Food prices are rising and this week calls for a boycott of the food giants has been spread on social media.
But has the protest action been effective?
“The boycott has had no negative impact on our sales,” Lidl writes.
In February, food prices increased by 3.9 percent compared to the same month last year. And since 2022, prices have risen by as much as 27 percent, according to Statistics Sweden’s calculations.
The price increases have led to anger and frustration. On Monday, therefore, a boycott of the food giants Ica, Coop, Axfood and Lidl began.
Not affected Lidl
The companies are now responding to whether the protest action had any impact on the sale. According to Lidl, the boycott has not been noticed.
“The boycott has had no negative impact on our sales. Since our promise is to offer the highest quality at the best price of the industry, we believe and hope that our customers will continue to buy their food with us,” the company writes.
Axfood believes that it is too early to draw any conclusions and that you only share their sales figures in connection with quarterly reports. ICA also states that it is difficult to say if the boycott had any effect.
“What we can say right now is that it is generally difficult to measure the sales impact due to the fact that factors such as when pension and child allowance are paid out, and that Easter was in the past last year affect the comparison figures,” the company writes.
Coop: “Many households are pressed”
At the same time, ICA admits that the boycott had some impact for some stores, while others did not notice it at all.
Neither does Coop want to comment on whether the protest hit the stores. Partly because the week is not finished and partly because it is the week before salary and CSN which affects sales.
“What we notice is atmosphere with our owners, that is, our members who shop with us. Many households are pressed today and we understand that many feel anxious and frustration. And we act on by working even harder to be able to have good prices for good food,” Coop writes.