(Fighting against New Crown Pneumonia) Overseas Chinese supermarkets are faced with dilemmas such as passenger supply and exploring new models
China News Agency, Beijing, May 21 (Wu Kan) With the gradual unblocking of overseas countries, Chinese supermarkets have reopened. After a "cold winter", although the process of resuming work is difficult, Chinese supermarkets are still actively exploring transformation and seeking new business opportunities.
"There are fewer customers, employees are gone, and supplies are scarce ... When will the business get better, I have no idea!" Pan Wenyao, president of Spain Asia United Supermarket, said in an interview with China News Service reporter.
Asia United is one of the largest Chinese supermarket chains in Spain. "Now there are 800 to 1,000 passengers per day, which is half of the number before the epidemic. More than 70 employees have resigned more than half." What makes Pan Wenyao's headache is that Spain's Food factories only resumed work in early May, and production was not fully restored, and it was common to fail to receive goods.
On February 23, local time, when customers were shopping in a Chinese supermarket in Chinatown, Toronto, Canada, they walked past the donation box set up in the store to support the fight against the epidemic in mainland China. The person in charge of the supermarket said that since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the business in the Chinese business district has been significantly impacted. With the efforts and propaganda of the merchants and the government to reduce the panic of the public, the supermarket business has gradually improved. China News Service reporter Yu Ruidong
In New York, the Chinatown supermarket, which has been closed for nearly a month, has reopened. Chairman Deng Long said, "There are currently very few employees working. Even if the cashier is given a salary increase, they still dare not come. In addition, New York State Meat Suppliers stop supplying, and our employees need to buy from Philadelphia. "
The Ultramar supermarket in Argentina is a large Chinese supermarket chain. The general manager Ye Zhao told reporters that many small and medium-sized Chinese supermarkets in Argentina closed down under the epidemic. Large supermarkets are still insisting, but business has been greatly affected.
"Logistics obstruction, reduced passenger flow, and shortage of goods are just one aspect. The Argentine government has recently adopted strict basic commodity price-limiting measures to make some commodities have little profit margin." Ye Zhao admitted that under the influence of various factors, Ultramar's daily turnover The 600,000 Argentine peso before the outbreak fell to 200,000.
Under the operating dilemma, many Chinese supermarkets are seeking transformation and opening online sales platforms, but they also face many difficulties in developing online businesses.
"On the day the city was closed in Spain, the" Watermelon Shopping App "under the Asia United Supermarket exploded. After that, there were almost four or five hundred orders per day. The local express delivery was not effective, and we only drove a single order." In desperation, Pan Wenyao The online business of the supermarket was suspended at the end of March.
Online orders have skyrocketed, but logistics and distribution have not kept up, which is a common problem faced by overseas Chinese supermarkets. New Zealand Taiping Chinese Supermarket recently released an announcement, "We are overloading the delivery every day, and we are temporarily unable to check the arrival time, please understand."
Deng Long, chairman of the Chinatown Supermarket in New York, has personally delivered the delivery, "Our" Love Fresh "app sells fresh food, and the delivery can not be delayed for a moment, too many orders, the staff is too busy, I also moved from home Come out every day to deliver. "
In order to make up for the shortcomings in logistics and distribution, many Chinese supermarkets have figured out a new model of "online ordering, self-collection at the store", and at the same time, prevent epidemic measures such as current limiting and temperature measurement in the store.
Canada Datonghua Supermarket provides "zero contact to store self-collection" services for vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, food, oil and non-staple food. Customers only need to place an order on the website and choose the pick-up time. The personnel will put the goods into the trunk.
Li Peiting, Chief Executive Officer of Datonghua Supermarket, said: "Since May 11th, Datonghua must wear a mask. The shelf channels in the supermarket have also been changed to one-way to ensure a safe distance between customers, while extending business hours and encouraging points. Shopping during hours. "
At present, the United Asia Supermarket in Spain also encourages customers to place orders online. “We first distribute the goods and the customers come and take away without waiting in line. At present, 30% of the orders in the store are completed in this way.” Pan Wenyao said .
"People in Argentina rarely have the habit of shopping online, but customers will order by phone." Ye Zhao told reporters that Ultramar supermarkets within 5 kilometers can be delivered to the door, and long-distance customers need to come to pick up.
According to him, the Ultramar supermarket has also made adequate anti-epidemic measures. In addition to full disinfection every two hours, the supermarket strictly controls only 20 customers and ensures a safe distance of 1.5 meters between customers. (Finish)