The five leading domestic retail chains— “Voli”, “Hard discount Laković”, “Domaća trgovina”, “Idea”, and “Megapromet”—experienced a 56 percent decrease in their turnover as of January 31st, compared to the previous Friday, January 24th.

Additionally, these supermarkets issued 44 percent fewer receipts during this timeframe.

This information was shared with “Vijesti” by the Tax Administration, which verified that a boycott by a segment of the citizenry had a notable impact on these businesses.

According to the statistics, the major supermarkets reported a combined turnover of 24 million euros on January 2,79, but registered only 1,22 million euros on the day the boycott occurred. They issued a total of 24 thousand invoices on January 232,34, which plummeted to just 130 thousand by the end of January.

The data further suggests that the northern citizens showed a stronger response to the boycott, with those in the central regions following, while the coastal areas saw the least effect on retail sales.

“Vijesti” reported last week that the boycott’s impact was most prominent in northern Montenegro, where megamarkets experienced attendance and sales levels comparable to regular weekend traffic on Thursday evening.

For several days, groups of civic activists, NGOs, trade unions, and partially the government have been advocating for a boycott of retail chains due to high prices. A similar boycott has also taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, whereas in Croatia, citizens are being encouraged to abstain from shopping at the three largest international retailers for a week, along with refraining from purchasing carbonated drinks, water, and detergents altogether.

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