Supermarket chain Carrefour has announced it will freeze the prices of 20,000 products from now until 31 December.
The freeze affects almost all of the chain’s regular stock items – 20,000 in supermarkets and hyper-markets, and 10,000 in its Market and Express stores.
There are some exceptions: special promotions currently running; seasonal fruits and vegetables and other fresh products whose price fluctuates daily, such as fish; and products sold as part of a short-chain arrangement with local producers.
As far as hypermarkets are concerned, the action also does not include items like clothing and electrical goods, the sale of which is currently disallowed by the general Covid-19 regulations.
“In this crisis period, people's wallets are being put to the test,” the company said in a statement.
“However, preserving the purchasing power of Belgians is essential to our country's economy. Carrefour has responded to this and has conducted several price campaigns since the start of the crisis (including a price cut for 1,000 products in May this year and the ‘healthy prices’ campaign in September).”
The chain also pointed to a number of other measures intended to make shopping easier for people during this time of partial lockdown. Those include the in-store measures agreed this week by retail federation Comeos and staff unions, including obligatory trolleys and stewards at entrances.
The company will also reinforce its staffing for the fulfilment of online orders, promotion of its ShopTo service, which promises delivery within 90 minutes in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liege and Waterloo, and the new agreement with UberEATS for home deliveries.
“We would like to let our customers know that all Carrefour teams will be by their side during this lockdown and that we will do everything in our power to protect them,” said François-Melchior de Polignac, CEO of Carrefour Belgium.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
