The spontaneous boycott of stores that have not withdrawn from operations in Russia after this country’s invasion of Ukraine is a thing of the past, according to data collected in the PanParagon shopping application
– The statistics leave no doubt: in recent months, the boycott on receipts has ceased to be visible. In the case of the Auchan chain, the surprise is big. In April, we reported a more than two-fold drop in interest in the products of this store compared to March 12.
As the latest research shows, in May Poles increased the frequency of purchases in Auchan hypermarkets, and at the beginning of June, the percentage of receipts from this chain of stores returned to the level before the boycott, informs Antonina Grzelak from the PanParagon application.
For the rest of the networks owned by the French Mulliez family , Leroy Merlin and Decathlon, the data show that the boycott has either ended or has never been effective.
Decathlon is back in the game
In the Decathlon chain, which offers sports equipment, the return of customers was shown in the second half of April, which means that the boycott lasted less than a month and a half. As the representatives of the PanParagon application emphasise, the number of new receipts from this network has been growing since then .
One of the explanations for this situation may be the fact that the company suspended its operations in Russia, which the network informed about at the end of March (which resulted from problems with the transport of the assortment, and was not a response to the aggressive attitude of Moscow – ed.).
The second is limited access to alternatives to the Decathlon offer. The more so because one of its competitors has disappeared from the Polish market due to sanctions.
There was no boycott in Leroy Merlin
In the third of the networks controlled by the Muilliez family, Leroy Merlin, the boycott was not visible from the beginning. Moreover, in May the frequency of purchases was even greater than before the boycott, but in June the number of new receipts began to decline. However, it is difficult to associate these declines with a response to the company’s attitude to the Russian war in Ukraine.
Start of the boycott
Experts of the PanParagon shopping application started informing about the effects of the boycott in March. At that time , the percentage of receipts from Auchan and Decathlon stores dropped from week to week. The greatest regression in user purchases was visible in the Auchan network. Within two weeks, the interest in the products from this hypermarket decreased by almost a half.
In the Decathlon chain of stores, the drops were not as spectacular as in the case of Auchan. A surprise was the practical lack of action by Poles in relation to the Leroy Merlin DIY store chain.
The data provided to Business Insider Polska by the PanParagon application team is based on the analysis of the percentage of the number of receipts from boycotted stores in relation to the number of all receipts added to the PanParagon application. The data includes Saturdays (as the most shopping days of the week – ed.) From March 12 to June 11, 2022.
Source: BusinessInsider
