Nicosia, Cyprus. The government’s e-Kalathi application has “essentially gone unnoticed,” supermarkets’ association chairman Andreas Hadjiadamou said on Monday. He said the platform has not affected supermarkets’ operations or consumer habits.
Supermarkets report no operational or consumer changes
Asked by the Cyprus News Agency whether the application has had an impact on supermarkets’ operations or consumer habits, Hadjiadamou answered in the negative.
“We do not see any impact from e-Kalathi, speaking both with consumers and with our members. We, the supermarkets, essentially participate, as we are compelled to by law, but beyond that, nothing less, nothing more, it is something which essentially goes unnoticed,” he said.
Platform aims and initial expectations
The e-Kalathi platform was designed to inform consumers of the prices of essential goods and allow them to compare those prices.
It had initially been hoped that it would drive prices down by providing transparency, with then commerce minister George Papanastasiou having said last year that “the power of the consumer stems from knowledge and correct information”.
Consumers’ association criticism
The consumers’ association complained last week that this has not been the case, and had previously said the application falls “well below consumer expectation”.
“Unfortunately, the promises made to us were flatly not kept and consumers were left unprotected once again,” it said.
It said the government had “promised that consumers would be given the opportunity to see the total cost of their basket of shopping”, but that “practically and technically, this possibility does not exist”.
“Consumers have to look for each product separately to find the cheapest supermarket,” it said.
Have you used the e-Kalathi app to compare prices for essential goods?