenders overall. Shein is the second worst offender in any category, with eight dark patterns (see Fast-Fashion Stores Have Most Deceptive Clothing Websites, below).
But the site with the most dark patterns of all is the UK incarnation of the world’s largest online retailer. Our researchers discovered ten dark patterns on Amazon.co.uk, including Confirmshaming, Hidden Costs, Fake scarcity and Spending more perks.
Earlier this year, Poland’s consumer watchdog fined Amazon the equivalent of £6.26 million for concluding sales without a sales contract, allowing the website to cancel orders before delivery. The investigation noted that this information was only presented at the bottom of the page in grey text on a white background.
In a separate lawsuit, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon over a Prime renewal dark pattern that involved a “four-page, six-click, fifteen option” process. “The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership,” the company responded. In the UK, Amazon has been sued over its competition practices, including luring customers to its own-brand products — but not yet for its use of dark patterns specifically.
Fast-Fashion Stores Have Most Deceptive Clothing Websites
Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein is the clothing store with the most dark patterns in the UK. Shein is immediately followed by two other fast-fashion brands, ASOS and Matalan, with seven dark patterns each. Three of the four websites that follow, with five dark patterns each, are also fast-fashion brands (Puma is the exception).
Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein owes its success to “high technology, not high design,” according to a group of independent designers who filed a lawsuit against Shein in California. The plaintiffs were referring to Shein’s capability to quickly identify, copy, produce and distribute trending designs, but the case comes amidst a host of other concerns around the company’s record on labour rights and the environment — and their use of dark patterns.
Visitors to shein.co.uk are immediately confronted with a pop-up offering time-sensitive discounts to induce a sense of panic. Customers are likely to encounter eight dark patterns in total throughout their shopping journey — including the need to register to even reach checkout, where last-minute sales tax is added.
Ocado is UK’s Trickiest Online Supermarket
Supermarkets have a long history of developing techniques to maximise basket sizes, from putting fresh produce by the entrance and sweets at the checkout to the subtle art of lighting and the not-so-subtle art of bulk buy offers. But a relatively new grocery brand leads the way in online trickery: Ocado.
The virtual grocer opened in partnership with Waitrose in 2002 and has since switched its partnership to Marks and Spencer. Ocado customers can expect to encounter seven dark patterns during their shop, including a checkout journey that includes two pages of deals and four unnecessary steps involving free gifts and coupon offers. The company is known for its technical profile, selling warehouse robots to companies around the world and fine-tuning the science of grocery distribution in the UK. However, Ocado and Marks and Spencer have had to cope with smaller average baskets and lower sales than expected following the boom time of the pandemic.
The websites of more traditional supermarkets are also among those with the most dark patterns. Iceland and Tesco have six dark patterns each — Iceland springs a £1.30 bag and packing charge on buyers at the checkout stage. Sainsbury’s and Aldi are relatively smooth operators, with two dark patterns each. Both require a new account or sign-in to shop, and both have a page of additional items ahead of check out.
Opting Out of Dark Patterns
As a consumer, the best way to defend yourself against dark patterns is by getting to know them. We rounded up the 12 most popular types of dark patterns in our infographic below:
Coercive and manipulative web design both exploits and alienates customers. They may spend more but are left with a nasty taste in their mouth. One Which? survey found that 45% of consumers had been left “feeling manipulated or annoyed” by dark patterns, while 13% had been duped into spending more than they intended.
The dark patterns paper from the UK’s privacy and competition regulators suggests that retailers and their design teams should prioritise the user’s interests, preferences and sense of control in their UX design and test their websites to ensure they’re both legal, ethical and fair to use. Putting human consideration back into the online shopping experience can deliver a pleasing and successful outcome for retailers and consumers alike.
Methodology
We began by building lists of the most popular retail brands overall and by category in the UK. Next, we visited the UK version of each brand’s website and noted down any dark patterns that appeared immediately on the home page, such as pop-ups and sign-up offers. Finally, we added items to the basket and followed the process until inputting card details to buy, keeping note of any dark patterns that appeared.
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