A supermarket in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) created controversy by deciding to reserve the sale of masks to its regular customers, holders of a loyalty card, reports Tuesday France Bleu Cotentin.
The Intermarché des Fourches contacted its regular customers last week to offer to reserve their box of 50 surgical masks over the Internet at cost price, learned Tuesday 5 May France Blue Cotentin. The reservation of the masks is now complete and the beneficiaries have until Saturday to pick them up at the store reception according to a schedule established in advance to avoid “traffic jams”. Masks that other customers cannot find on the shelves and to which they are not entitled.
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This approach caused an uproar on social networks against the large distribution, already accused in recent days of having built up “hidden stocks” of single-use masks. Internet users criticize the fact of transforming a product that has become essential into a reward, such as a calling product reserved for “good” customers. “Being able to protect yourself is therefore a commercial bonus!” denounces a customer, who also notices that the elderly people most vulnerable to the virus are the least familiar with a reservation via the Internet.
The Intermarché des Fourches specifies that this operation is part of the special offers to which the loyalty card entitles. In fact, if this practice reacts, it is not illegal. However, a breach can be observed in relation to the recommendations transmitted by the prefecture of La Manche concerning the sale of masks, which asks to favor small packages to avoid the creation of stocks. For example, other supermarkets have limited the purchase to two packs of five masks per customer. And not just those with a loyalty card.
In a press release published this weekend, the Intermarché and Netto brands (grouping Les Mousquetaires) indicated that they had 50 million single-use masks delivered, between April 13 and May 2, sold in boxes of 50, or one million boxes for 2,100 stores, put on sale since this week.
Guest of franceinfo, Wednesday May 6, the president of Intermarché and Netto Thierry Cotillard, recognized “a system of reservation in preview for the customers holding a loyalty card, but only during three days: “He there was a reservation system in preview for our customers with cards “ the “last week from Wednesday to Friday”, he explains, specifying that 300,000 people have registered and that 15 million masks have been pre-sold to loyal customers. However, since Saturday May 2, “Anyone can book. It would not make sense to reserve this for our loyal customers. What happened in Cherbourg was a communication error, I think that the person at the reception didn’t had no information “, judges the president of the distribution network.
Thierry Cotillard explains that the group “set up a reservation system because we thought we needed responsible distribution. What we were afraid of – we know that there is a real wait on the masks and we were afraid of crowd movements at a when we’re still confined. “
