Carrefour in talks over Saudi curfew challenges
Restrictions on travel discussed as coronavirus outbreak feeds boom in home grocery deliveries
shelves have been stripped of goods by worried shoppers. He said that MAF has a strategic stock of goods for three months supply to its outlets, in contrast to roughly 40 days reserve in Europe.
“People in Europe thought they might run out, but we have more in reserve. There has been no panic buying in our stores,” Bejjani said. But the virus outbreak has led to a big increase in sales at Carrefour stores in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. MAF said that there had been a 50 percent rise in online sales in the first three weeks of this month, and that it was redeploying workers from elsewhere in the business to help to cope with the demand.
Sales of liquid cleaners and soaps were up by about 1,000 percent, while there was also big demand for freezers in which to store perishable food, Bejjani said.
Some 1,015 workers in MAF’s leisure and cinema business had been retrained and redeployed in a program to re-skill them for supermarket work, either in-store or in fulfillment centers and other delivery roles. “It is heartwarming to see how agile and adaptable people can be,” Bejjani said.
About seven new fulfillment centers have been opened in the region since the outbreak began. MAF, which also owns the Vox cinema chain, has put its ambitious program of cinema construction on hold since the government ordered film theaters to be closed earlier this month. “Saudi Arabia is a great cinema market and we are looking forward to coming back as soon as possible, but right now it is impossible,” Bejjani said.
“In times of uncertainty, our commitment to our community of customers, employees, tenants and suppliers only becomes stronger.”