The worst thing you can do in Croatia is to pay your bills on time.
After a recent meeting of suppliers of Konzum with the government representatives, Marica Vidaković from Kraš said she would call on its employees to buy only at Konzum, a part of the embattled Agrokor group which is trying to survive with a lot of government help, which includes even a specially written law “lex Agrokor”, reports Index.hr on April 12, 2017.
“We have agreed that we will restart with delivery of our products to Konzum and that we will call on our employees to buy at Konzum, in order to allow the business system to generate more income and start paying its obligations, both to suppliers and everyone in the supply chain,” said Vidaković.
This statement shocked Konzum’s competition. Although other large retail chains operating in Croatia did not want to comment officially on the statement, unofficially they said they were appalled.
“We are appalled by this statement, but she is not the first one who called on the consumers to buy at Konzum. There were others as well. I do not know what kind of businesspeople can think like that. For us who regularly pay all our suppliers, unlike Konzum, statements such as these are a big slap in the face,” said a representative of one foreign retail chain operating in Croatia.
As for official statements, they did not want to comment on the situation. “We thank you for your inquiry, but we would not comment on the statement which you have forwarded us,” responded Lidl asked to comment on statements from Kraš, one of major suppliers of Croatian retail chains.
Spar also said they would not comment on the statement. They are currently too occupied with the takeover of Billa in Croatia. However, they did say they could not believe there are companies in Croatia which do not pay their suppliers. “Spar regularly pays all its suppliers. We never had a problem with the payments, and all vendors want to work with us. We pay them on time, and sometimes even in advance. People from Austria honestly cannot comprehend how is it possible that companies in Croatia do not pay their suppliers,” said Spar spokeswoman Nives Fett.
Kaufland said that they believed it was always the best to let customers themselves choose a place to buy products for their household. “Kaufland Croatia will continue to try to provide to Croatian customers a point of purchase with the best conditions which will meet all their needs and expectations,” said Marija Franić from Kaufland.
