The management and owner of SPAR started on the wrong path because they chose the European Commission as their partner instead of the customers.
Staying afloat in business requires tough conditions. It requires keen attention and innovative skills. The battle between food retail and wholesale for customers is a life-and-death struggle. A two-front battlefield where the competition is always ready to conquer, even to swallow.
The Hungarian food market is roughly divided, so the "big fish-small fish" effect plays a role as a determining factor. "Who can do what for customers?" the game produces winners and losers.
The management and owner of SPAR started on the wrong path because they chose the European Commission as their partner instead of the customers.
It is a lost idea that such a political investment will guarantee beneficial returns.
It is not an exaggeration to say that SPAR in Hungary likes or dislikes, it eats from the same plate as the customers.
The matter began as a covert operation, reporting the Hungarian state for the price caps and the special tax, and then using secret means to withhold money owed to the Hungarian people from the European Union. This already raises the question of reducing self-interest, since if purchasing power decreases, SPAR's turnover will do the same.
Customers of SPAR can assess that SPAR has been left behind in the competitive battle.
The lack of wage improvements, referring to the special tax, does not hold up.
Let's look at the consequences. A company that is unable to recover from losses on its own causes the competition's appetite to increase. Takeover offers may arrive, while an increasingly wide range of your regular customers are forced to suspect a narrowing of the offer and an increase in prices. Many people think that it is worth taking a close look at the competition's offer. The icing on the cake is that their employees and their families may think about losing their jobs.
The company's product range is under scrutiny. Attention can be directed to packaging tricks, as well as to the comparison of products of international brands distributed in Hungary and abroad.
SPAR has been in Hungary for thirty years, and, like other multinational food trading companies, it has undoubtedly raised the shopping culture by generating considerable profit for itself.
We must return to the right path, where the most rewarding solution is the innovative joint interest protection initiative of Egyenlő.hu and CÖF-CÖKA, "rowing in one boat".
This means that the caring state, the owner interested in investments and profits, the employees and their families and, last but not least, the customers form a community of interests. The goal is to secure a win-win position.
The government's admonitions must be taken seriously by all actors. The joint work of the Egyenlő.hu trade union and CÖF-CÖKA is to help and monitor the protection of the interests of employees and their families as well as customers. We recommend ourselves!
the Egyenlő.hu trade union
and CÖF-CÖKA
Cover image source: Spar Group
