Empty shelves greet consumers in Hyderabad city
Hyderabad: Supermarket chains are slimming down as stocks in their godowns are fast disappearing, nothwithstanding replenishments.
They attribute the situation to the tendency of people to amass and pileup essential grocery items, fearing shortage.
Market managers say there would be enough stock if everyone buys fairly and avoids stocking up things.
Products such bread, Milkmaid, Maggie are very much in demand at every supermarket and and their racks are always seen nearly empty. Fresh stocks are being instantly lapped up by the consumers.
Skin care products like soaps and toiletries, too, are slowly going out of stock and few markets are getting fresh stock. Markets are able to handle supply of fruits and vegetables, though. Stocks such as pulses, grains and flour are dwindling day by day.
"Empty shelves don't always mean there's a shortage of food and stock. They simply mean stores and supply chains need to catch up with increased demand. Customers are buying as if there would be no stock tomorrow.
Regular customers used to purchase groceries for Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 and in this lockdown period they are making purchases for Rs 12,000 and above.
Even after informing them hundreds of times that we are available during the entire lockdown, customers continue to purchase in bulk quantities and this attitude is responsible for our shelves going empty despite our whole efforts," deplored S Babu, Executive Manager, Heritage Super Market.
"Our supply chain is experiencing a truly unprecedented event due to this Corona crisis. We have never seen demand levels like this before and that's actually impacting supply chains badly in a way that we could not get any branded products such as those of Britannia, Nestle etc," said M Sandhya, Store Head, Rathnadeep Super Market.
To cope with the supply chain disruption, stores are encouraging customers to buy only what they need, yet customers seem to be in a tearing hurry to lay their hands on everything and buying in bulk quantities.