The market economy implies a balance between supply and demand. If we are "stressed" in Bulgaria, it is because as consumers we feel that there is something that is not functioning well in our market economy. And these are all those unauthorized non-competitive practices that are developing in our country - cartels, oligopolies, and somewhere even monopolies. However, instead of talking specifically about them and instead of trying to limit them for years, we are thinking about how to limit prices, which I think will lead us to a dead end. This was commented on in the studio of "Sabû se" by Bogomil Nikolov from "Active Consumers".
According to him, the more important question is whether we can freely compare prices so that we can choose informedly? Because our big problem, besides the cartels I mentioned, is actually the so-called information asymmetry. "We don't have enough information to make an informed decision", he emphasized.
And he gave an example of the price of butter, which in one store may be 7 leva, and in another - lower. But since people don't have much time to go around all the chains - they choose the closest place to shop. "This can be avoided and in Turkey they have already created a site where literally in 5 minutes the consumer can make a shopping basket and compare the same products in possible stores and traders", he explained.
And he was categorical that something like this is much better and has a much better effect on market prices than administrative price setting. "We see the promotions. The chains do everything they can, they publish them. But they give rise to another negative phenomenon. A certain merchant attracts you with several attractive prices. And when you see the brochure, you say that you can shop profitably. But when you go to the checkout - in your cart there are several goods from the promotion and three times more that are not from the promotion".
Nikolov emphasized that in his opinion, competition can overcome speculation. If competition legislation is strictly implemented and we have competition, and consumers are empowered by overcoming this lack of information, this is the best solution, because it is market-based. "Because ultimately, the consumer is the greatest controller. But he is limited - firstly by the lack of information, secondly by unfair practices".