In the Corona crisis, the employees of the domestic supermarkets are particularly challenged. According to a survey, grocers have got used to the “new normal”.
Turnover at Spar higher
“The situation has settled in, you can tell in the markets,” said spokeswoman Nicole Berkmann. “The sales are higher than normal, which is probably due to the unusual gastronomy. But manageable.”
After many hamster purchases were made on Friday, March 13, the high demand at Billa, Merkur & Co. gradually decreased. “The buying behavior is currently leaps and bounds, each day is just a ‘snapshot’ and is very much dependent on current developments,” said Rewe Austria spokesman Paul Pöttschacher.
The same applies to the Hofer food discount store. “We are currently noticing that demand is now leveling again. The certainty that the grocery stores will remain open has made a significant contribution here,” said a statement. As of Monday, Hofer will close the branches at 6 p.m.
Lidl also sells significantly less. “It has been very quiet since the first hamster purchases. The sales were very subdued last week,” said Lidl Austria spokesman Hansjörg Peterleitner.
Search for staff
Due to the special situation, staff are still being sought in the food trade. Spar currently has enough employees, around 300 employees of the Spar subsidiary Hervis help out in the grocery trade.
At Rewe, over 15,000 applicants have responded to an employee call, and around 1,300 new employees have already been hired. There are almost 700 vacancies at Lidl, most of which are needed in the branch.
To protect employees and customers, Hofer, Lidl and Spar have already installed plexiglass panels at the checkouts in all branches. Protection was also installed at a large number of the sites of the Rewe subsidiaries and is to take place across the board at the beginning of April at the latest.
There is also increased demand for “online business”. Thanks to a new regulation, food delivery is now also permitted on Sundays. Spar wants to “offer more capacity”. And Billa also wants to unlock additional delivery windows.
