Purchase of alcohol for holidays was higher than ever in Serbia, and there's a reason for that

More meat and less flour was being bought at the same time

This year once again, December 30 and 31 were the busiest days for buying groceries, and what differed from previous years was that more alcoholic beverages were bought.

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According to the data of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), 25 to 40 percent more alcohol was bought, while the secretary of the PKS Trade Association, Zarko Malinovic, explains that in 2021, New Year's Eve was mostly welcomed at home, that is, much more than in previous years.

Packed meat and about 20 other kinds of groceries were also bought more than before, but less flour, which Malinovic explains by saying that people probably stockpiled on that foodstuff at the beginning of the pandemic.

Malinovic also told Tanjug that on the eve of the holidays, more quantity was bought in retail stores, while in the previous months, an increase in online grocery shopping had been noticed.

"The reasons for that should be sought primarily in two things. One is that certain types of goods are difficult to pick while shopping online, and the other concerns our delivery capacities, which are quite limited and represent a challenge that we will deal with this and in the coming years," said Malinovic.

He also says that thanks to the initiative of the PKS to alleviate coronavirus measures concerning the opening hours of stores in the second half of December, traffic partially stabilized in other, non-food segments of trade.

That period is the most important for them, because December is the month when they have the biggest turnover.

So, for example, when it comes to toys, more than 30 percent of the total annual turnover is achieved in December.

"Since close to 14 billion dinars in turnover in the sale of home appliances, goods, toys, clothes, shoes is realized in the second half of December, we insisted that opening hours be relaxed while respecting epidemiological measures. Thus, we managed to avoid crowds in stores, but also losses in the non-food part of trade," says Malinovic.

The Chamber will have overall data about turnover at the end of the month, but according to what is known so far, it is assessed that there will be no significant decline and that during the last two weekends in 2020, it was close to the previous year.

(Telegraf Biznis/Tanjug)