Coronavirus reaches our stores: product becomes more expensive Financial

Blokker household chain and Coolblue web giant acknowledge that they have problems with delivery of items due to production failure in China. Beijing has locked thousands of factories to prevent further spread of the contamination through staff.

Coolblue reports “to temper its sales”. The online store increased online prices of articles in recent days, to the annoyance of shopping customers. The company expects availability problems at our suppliers in the coming weeks and months.“Meanwhile, Coolblue is trying to build up stocks of articles everywhere to be able to cope with the loss of millions of products from China in the near future.

At Blokker it is for the time being a small part of the articles, according to the company. In the short term, customers would not notice much because replacement is sometimes available. But if the Chinese problems continue, it may take until the summer for new supplies to reach the stores.

Other stores often use the same ship transports as Blokker and Coolblue. Thousands of containers for the Netherlands are waiting on the quays in China. Webwinkelreus Bol.com says that companies determine the prices of their articles on their online platform. They can rise in case of shortages. “But if you are the only supplier with us, there is definitely a price maximum,” the group guarantees that 22 million items are processed. “You can’t just raise those prices.”

33 Dutch companies keep employees at home

Dozens of Dutch companies are getting into trouble because of the virus that they have asked for a shorter working time. The Ministry of Social Affairs reports that 33 companies have received permission for this. For example, companies can use their employees for fewer hours, whereby they are paid via unemployment benefits.

A company that has 20 percent less work due to the virus during a period of at least two weeks can use the measure. In addition to the 33 authorized companies, the Ministry has handled eighteen applications and seven rejected. In total, there are 375 employees who are partly home. Especially companies that do business directly with China, such as the technology sector, are affected.

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