Food retail chains are on a conflict route: Unilever products are not sold in some chains

The struggle over the cost of living intensifies close to the establishment of a new government in Israel. Binyamin Netanyahu is making efforts to establish his government very quickly, but the marketing chains are not interested in fighting the angry public over the price increase.
The question being asked now is whether the marketing chains are boycotting Unilever or is Unilever boycotting the chains? From the beginning of the month, Shufersal, Osher Ed, Bitan Wines, Yohannoff, Half Free, Victory and Rami Levy do not accept products from the European giant company that imports Dove, Sif, Rexona and manufactures here Badin, Click, Karambo, Magnum and Kanor and Thelma products.
Osher Ad was the first to hang signs condemning Unilever in its branches, according to which it removed from the shelves products such as pillows, bagels and pampering shampoo because it raised prices. Shufersal was the second to hang signs that warn consumers of shortages and directed them to buy replacement products, with the aim, among other things, of promoting its own brand products, some of which have become more expensive recently and whose sales are increasing.
Now, Beitan and Yohannoff wines have also put up similar signs until it seems as if the chains have initiated a joint boycott campaign. In the meantime, by the way, there is still no noticeable shortage of the company's products in the networks.
On the other hand, there is a very noticeable lack of Kimberly Clark products in Beitan and Mega (Carrefour) wine chains. The company's Lily and Mult Teva toilet paper products have also disappeared from Biohannoff and a Turkish brand has appeared in their place, and Rami Levy also prefers his private toilet paper brand over Mult and Lily.
At the same time, Shufersal does not sell Terra products except for supervised ones, so consumers feel shortages on the milk shelf. Among other things in Niger milk, cottage cheese, yogurts and white cheese - mainly from Tnuva who is trying to compensate for the disappearance of Tara from Persal.
And what happened to a diplomat who was at the center of a storm? The company withdrew from the price increases in Shufersal and Barmi Levy, therefore, among other things, the conflict with them is over - so it is claimed, although the parties are constantly in negotiations.
So why is Unilever at the center of the current price hike storm? "This is a food company that is one of the largest in the market. With leading brands at the top of the brands, which simply made a decision not to work with most of the food chains in Israel. This is a precedent. There was no such thing," says an official at one of the chains, adding: "In my opinion, Unilever is neither flexible nor negotiating Too much. It's ridiculous. Unilever is a global giant, maybe Israel is less interesting to them. Why make everything more expensive? And why by double-digit percentages?"
Although it seems that Unilever is not counting the Israeli market, but in terms of its behavior in the world - this is probably not accurate. The company raised prices by double-digit percentages in Europe and the US.
"Raising prices is not a simple thing for us and we are very aware of the pressure it puts on consumers," explained the CEO of Unilever Global, Alan Joppa, when he presented the third quarter reports of the year, which show a 10.6% increase in the quarterly sales of one of the companies The world's most in-demand cosmetics and food, fueled by dramatic price increases of 12.5% ​​on average and a 1.6% decrease in volume sales.
"The inflation we see in the raw materials in the global markets, the increase in energy prices, the increase in salaries, the impact of climate change on agriculture mean that we must raise prices in order to continue investing in our brands. This is a deliberate and declared policy of Unilever. We raise prices carefully to moderate the increases in our costs. At the same time, we are investing more in product quality and brand support," he added.
It is clear that Unilever is not the only one celebrating at the expense of consumers. According to Storenext data, the financial sales of the consumer goods market in October increased by 5% compared to October last year to NIS 4.456 billion. Food sales increased by 2.8% to 3.098 billion shekels, beverage sales jumped by 26.6% to 535 million shekels mainly due to the sugar tax, sales of household products increased by 5.9% to 388 million shekels and sales of personal care products decreased by 1.3% to NIS 436 million.
The Diplomat company said in response: "We are holding talks with all the marketing chains in order to find solutions for the benefit of all parties and continue to supply goods."