You Heard It on No Te Duermas
On the radio program, Sebastián Reaño, a board member of the La Matanza Chamber of Industry and Commerce, discussed the challenging situation faced by merchants.
Tomás Modini
@ModiniTomas
The Difficult Present
At the beginning of the conversation on No Te Duermas, Sebastián Reaño outlined the current complications for merchants: “The reality is that we are very worried; the situation is complex. It’s worth noting that SMEs are the last to lay off employees; they try to reinvent themselves to keep going, but there comes a point when it becomes impossible. When we talk about the situation SMEs are going through, it’s not just that the counter and the commercial sector are not responding today, but also the costs we have to bear, such as tariffs and the loss of purchasing power of our workers, which concerns us greatly.”
“Within our companies, workers and collaborators are part of our family, which is why we are the last to lay them off. And today we know they are struggling, that their money is not enough, and neither is ours. The little raise given to collaborators does not go to consumption. It goes towards paying bills, health insurance, and their children’s school fees, and we are really quite worried because we understand that the national government is focused on somewhat stabilizing the macroeconomy, but there is no macro without micro, and that’s what we are telling the industrial and business sector,” he added.
He then insisted that “the national government must urgently focus on SMEs” and that “we cannot wait any longer.”
Purchases in Installments
On another note, Reaño commented on how most clients pay: “We are talking about an annual production capacity of 50%. It’s a rather worrying percentage. Another issue is that all sales today is made with credit cards or in many installments because it’s complicated. This harms the merchant.”
“The profit we used to have in commerce is no longer the same; the reality is that many times merchants, to keep investing, maintain staff, and pay today’s rents, end up resorting to installment payments, and the profit margin keeps shrinking,” he expanded.
He also assured that “sometimes, to keep selling and see if we can open for another month, one ends up looking the other way to keep going.”
Facing So Many Expenses Is Practically Impossible
At the end of the discussion, Reaño emphasized the accumulating expenses: “I understand the property owner, but also the merchant renting a space to sell a product. Today’s profit is not what it used to be; the costs of commerce are very high, considering that we always try to be as formal as possible, and it’s practically impossible to cover all the costs of commerce today, knowing the impact they have on the staff when opening the store.”
“And justifiably, we are very worried because we see our employees struggling to make ends meet,” he added.
To conclude, he detailed that “the security and hygiene fees, all the taxes, debit and credit taxes, there’s a fairly long list, and the impact of all these costs, both municipal and provincial, heavily affects the price,” and that “today the government pays a lot of attention to importers.”
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