Dominique Schelcher, president of System U, does not hesitate to insult the industrial group, at the risk of losing customers.
Par
Emma Confrere
Published update
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After stopping the marketing of water from the Danone group at Intermarché and Tropicana fruit juice in the Carrefours, it’s the turn of U-system to remove certain products from its shelves. Among the references concerned are the drinks Pepsi, Lipton Ice Tea, 7up, Lay’s and Doritos crisps, as well as Alvalle gazpacho and Cruesli cereals. “The blow is gone“, launched Monday at LSA the president of System U, Dominique Schelcher.
By taking the risk of removing products widely acclaimed by its customers, the representative denounces the actions of manufacturers. The last trade negotiations were completed at the beginning of March “with requests for increases never seen for forty years», Notes Dominique Schelcher. The food industries have thus presented “tariff increases of 14 to 15% on average, following requests of 12 to 13% for the 2022 negotiations“. Already, the prices of the products had undergone increases on the shelves.
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A single obsession: profitability
If Dominique Schelcher understands that he “there may be a desire to catch up», «for some people [industriels] it goes too far, with the sole obsession of profitability“. These actors would no longer be interested “by consumer issues“, seeking by all means “to spend their rise». «It will backfire [les industriels] and once morest all actors in the chain“, regrets the president of System U, “the decline in volumes is accelerating, those who believe that their brand is stronger are wrong».
He also criticizes the statements of Jean-Philippe André, president of the National Association of Food Industries (Ania), on “all television sets evoking requests for an 8 to 10% increase for 2023», far from the 14 to 15% actually presented. “It shocked me, he knew very well that it was false», adds Dominique Schelcher.
Questioned this Thursday morning on RMC, the president of System U thus recommends “be able to break trading periods and trade more regularly» with industrialists. In particular, this would make it possible to register the first price cuts more quickly, in particular for wheat, coffee and packaging. Instead of waiting for the next negotiations in June, consumers might now pay less for certain products. But, for the time being, Bercy is not yet considering this device.
