Moroccan Grocers Boycott Coca-Cola Over Pricing Practices and Profit Margins

The company sells the liter at 8.5 dirhams before reducing it by one dirham the next day, to 7.5 dirhams. As a result, store owners sell the same product at different prices, while their profit margin remains unchanged, not exceeding 80 cents per liter. This margin has been discussed several times with the company, given the high costs borne by grocers to market the product, particularly electricity consumption and labor costs, according to the president of the Al Amal Association of Grocers, Berrechid section, in a statement to Hespress.

According to him, grocery store owners would consider boycotting the products of the multinational beverage company if the company continues to implement what he described as "abusive commercial practices". These are: price instability, low compensation for unsold stocks, with a rate not exceeding 1% in the best case, flooding stores with goods, not giving them enough time to sell them, as well as ambiguous clauses in contracts with grocers, including the equipment in refrigerators, with the possibility for the company to withdraw them if they are used to display "competing products".

Large food distributors have been forced to grant significant discounts in order to compete with the Turkish player "Bim" and the new entrant to the market, "Kazyon". A commercial strategy that has consequences on the activity of grocery stores. The latter face fierce competition in distribution and neighborhood commerce. To this difficulty is added the rise in prices and the persistence of inflation at high levels which have undermined the turnover of grocery stores as well as the purchasing power of families and their consumption pace.