Although last year ended with inflation of 15.1 percent, large retail chains managed to make good money and there was no crisis for them.
Some of them increased their earnings by 150 percent, while their workers received measly pay rises (on average around 10%).
People in Serbia are already used to the fact that there is no crisis for the retail giants. There is nothing wrong with increasing profits, but in our country, it is mostly done at the expense of customers, due to high margins, but also retail workers, who still work for miserable wages.
One of the retail leaders is the Belgian chain Delhaize, which earned 2,973,113,000 dinars in 2021.
In just one year, their net profit increased to 6,747,855,000 dinars, which means that Delhaize’s earnings went up by about 3,775,000,000 dinars, or close to 127 percent. However, the supermarket chain’s workers were not that lucky.
“I got a 10 percent raise at the end of the year, but I’ve been working here for years. I heard that those workers who have been there for a shorter time didn’t get anything,” one of the Delhaize workers said.
Univerexport, for instance, earned 447,223,000 dinars in 2021 and 871,610,000 dinars in 2022. This means that this chain increased its net profit by about 425 million dinars, or about 95 percent. During that time, unofficial sources say that workers’ wages increased between 5 and 10 percent.
Another domestic retail chain, DIS, earned 174,459,000 dinars in 2021, and 439,044,000 the following year, which is a 265 million dinars increase, or as much as 152 percent. According to the DIS cashiers, their wages grew incomparably less – between 10 and 15 percent.
During the crisis, one retail chain managed to score big – Mercator S earned 566,659,000 dinars last year, and a year before that, this chain not only did not have multimillion-dollar earnings, but had a minus of 1,628,999,000 dinars. Therefore, this company managed to earn 2,195,658,000 dinars in one year.
“A year ago, my salary 50,000 dinars, and now it’s 55,000,” a shop assistant at one of Mercator S’ stores said.
As for Gomex supermarkets, in 2021, they generated a net profit of about 239 million dinars, and a year later about 423.5 million, which is a 77 percent increase.
Of course, their workers’ wages did not increase as much, but they certainly fared the best out of all supermarket chains. Namely, one of the workers in this chain had two salary increases in the previous year and a half. His initial salary was 34,000 dinars, after which he received a pay rise of almost 60 percent, mamely, his salary went up to 54,000 dinars.
(Nova, 11.09.2023)
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