Consumer associations and shoppers in Serbia have called for a five-day boycott of five major retail chains following a one-day boycott over high prices.
Similar boycotts of retail chains have taken place, or are still ongoing, in other countries in the region, including Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.
Dejan Gavrilović from the consumer association Efektiva stated that the success of the one-day boycott was reflected in a 21.5% decrease in the number of issued receipts and a 37% drop in turnover.
“So, that amounted to 4.5 million euros less compared to the Friday before the boycott. That is not a small sum, but immediately afterward, we received information that they started raising prices, which means they did not respond in the right way. That is why we have now called on citizens to participate in this five-day boycott,” Gavrilović emphasized. He pointed out that it is difficult to make clear demands or propose alternatives without analysing the retailers’ business operations.
“For instance, we don’t know what their profit margins are, so it’s difficult to set a single, unified demand. We have given citizens instructions on what to do, and the key piece of advice in this whole situation is to find an alternative. The boycott does not mean buying everything in advance on Sunday from the same retailer for the next five days and then avoiding them, only to return and shop there again on Saturday. Instead, it means finding an alternative, shopping elsewhere—anywhere except from these five chains,” Gavrilović explained.
Economist Dragovan Milićević recently stated in an interview that boycotting retail chains is a misguided issue, and he now explains that he said this because pricing in retail stores is not a simple matter.
“Retailers do not set prices on their own. Prices are determined by manufacturers, distributors, and, of course, large retail chains. When you look at profit margins, you might find that one retailer has a margin of 20%, while another has 42%. However, at the same time, you will also see that there is not a significant difference in prices between these chains,” Milićević pointed out.
He believes that, in this case, the issue is more about the bargaining power of large retail systems in relation to their suppliers rather than the absolute price levels.
“This is more of a systemic issue, but it is not a completely misguided topic—something has to be the starting point. Both supply and demand are expensive. If there is no demand, then prices and profit margins cannot remain so high,” the economist stressed.
Economic journalist Anica Telesković from Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) believes that the logic of retail chains is to maximise profit.
“The success or failure of a boycott campaign cannot be measured solely by comparing one day to another, for example, one Friday to another. It is necessary to observe a longer trend—what happened the day before, what happened in the days following the boycott. Also, when comparing with the region, the boycott in Croatia was quite successful. So, this is a legitimate mechanism that consumers have at their disposal—to refrain from purchasing,” Telesković explained.
She pointed out that basic necessities must be bought somewhere, and in many cases, prices in small shops are even higher because they do not have the privileged market position that allows them to shift costs onto suppliers.
“Many times in the past, consumers simply had very little choice. There are some essential goods that frequently appear in consumer shopping baskets and are often on special offers. However, there are also products that are not part of this essential shopping basket. A good example is olive oil, which has increased in price several times since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is not a basic necessity, it clearly illustrates how we have imported inflation,” the RTS journalist concluded.
(Danas, 14.02.2025)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/ekonomija/bojkot-trgovinskih-lanaca-rezultati/