Large retail chains have started to introduce so-called digital prices, i.e. electronic labels with prices on the shelves, and this is a practice that has been implemented in the western member states of the European Union for years and to which an increasing number of countries are turning, writes N1.
This way of determining prices is carried out by artificial intelligence based on supply and demand, which means that the price of a single product can change several times a day.
The Croatian Consumer Protection Association says that citizens have already started reporting price differences between those on the shelves and those at the checkout.
"We were called by consumers who experienced at Lidl that the price of a product changed in just a few minutes, i.e. from the moment the consumer took the product from the shelf to the moment the price was read at the cash register," he tells New sheet Ana Knezevic, President of the Croatian Consumer Protection Association.
Catalogs are losing their meaning.
At the same time, he warns that there is currently no way to control traders in setting or changing prices because everything is based on the principle of supply and demand, and consumers should believe that because it works in the West.
"No law has specified a way to control shopping centers in setting prices in this way. Traders set their own prices, except for those 70 products that the government has frozen, and it is up to us consumers to decide whether to buy the product at that price or not, says Ana Knežević, adding that weekly price catalogs lose their meaning because of this and mean nothing to us consumers if prices can change several times a day.
Electronic labels
Electronic labels Konzum, Kaufland and Lidl have already introduced them, but not for all products. Given the fact that such prices are determined on the aforementioned principle of supply and demand, a rush of buyers for one product will also drive up the price, although there may be enough of that product on the market and too much of it. Traders say that this is introducing so-called dynamic pricing in Croatia, which is carried out by an algorithm without the need for human work, i.e. replacing labels on shelves. It is precisely because of this relief for employees that the Trade Union welcomes the introduction of digital prices in Croatia.
"A lot of working hours are spent replacing price tags, especially overtime, so electronic pricing will be of great help to workers because it will relieve them, but also simplify their work," says the president of the Trade Union. Zlatica Stulic and adds that electronic prices will most likely only be introduced by large trading systems, while it will be too expensive for small traders.
Traders assure that digital pricing will benefit both workers and consumers. In addition to saving huge amounts of paper for paper labels, they claim, it should also significantly reduce the large amounts of food that grocery chains throw away due to expiration dates, as artificial intelligence will automatically reduce the prices of products before they expire.
Price high as long as there is demand
Dragan Munjiza, an expert in the trade sector and former director of Konzum, notes that market traders have been using digital pricing for an eternity, in such a way that they lower the prices of products before the market closes just to sell them, and keep the price high as long as there is customer demand.
Konzum states that they did not introduce digital prices because of dynamic price changes, but to make their employees' daily work easier and provide customers with an "even better shopping experience." Lidl states that when setting prices, they take the best price-quality ratio into account, while Kaufland only has digital prices in the bakery and fruit and vegetable departments.
Source: N1
Photo: Pixabay
