Croatian consumer boycott spreads after supermarkets drop prices

Unhappy with the rising costs of their groceries, many Croatians have decided to take matters into their own hands. 

In a bid to force the large supermarket chains to lower the prices, shoppers have begun collectively withholding their patronage from individual chains one day of the week, every week. 

The first boycott started on January 24, organized by an online consumer platform, Hello Inspector. 

The platform representatives claim that due to the boycott, consumers have so far reduced spending in those supermarket chains by more than $100 million. This has dramatically reduced the income of those affected, forcing them to make concessions.

Shrinkflation

One of the ways consumers have seen prices is by so-called shrinkflation, whereby a product's price stays the same but its weight or quantity is reduced. Hello Inspector also states that the same products are sold for vastly different prices across other countries.

Josim Keleman, Hello Inspector's leader, told CGTN: "For the products that arrive from Germany, in the same supermarket chain in Croatia and Slovenia prices are similar or identical. We are the witnesses that the prices are different by 190 to 200 percent compared with prices in the origin country. For us, it is absolutely unacceptable."

Feeling the pressure of popular discontent, retailers have started reducing the prices on their shelves. Some of the supermarket chains advertise a price reduction for 1,000 products, with reduced prices ranging from less than 10 percent to as high as 50 percent.

Maja Bogović, director of the trade sector of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, told CGTN that it is not only the supermarkets to blame for the prices increases. Bogović said rises also come from producers, increased energy prices and other factors.

She said: "Price reductions could have happened earlier than they actually did. The supermarket chains, in this case, reached an agreement with their suppliers to jointly reduce the prices."

Pastries

Young people also felt the brunt of rising prices, for instance with the cost of pastries, a traditional food for students here. That's why they have called for boycotting the bakeries.

"We, as young people, supported the first boycott that mostly affected the adults and our parents, and we would like to get back the same energy from them to support our boycott," said science graduate Borna Saucha, from Zagreb. "The boycott mostly affects us, as young people."

From just a few supermarket chains, Hello Inspector has expanded the scope of the boycott to bank and telecommunication companies. Every week, consumers vote in a Facebook poll to choose which business they will boycott next.

The campaign is gaining traction in almost all former Yugoslav countries, having recently spread to Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. Now even some consumers in other EU countries are starting to join the movement, meaning companies across the continent might need to prepare for a boycott of their own services.