FORTY per cent of medium and small-sized shops could be driven out of business because of unregulated hypermarket discounts, shopkeepers’ union POVEK warned yesterday.
The union and a delegation of Larnaca small shopkeepers yesterday demanded tighter controls from Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis. He said he would study their petition, but pointed out that regulating prices was the responsibility of the Consumer Protection Service, not his ministry.
Despite acknowledging the threat to small shopkeepers, the Consumer Protection Service has said it considers discount offers by hypermarkets to be completely legitimate, provided marketing schemes do not violate trade description laws and comparative advertising legislation. This stance has been criticised by POVEK, which has accused that the Consumer Protection Service of protecting the interests of big business.
The issue has resurfaced over the holiday period, with hypermarkets offering a variety of discount schemes and selling goods at below-cost price. As a result, a large number of fruit and meat shops have been unable to compete.
POVEK has urged the Commerce Ministry to enact legislation prohibiting the sale of goods at below-cost prices, in line with laws implemented in France and Greece; the EU as a whole has no uniform legislation on the matter.
Rolandis’ response yesterday was that prohibiting such practices would, for the time being, be illegal. “What do you want me to do, break the law?” the minister replied to repeated questioning by reporters yesterday.
Despite pointing out his ministry was not directly responsible for market competition issues, Rolandis yesterday agreed to forward POVEK’s petition to the Consumer Protection Service. He also acknowledged the lack of adequate controls might be because of insufficient staffing of the Consumer Protection service. He also pledged to personally examine any specific cases brought to his attention by POVEK.
Meanwhile the independent Cyprus Consumers’ Association said that it supported competition and offers that were clear-cut and fair. Association chairman Dinos Ioannou said, however, that many supermarkets often misled consumers, for example by offering coupons when shoppers expected to get actual price discounts.
The shopkeepers have taken up their cause with parliament, but have been offered little more than promises. Deputy Lefteris Christoforou, who chairs the House Commerce Committee, said yesterday a balance needed to be struck between hypermarkets’ unbridled expansion and keeping small shopkeepers in business.
Other deputies, such as opposition AKEL’s Georgos Lilikas, have suggested copying the model employed in France, where the population of a city determines the number, geographical position and size of hypermarkets. Evidently referring to Nicosia, Lilikas yesterday wondered whether “it is really reasonable for a city of 200,000 to have six huge hypermarkets”.
POVEK chairman Melios Georgiou yesterday said he wondered whether any action would be taken in time for next year’s Christmas holidays.
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