This is the third consecutive day of boycotts of shops in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the high prices of basic foodstuffs. Citizens are urged to refrain from shopping, or if that is not possible, to buy only essential foodstuffs. But are citizens still avoiding shopping, and how effective is the multi-day boycott? Has anything changed?
Although there is a noticeable drop in sales compared to the days when there was no boycott, the citizens we found in the shops today are still buying only the essentials, which is bread. Let’s listen to what the citizens said.
Citizens do not even feel or notice the locked prices on about 70 products. What remains for them, they say, is to adapt, to refrain from shopping or to buy only the essentials. Economists believe that there is a long way to the final reduction in product prices, but that citizens are sending a message to retail chains by boycotting, which is that they, as consumers, decide who to give their money to.
ADNAN EFENDIĆ, professor at the Faculty of Economics, UNSA: “We decide who will produce, what will produce, what will sell, among other things, we influence the price in the end, depending on our demand.”
Citizens, boycott organizers and experts are divided on how many days the boycott should last, whether to boycott one retail chain for several days or all for one day, but also on the effects of the boycott. Instead of completely refraining from buying, as consumers we can choose whether and which product to buy, as well as whether to bypass a retail chain.
“In economics, a short period of one year is only when you remove seasonal influences, influences and weather conditions, whether the day was sunny or not affects how much traffic is in stores. Take into account the fact that you didn’t buy on Friday, but maybe you made a double purchase on Monday. Only then can we see what the effects were,” Efendic says.
Let us recall that the response of the authorities to retailers in the Federation is to lock prices on about 70 products, the effects of which will only be seen in the coming period. Perhaps neither the boycott nor the locked prices will bring much progress, but they will lead to more rational behavior of each individual, in accordance with their income, needs and prices. Or at least most of them, BHRT writes.
