• Q&A. Why won't there be shortages in stores?

Never has the super online been as popular as these last two days. It represents only 1% of the turnover of the sector, but since Monday the avalanche of orders by customers is such that some chains, such as Mercadona, have had to temporarily suspend the delivery of orders in the Community of Madrid.

This happens after in the last two days some stores in Madrid were razed by consumers alarmed by the coronavirus. Mercadona has canceled online orders for the time being in the capital, "given the difficulty of providing a normal service," they explain.

"For this reason, we are temporarily not going to make a distribution in your area. We will be able to assist you in your nearest store at the usual time from 9 a.m. to 9.30 p.m."

A chain that has online service usually fills these baskets that it then sends to customers in the stores themselves. As in Madrid many of these surfaces have been razed by consumers, this makes it impossible for the repleteners to complete the orders because there is no product available at that time.

In the case of Mercadona, this does not happen in Basrcelona and Valencia, where the distribution system is through "hives", which are specific warehouses to service online orders. The product is not taken from stores, but from these centers.

Security stock

The stores have a safety stock for some products (others arrive daily, as is the case with the frescoes), but sales these days have soared that this remnant of security in the stores has been exhausted. These products will arrive tomorrow at the stores.

The problem is also that all available time slots have been filled and the chains have a logistics fleet to make deliveries which is what it is. If the number of orders triples, they cannot afford those deliveries.

The Dia chain has also reinforced its online services in the capital and Carrefour prioritizes deliveries to seniors or quarantines, according to Europa Press. "From this moment and until 00.00 on Friday, March 13, we want to dedicate our online channel to those who need it most: seniors, people with reduced mobility, disabled people or people in quarantine," says the firm in its Web.

These measures affect Madrid, which is the community most affected by the coronavirus and where measures such as school closings have been approved.

Yesterday some supermarkets in Madrid increased their sales with "peaks" of up to 145%, "much higher than normal", according to the general director of Asedas, Ignacio García Magarzo. This employer brings together 80% of the distribution sector.

Both Asedas and the rest of the organizations that represent the distribution (Aces, Anged and Aecoc) sent a message of tranquility to consumers yesterday and assured that the stores will be shortages.

That the stores in Madrid run out of product is very difficult because Spain is one of the EU countries with more stores per inhabitant. Specifically, there is one for every 840 people.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Madrid
  • Mercadona
  • Begoña Villacís Sánchez
  • Madrid's community
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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