Profitability of trade is decreasing – the government is opening up substantial resources

Richárd Szabados, State Secretary for SME Development and Technology at the Ministry of National Economy, also gave a presentation at the event. The politician reviewed the government’s various support programs and drew attention to the forms of support available to commercial units, which are used by the sector’s players in an appropriate proportion exceeding their share of GDP. As he pointed out, new external sources that can be used specifically for capital raising will soon be available, which will of course also be available to representatives of the sector. Richárd Szabados specifically drew attention to the phenomenon that the efficiency per employee of the domestic SME sector is particularly low, there is a big difference in this regard between the large corporate sector and small businesses, while our country is essentially a country of small businesses. This lag, its reduction will be decisive in government policy.

Tamás Kozák, Secretary General of the National Trade Association, pointed out in his summary that the profitability of retail trade has been decreasing in Hungary for years, primarily as a result of policy decisions. Meanwhile, the productivity and efficiency of those working in the sector already significantly exceed the national average, primarily as a result of the high degree of digitalization and automation, thanks to the innovations that Attila Bessenyei also mentioned in his introduction.

Despite this, due to profit restrictions and other circumstances, there are more and more loss-making stores, while the volume of commercial turnover is essentially at the 2021 level, lagging behind most of the surrounding countries in this respect. The administrative restrictions on operating companies are particularly high in our country compared to Europe, and trade is subject to additional regulations. As he explained, the artificial stimulation of cash use and the planned increase in live service go against trends in every respect and could cause a further competitive disadvantage for the sector. As he emphasized, anyone who needs to talk to a live cashier is not obliged to shop in a self-service store, this is an option. At the same time, closing grocery stores in small settlements with a few hundred people, for example, can be excellently replaced with automated stores, if the legislation allows. As he said, the OKSZ has developed a package of policy recommendations, which they would be happy to discuss if the government had the intention to negotiate with the sector.