Nghia (Megan) Mai Thi, Marketing Advisor (Fellow) Vietnam, Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board
Asia was the first region to face Coronavirus (COVID-19) after the first cases were announced from Wuhan – China in December 2019. Those countries' governments have applied social distancing measures and enforcement, including school closures and lockdowns, to stop the spread of the virus.
China, where the virus first emerged, confirmed it had no new domestic cases on Wednesday for the first time since the outbreak began, a major milestone. However, there are still possibilities for the second wave of the disease. South Korea, China, and Singapore are among the Asian countries facing a second coronavirus wave, fueled by people importing it from outside (BBC, 2020).
This has caused changes in shopper behaviours and eventually to the way retails work.
During social distancing time, there was a huge shift towards online shopping, food delivery, and e-groceries and this pattern seems to be continued. Singapore's retail sales in February fell at the steepest pace in more than 12 years on a month-on-month basis as consumption fell across categories such as apparel and cosmetics due to the coronavirus pandemic. (CNA, 2020)
In this situation, many retailers in Asia have had quick responses to the challenges:
Meeting new demand
- FairPrice, the largest retailer in Singapore, saw that the first wave of panic resulted in a large number of shoppers in the stores. The retailer was better prepared in subsequent waves and observed a lower level of anxiety amongst shoppers (IGD, April, 2020)
- Vietnamese retailers and government cooperated to ensure the decent supplies for Ho Chi Minh City residents. City supermarkets have plenty of stocks of goods to meet the possible sharp rise in demand amid the Covid-19 social distancing campaign. (Vietnam News, 2020)
Supporting staff, suppliers and consumers
- Central Food Retail Group, which operates Central Food Hall, Tops Supermarket, FamilyMart and Tops Daily chain of stores, has produced a video in line with precautionary measures issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Tan, 2020):
- Cleaning and sanitising frequently touched surfaces
- Checking staff’s temperature
- Providing alcohol-based hand sanitisers at entry points
- UV-C disinfection robots are used to help disinfect stores by destroying 99.99% of all pathogens with no harmful side effects on food
- Plexiglass panels are added to checkout counters for social distancing
Community and collaboration
- Many Vietnamese retailers, including Big C and Saigon Co.op have been buying extra produce from farmers affected by closed borders with China. Logistics companies have also pitched in with lower warehousing and delivery fees (VNExpress, 2020).
Contact-free shopping
- Thrive thought: Sinopec started selling fresh vegetables at its petrol stations through its Easy Joy banner. There is no need for the customer to get out of the car or roll down the window. Staff put fresh vegetables and meat directly into the customer’s car boot (IGD, March, 2020)
Online shopping
- CPALL (Thailand) is recruiting 20,000 positions to deliver from 7-Eleven stores to help those who want to limit social exposure and use of public transport. This service is at 1,500 7-Eleven stores nationwide and will be expanded gradually. Operators like Foodpanda, Lineman and Grab have seen orders rise significantly from a year ago. The Thai authorities have warned operators not to increase their commission for restaurants (Tan, 2020).
Understanding the ways retailers are dealing with the pandemic, Irish F&B manufacturers who are supplying to the market could have a way to cooperate with the local retail or decide suitable marketing activities. Besides, those could be takeaway stories for retail back in Ireland to be more adaptive to the challenges.
References
BBC. (2020, March 19). BBC News. Retrieved from bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51955931
CNA. (2020, April 03). Channel Asia News. Retrieved from cna.com: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-retail-sales-fall-steepest-pace-12-years-covid-19-12606238
IGD. (April, 2020). Coronavirus (COVID-19): retail responses in Singapore. Singapore: IGD.
IGD. (March, 2020). Coronavirus (COVID-19): what can we learn from retailers in Asia? Singapore: IGD.
Tan, S.-E. (2020, April 06). IGD. Retrieved from igd.com: https://retailanalysis.igd.com/markets/asia/news/news-article/t/coronavirus-covid-19-retailers-reactions-in-thailand/i/24717
Vietnam News. (2020, April 01). Retrieved from vietnamnews.com: https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/674501/supermarkets-traditional-markets-remain-open-assure-supply-is-abundant.html
VNExpress. (2020, April 05). VNExpress. Retrieved from vnexpress.net: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/economy/online-shopping-surges-on-vietnam-social-distancing-campaign-4079824.html