The aim is to offer affordable prices for consumers of essential products
The Ministry of Economy and Industry is launching the “Affordable for you” initiative. It aims to offer affordable prices to consumers of essential goods. This was announced by the Minister of Economy Bogdan Bogdanov, who attended the first edition of the forum “More than trade”, organized by the Association for Modern Trade (SMT).
According to him, the idea, which is to be discussed with the business at a meeting tomorrow in the Ministry, is that the chains that decide to join each week should offer food at the lowest possible price for them from several main groups.
These include fresh fruit and vegetables, fats, dairy and meat products and other essentials for the small consumer basket. “If we manage to join efforts and rely on market mechanisms, we could achieve better effects,” Bogdanov stressed. He added that shops selling non-food products can also join the initiative.
“As a supporter of the market economy and free competition, unlike previous attempts to impose on retail chains to sell products below a certain price or to have a ceiling on surcharges, this time the initiative is based on the principle of voluntary partnership and synchrony between the state and business,” he pointed out.
Bogdanov pointed out that the campaign is planned to start in November. “The idea is for retail chains to put up a kind of information board with the best price for consumers, at which some of the products from a given product group can be offered.” The campaign will also achieve consumer awareness,” Bogdanov said, adding that the fixed prices on a weekly basis will also be submitted to the NSI.
In his words, the campaign is not mandatory and no administrative restrictions will be imposed, on the contrary – it will be an open opportunity for competition and for raising awareness among Bulgarian consumers.
The minister called on retail chains to work more closely with producers. He stressed that the initiative should not come at the expense of producers or distributors lower down the supply chain. For this reason, the department will suggest those wishing to join the initiative to comply with the European Commission’s Green Paper mechanism on best practices between traders in the supply chain, where food products are mainly highlighted.
In order to inform consumers more, the Ministry of Economy proposes to include the product basket for the week in the brochures of the chains, including their digital editions.
Bogdanov announced that the Ministry of Economy will propose a specific basic mechanism that will serve as a basic framework with which everyone who decides to join the initiative should comply.