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According to Delfi, on Thursday after the meeting, A. Armonaitė asked traders to reduce the assortments offered within the limits of “common sense” by eliminating non-essential goods.
“Today, as a minister, I called on myself to limit myself, because we hear that the situation does not change, we see infections in new and other things. I do not rule out that health professionals can already offer us a restriction as a Government. It seems to me better to limit myself voluntarily than to wait to be instructed from above ”, added the minister.
However, traders themselves do not take it on their own initiative until instructed to do so; They say shoppers have fallen dramatically and their priority is food.
Maxima: The vast majority of sales are food.
Maxima representatives ensure that they take the situation responsibly and seriously, have implemented all government requirements, and have taken additional preventive measures to ensure the safety of customers and employees. Promises to support all government regulations. However, Maxima does not support A. Armonaitė’s proposal to limit the range of products
“The absolute share of sales in Maxima stores is food. We do not have the right solution to restrict industrial products ourselves at this time, all the options would only introduce even more confusion in an already difficult situation.
On Wednesday, when most outlets closed after the government’s request went into effect, we estimated sales. Overall, sales of industrial goods account for only 10 percent. of the total turnover of the network ”, says Ernesta Dapkienė, Director of the Department of Communication and Image of Maxima.
She estimates that sales are down 23 percent from 2019 and customer receipts are down 30 percent. less.
“We do not believe that restricting the sale of industrial goods contributes to reducing the flow of buyers. The flow of shoppers has already fallen by 40%, and the less frequent people who visit the stores buy food and necessary hygiene items, but not industrial products.
In-store bans on certain industrial products would further complicate the work of our employees, who today are not only at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, but shoppers are blamed on a daily basis and find themselves in situations of conflict in which customers have to request stricter quarantine requirements. “Says E. Dapkienė.
She believes that different network solutions taken independently, which would not be marketed, would impose a lot of unnecessary confusion on customers, which could also lead to additional walks around the stores.
“Safety is our highest priority, so we will continue to regulate customer flows and adhere to the strictest hygiene requirements in stores,” said a spokeswoman for the largest retail chain.
“Por” and “Rimi” do not speak of specific measures
Vaida Budrienė, communication manager for the retail chain Iki, says that the retail chain is primarily intended for food and that food products make up the majority of the range.
“We place the greatest emphasis on food products, their consumer culture, variety of fresh produce and diverse culinary products in all our activities,” commented V. Budrienė.
However, the question of whether the range will be reduced was not specifically answered.
“We are making great efforts to make shoppers safer and go to stores less frequently. We ourselves communicate publicly when the lowest flows are with us (we monitor weekdays and Saturdays from store opening to 10 am, as well as from 8 pm until the closing of the store and on Sundays), what security measures must be observed by the customers themselves. We assess the situation in the country in a very responsible way and seek to fully contribute to the management of the pandemic ”, shared V. Budrienė his succinct comment.
Rimi’s comment is similar: safety is a priority, but there are no specific measures.
“At the moment, it is important to give buyers the opportunity to shop safely. Rimi’s core business is food trading. It is also the most important thing for buyers to be self-sufficient in food at this time. Therefore, all our attention and concern has been and continues to be precisely the supply of food to buyers. Yes, we also have non-food essential items in our range, especially in larger format stores. Therefore, after visiting the stores of The Rimi chain, shoppers can safely find and buy the most needed hygiene, household or other non-food items in the Rimi chain stores, ”said Renata Keršienė, public relations manager for the retail chain.
Norfa will consider the minister’s call
Norfa spokeswoman Darius Ryliškis says the retail chain will consider the call, but has not promised anything specific either: all the requirements are already being met.
“I would like to point out that Norfa duly complies with all the security requirements established by the Government. The flow of buyers is controlled. Their number in stores is already decreasing, as people deliberately shop less frequently during quarantine, but they buy more products during quarantine, at the behest of the retail chain and government officials (protecting themselves) (the shopping basket is almost double what is usual during the quarantine). The removal of some goods from the trade could hardly affect the decline or increasing the flow of buyers ”, says D. Ryliškis.
Lidl representatives said they had heard the minister’s proposal: “It will be discussed, but we cannot comment on the details yet.”
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