Consumer associations are calling for a boycott of five major retail chains next week – from Monday, February 10, to Friday, February 14. The goal of the boycott and the avoidance of purchases is to lower excessively high product prices.
The new boycott targets five largest retail chains, which together account for half of the total market share in the retail sector.
“We boycott by not shopping at their stores, instead, we shop with local vendors from February 10 to 14. This is the only way to slightly reduce the prices. We know it won’t be completely as it should, but at least a little,” said one of the surveyed citizens.
Serbia joins regional countries, including Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, which have also called for avoiding large supermarkets.
“It is necessary to support the boycott to force retailers to stop exploiting us when we enter their stores, and to behave according to the business ethics code they have signed,” said Vesna Perinčić from the Serbian Consumer Union.
Dejan Gavrilović from the “Efektiva” association hopes that the five-day boycott will yield the same, if not better results than the previous one.
“Citizens have become less fearful, they are aware they have power in their hands, that they can choose where to spend their money, and of course, they disagree with the policy of high prices,” adds Gavrilović.
The associations that launched the campaign say that the Competition Protection Commission has confirmed that there is a violation of competition, and that prices have risen twice as much as inflation pressures. They point out that margins have increased from 19% to 38%, and that the total revenue of these retailers has risen from 3.8 billion to 18.6 billion dinars.
Although the RTS team contacted relevant institutions and retail chains regarding the boycott, they did not provide a statement before the story aired, instead issuing a group statement.
“Recognizing the consumer’s right to direct their pressure toward those they consider most responsible, we emphasize that the long-standing issue of price trends cannot be solved without coordinated action from the state and all participants in the production and distribution chain,” states the Food Retailers Group of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
The Tax Administration confirms that retailers experienced significant losses during last week’s one-day boycott, and consumer associations emphasize they will not stop until they see results.
“The goal is to lower prices. It is clear that prices in Serbia are higher, even for products made in Serbia, and higher than in neighboring countries. This indicates that someone in that chain, or perhaps everyone in the chain, is marking up goods more than necessary,” says Gavrilović.
Perinčić mentions that it is crucial to carry out such actions continuously.
“Retailers, of course, do not intend to change their behavior immediately, but it is important that the avalanche has started. The process doesn’t work so that everything can change in one day. It’s necessary to continuously carry out these actions,” concludes Perinčić.
Last Friday, the turnover in the five boycotted retail chains was reduced by 37%. According to the associations, this shows that consumers have sent a clear message to the retailers and suppliers, and everyone involved in price formation, that they disagree with the policy of high prices, and they will demonstrate this through the boycott from February 10 to 14.
