Are hypermarts really patriotic?

It seems the hypermarkets are having a competition to attract consumers to their outlets especially to shop for Chinese New Year goodies. Full page promotions and offers were splashed daily in the newspapers announcing special offers on selected items. These offers are a good choice for the consumers to compare prices to save every sen for each item.

Once a consumer steps into the hypermarts looking for the offered items, it will not be surprising to find a notice announcing the said price cut items are out of stock. This might give the consumer the feeling that they had been cheated. Many had already gone thru this before. You go into a hypermart thinking to grab the special offer item but can't get one because it is out of stock and you ends up filling your trolley with other not-so-competitive promotional items.

Well, that's the intention of the hypermart anyway. The purpose is to attract the consumers into their hypermart and once your are inside, what will stops you from dropping the other items into the trolley.

If consumers thinks that the hypermarts are such a patriotic lot with high corporate social responsibility that responses to the government's campaign for price reduction, think again. How many items are price reduced compared to the total items in the hypermarts? And of most of the price cut items, how many are really popular items which are in demand by consumers?

Even if the selected price cut items are of popular items, do the hypermarts really cuts their profits too? Not really. The hypermarts will still demand for the same margin from the suppliers. It is the suppliers that have to bear the extra cost of any price cut items. If any suppliers do not give in to the hypermarts demands, their goods will only be available on limited volume in the respective hypermarts. The hypermarts are becoming too powerful in dictating the distribution of the suppliers products. The hypermarts are just making a good PR move at the suppliers expenses and with increase sales volumes too when consumers go in droves to their hypermarts to buy the items on offer.

But then as consumers, as long as the prices are slashed, we don't care as long as we pay less. We will only be affected when the products we want are not on the shelves because the suppliers declined to submit to the hypermarts lop sided pricing policy. The hypermarts will stop ordering goods from the particular supplier to force it to accept the hypermarts terms. Unless the supplier is also a huge multi national company and its products are always in demand and available in every nooks and corners. Then the supplier will be able to dictate their own terms. One of these companies is Nestle, which items like the Milo brand chocolate drink and Maggi instant noodles are purchased and consumed by nearly everyone in country. But this type of supplier are not many in town. - Loka