Spar deputy boss Kaser: “We don’t have any deceptive packages”

Kaser praises the fact that the federal government has a “balancing effect against political extremes”, does not constantly argue and has broken the wage-price spiral. But many things “happen too quickly and without thought”. Those affected should be involved earlier and more closely.

The reason for Kaser’s criticism was a “food salon” from Spar, which on Tuesday focused primarily on nutritional trends and new products from the retail chain. But at times it got quite political.

“Over-bureaucratization” in particular is causing problems for the market leader among Austria’s supermarket chains. These include Kaser the new price labeling law and the “ill-thought-out” VAT reduction on staple foods. The switch to the lower tax costs two million euros. Kaser: “The effort is in no relation to the benefit. Nobody needs these things.”

The manager also doesn’t like the fact that many problems are being passed on to retailers, even though they are only at the end of the value chain. As an example, he cited the anti-deceptive packaging law, which is intended to combat “shrinkflation” (less content for the same or even higher price). The savings vice-president sees the industry as having a duty here and will of course remove products that deceive customers. “We don’t have any deceptive packages and there won’t be any.”

Cheaper Products

In contrast, Kaser named two products – an organic yogurt and a mousse au chocolat, where the content increases due to production – but the price remains the same.

He is also annoyed by the often-made claim that the food trade is the main cause of inflation. “The discussion is far too one-dimensional. The government should instead tackle lowering energy prices. That would be a great advantage for everyone – industry, trade and households.”

If the Iran war lasts longer, it will drive up food prices, but there are also dampening factors – such as overproduction, for example. B. with milk. At the moment we have to wait and see how things develop.

Returns of one to two percent

Kaser categorically rejects margin control, as envisaged by the government in the fight against supposed excess profits, citing returns on savings of “one to two percent”. “That would be an intervention in the market economy that would be very damaging to the entire national economy.”

Polemics and criticism aside, Spar has had a successful year. As reported, sales in Austria increased by 4.5 percent to 10.82 billion euros. The market share rose by 0.4 percentage points to 36.2 percent. There are already 1,514 branches.

This is what Kaser says about the blackmail at Hipp baby food

For the Spar vice-chairman, the ball in the Hipp blackmail case is now clearly in the court of the police and investigative authorities. At the weekend, when it became known that rat poison had been added to Hipp baby food, they reacted “very quickly, very comprehensively and also as a precautionary measure” by removing the entire Hipp range from the shelves before it was even really clear what was behind it.

Kaser told journalists: “We did this immediately because the issues of safety and 100 percent reliability are so important to us. It was clear to us from the first second that when the customer comes to our store, no matter which Hipp product, no matter where he bought it, he can return it to us. Without a receipt, without any bureaucratic hassle, the money will be refunded immediately.”

Only when there is 100 percent clarity about what actually happened in this case and security is fully guaranteed will the German company’s products be listed again, said the manager. But, says Kaser: “We don’t want to spread panic, that won’t help either.”