What does not kill you makes you stronger

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2023/06-07

Guest writer:
János Mezei
commercial director
COOP Star

In 2022 the volume of retail trade in Hungary grew by 5.2%, but food volume sales dropped 1.6%. Today this decrease is around 10%! In addition to this, the food price index has averaged around 26% per year, which is still only a slight decrease this year in comparison with the same period of 2022. In addition to global factors, the rise in prices is also due to panic and negative “herd mentality” – market players following each other without considering the consequences of their decisions. I believe that it has become trendy to raise prices in 2022.

I am sure that there was a real basis for the price increases, but their size was determined by fear, primarily caused by unpredictability. It wasn’t only the higher production costs that manifested in elevating prices: products and services were overpriced, temporarily hiding the less efficient factors in a company! Recently the government has ordered grocery retailers to offer regular discounts on food products. The drop in consumption encourages retailers and producers to increase their sales, since the driving force of any profit-oriented company is development, which involves attracting customers and increasing the basket size. In this environment promotions and regular customers become more important. Basically it is the market itself that regulates!

The key to success is adapting to constant CHANGE! //