Filenews 22 November 2024 - by Angelos Angelodimou, Eleftheria Paizanou
He wants the Department of Commerce to offer... as a Christmas present to consumers, the electronic platform e-kalathi, even for a small number of basic products and intensifies efforts to enable its operation towards the end of December, but it is not certain that this will be achieved.
In the context of yesterday's broad meeting, in the presence of Minister G. Papanastasiou, officials and representatives of retail trade bodies, the minister stressed that he wants the electronic platform to start operating no later than December 20, so that consumers have this price comparison tool -in real time- in their hands when shopping for the essentials for the holidays.
During the meeting, assurances were given that the necessary efforts will be made to have e-kalathi ready, on a trial basis, on December 20, albeit with a limited number of products-codes (about 400) and to leave for its full operation, with about 4,000 codes.
However, the achievement of the goal depends on technical issues but also on the degree of cooperation of those involved. And the information in recent days spoke of intense concern of some supermarkets about their ability, in view of the holidays, to feed the platform with product codes, something that requires time, hands and administrative costs.
In addition, the connection of the supermarkets' electrical systems to the electronic platform must be completed.
It is estimated that around 20 to 22 supermarkets will have the obligation to replenish the system daily with the prices of their products. This obligation will have supermarkets with an annual turnover of more than €5 million. At the same time, all products included in the e-cart for which price comparison will be made must have the same product code (barcode).
What Karagiorgis told "F"
The Director of the Consumer Protection Service of the Ministry of Energy, Konstantinos Karagiorgis, speaking to "F", said that yesterday's meeting with the bodies that will assist in the implementation of the project was very productive.
As he said, the challenges (problems) that exist for the operation of the electronic platform were examined. He explained that until the full operation of the project in June, it was agreed yesterday that e-kalathi will be put into trial application with a smaller number of products. In addition, entities will start registering product codes on the online platform.
The aim of the Service, he said, is to identify any problems during the trial period to fix them, so that the full operation of the platform is smooth in the summer. According to Mr. Karagiorgis, e-kalathi is technically ready by the contractor and its pilot implementation will begin soon, without specifying a date.
Supermarkets: No disruption
Meanwhile, their position that any price comparison through e-kalathi should concern products of the same barcode, which will be available to all supermarkets participating in the scheme, was reiterated yesterday by representatives of retailers.
As they stressed, what must be ensured at all costs is not to cause disruption in the market and to draw wrong conclusions from consumers regarding prices.
Speaking to "F" after yesterday's meeting, the general secretary of the Pancyprian Retail Trade Association (PASYLE), Marios Antoniou, said that there was a constructive discussion with clarifications on both sides and now, as he said, we are waiting for the list of (300-400) products that will be included in e-kalathi, based on what we have said.
That is, that the products that will be compared must be of the same barcode and be available to all supermarkets participating in the plan, given, as he said, that small or medium-sized hypermarkets have been included in it.
Asked about the number of products that will be included in the platform, Antoniou noted that they will wait for the list from the government side, however, as he said, the initial intention of the competent authorities to include thousands of products in the list at this stage seems to be abandoned.
Mr. Antoniou said that on the supermarket side there is an agreement with the contractor of the platform for the technical part, so that everything is ready on time. The Minister of Commerce, noted Mr. Antoniou, wants e-kalathi to be operational before Christmas, so that consumers have in their hands an important tool during the holiday season.
