Virus fears spur online shopping for food and groceries

A SURGE in online shopping for food and groceries has been registered by businesses in Bahrain as fears over the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) has forced people to adopt ‘social distancing’.

People have been using electronic apps and online platforms of supermarkets and hypermarkets to order their supplies.

Prominent regional retailer LuLu Hypermarket was among the first to announce to its online customers a delay in deliveries due to “high demand”.

“We have seen considerable growth in our online orders and home delivery business,” a representative told the GDN.

“The whole idea of adding the online platform was to add value to our existing clientele with the same efficiency and high benchmark of consumer service.

“We are fully equipped to cater to the customer needs with our given infrastructure for online service and home delivery.”

The store is working in line with official directives and maintaining a healthy food stock level to ensure sufficient supply at affordable prices.

The hypermarket added that additional measures have been taken to protect staff health and workplace, on top of it following regular ISO standards of hygiene.

Alosra Supermarket echoed similar views.

“With the current situation, we have seen a surge in online orders, and we have managed to cope with the demand, and are being able to deliver a huge variety of products to our very broad customer base,” said general manager Jaffar Alasfoor.

“In these unusual times, we believe it is even more important to communicate clearly and transparently with our customers so that we can manage those expectations.”

He stressed the store was fully complying with official safety and health guidelines for staff, global best practices and ISO standards and staff was trained to follow protocols on sanitisation and disinfecting.

Baqala, a start-up online shopping portal set up by Indian entrepreneurs Amjad Puliyali and Aboobacker Shinan, has registered double the business compared with last month.

Cart value per person, which is the average amount for which a regular customer would purchase, has also doubled, they said.

“We have recorded 100 per cent more orders from last month and the basket value per purchase has doubled,” Mr Puliyali told the GDN.

“This means a customer who has been purchasing for an average of BD15 before is now going for BD30 purchase.

“Before, online shopping for groceries was more of a convenience, but now it is rescue measures.”

Their delivery team of 65 people is well equipped with safety gear and educated on precautionary measures, he said.

“We are promoting contactless delivery and urging our customers to choose online payment, which protects both parties from exposure.

“Business is definitely better than ever, one of the reasons is our loyal customers for almost three years, who trust us for our service and quality.

“We have even supermarkets liaising with us to co-operate.”

A customer care representative at Talabat Bahrain also agreed that there was an increase in the number of orders.

“We have had always been on-demand, but now it’s more and the customers are a mixed population – citizens and residents, including families,” he said.

Meanwhile, the online food delivery service announced contactless and cashless delivery for customer and rider safety.

“At Talabat, safety is our top priority at all times, especially in this current Covid-19 outbreak,” said Talabat chief executive Tomaso Rodriguez.

Additionally, the company will also be distributing door hangers which customers can use to indicate that a contactless drop-off is required.

Source:  http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/787531/Virus-fears-spur-online-shopping-for-food-and-groceries