Although inflationary trends show some easing, an exceptionally tough year lies ahead of Hungarian consumers.Continue reading
Based on the experience of the first day, the mandatory promotions for supermarkets launched on June 1 are working. Some shops have seen a thirty percent increase in demand for discounted products. Experts say that prices are already falling and inflation will soon be lower, Hirado.hu reports.
From June 1, traders in Hungary have to offer goods from 20 product categories at 10 percent less than the lowest price of the previous 30 days. The government’s latest measure is aimed at reducing record inflation, which mainly affects food prices.
The 10 percent is only a mandatory requirement- retailers can discount more if they want to, and it has already become clear in the first few days that shops are trying to exceed the mandatory requirements.
There were shops offering 24 products at a discount instead of at least 20. Moreover, most supermarkets cut their prices by 40 percent or more.
This means that shops are competing with each other to reduce prices, which also encourages shoppers not to buy everything in one place. One shopper told Hirado.hu that she looks at the fliers of stores to see what is cheaper where and visits several shops accordingly. According to her, many people do this because there really are discounts of 20-30 percent.
In the shops’ experience, cheese and dairy products are the most popular products on sale, along with meat.
“A family can fill up a whole shopping basket with only low-priced products on special offer, thereby significantly reducing their own food costs. Of course, these processes will also have a positive impact on inflation, since food prices have a significant weight in the inflation index, which means that the reduction in food prices through promotions will also bring down inflation,” said Géza Sebestyén, Head of the Economic Policy Workshop at Mathias Corvinus Collegium.
In addition, the online price monitoring system will be launched from July, allowing Hungarians to compare shop offers with just a few clicks.
Featured photo via Pixabay
