RRP and MSRP are essentially the same thing under different names. RRP (Recommended Retail Price) is the term used in the UK, EU, and Australia. MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) is the US equivalent. Both are the price the manufacturer publicly suggests retailers should sell at.
The key word is "suggested." Unlike MAP, which is contractually enforced and tied to retailer authorisation, RRP and MSRP are non-binding. A retailer can sell above, at, or below RRP without breaching any agreement. That is what makes RRP useful as an anchor: customers see it as the "real" price, and the retailer's actual price as a discount against it.
RRP shows up most often as the compare-at price, the struck-through number next to the active price on a product listing. A jacket at $89 with an RRP of $129 reads as a meaningful saving. The same jacket at $89 with no RRP reads as just $89.
The catch is regulatory. The EU Omnibus Directive (2022) requires that any reference price (including RRP framing) reflect the lowest price the retailer charged in the previous 30 days. Permanent fake RRPs that never reflect actual selling prices are now illegal in the EU. The UK has similar rules under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.
Some products have both. The RRP is the suggested sticker price; the MAP is the line below which the retailer is not allowed to publicly advertise.
Most repricing tools track three numbers per product: cost, active price, and compare-at (RRP). When the active price changes, the compare-at usually stays static, anchoring the perceived discount. Tools that sync both fields together protect against the case where a deep markdown leaves a stale RRP behind that no longer reflects the strategic gap.
Example: A small-appliance brand sets RRP at $199 across all retailers. Authorised retailers list anywhere from $159 to $189 depending on their margin strategy. The RRP serves as the universal anchor in customer minds. When one retailer goes to $129 in a clearance push, the RRP framing still makes the discount feel substantial without actually changing what "the product is worth."