Turning away from cheap meat: Lidl and Kaufland fail with experiments - the customer is to blame

Would consumers dig deeper into their pockets for fairer meat consumption conditions?

Lidl and Kaufland come to a sobering result - and change their prices.

• Lidl and Kaufland raised pork prices in December to support local farmers.

• A few months later, the decision is revised.

  Can't consumers do without cheap meat?

• With our

  consumer newsletter

  you will always be kept up to date on information and product recalls.

Neckarsulm / Munich - When it comes to fairer payment for meat consumption, there is positive news: Germany's consumers increased the consumption of organic meat during the Corona crisis.

The amount of organic poultry sold rose by a good 70 percent in 2020, and that of red meat (e.g. beef and pork) by 51 percent, according to the German Association of the Organic Food Industry (BÖLW), according to

Tagesspiegel

.

However, the overall market share remains low - in terms of quantity, organic poultry is just 2.6 percent, and red meat 3.6 percent.

At the beginning of December, the Schwarz Group demonstrated that the retail chains are also ready to improve the conditions for the meat industry with the decision to increase the prices for pork.

It was reported that the discounter Lidl is responding to the demands of agriculture and making certain meat products more expensive in order to enable fairer payment.

As a result, the price per kilo was increased by one euro for ten items.

Lidl wanted to "pass on 100 percent of the price increase to the farmers", which was also communicated on the articles themselves.

Lidl and Kaufland reverse price increase - because customers no longer have access

However, the attempt at Lidl and Kaufland backfired: The Schwarz Group companies, whose owners are among the richest people in the world, are reversing the experiment.

The reason: As a result, customers have reached out to the corresponding goods much less, the company found.

This measure could not successfully counteract price dumping in the meat industry.

The goal of Lidl customers to make a greater contribution to the support of local agriculture has therefore crashed.

Both Lidl and Kaufland, which is also part of the Schwarz Group, have corrected the meat prices for meat products down again.

As a company spokesman announced, a “considerable competitive disadvantage” had arisen because the market did not follow the signal - and sales fell noticeably.

The company explained: "From now on we have to adjust to the market level again in the pig price segment."

Lidl with meat price increase - Was the attempt doomed to fail from the start?

So what went wrong when nowadays more and more people are dealing with animal welfare and better housing conditions?

Do consumers hide the truth when shopping and mostly orientate themselves on the cheap offers?

If agricultural professor Ulrich Enneking has his way, this thesis is too brief:

In an interview with

Zeit.de

, the chair holder talks about the decision of the Schwarz Group to reverse the so-called “farmer's solos”: “If one dealer increases prices and the other does not, the consumer goes to another.

If there is the same meat, i.e. the same meat quality, the consumer cannot be blamed.

And in this area there are actually little differences in quality, ”is Enneking's opinion.

According to the professor, the experiment was doomed to failure if there was no agreement with the other dealers.

That in turn would not allow the antitrust regulations in Germany: Because that in turn has the intention of protecting consumers from such price increases.

Enneking notes that there would be a desire for more sustainability and quality among the population.

However, a price increase would only work if the conditions really rose.

Cheap meat at discounters: Obviously, higher prices can only be achieved with better quality

In addition to other factors, food and especially meat consumption also promote the spread of bacteria - or virus strains such as Corona:

As the consumer association reports, there are definitely possibilities with which discounters could enforce higher prices for meat products: better labeling of the goods with information about what will be caused by the increase in costs.

This finding is supported by an evaluation by Greenpeace, which the environmental organization published in 2020.

With regard to a study, Professor Enneking states: “About a third of citizens would spend more money on meat.

But only if it can be seen that the meat is of better quality, for example during the processing process that affects animal welfare.

If a combination of taste and ethics is served, then I think even higher prices are possible. "

Or are steak, schnitzel and minced meat from the printer the solution?

What sounds crazy could soon become a new meat alternative in the range of German supermarkets.

(PF)