“Currently we are already growing more than 50% vs. last year and in november, growth is accelerating further, thanks to a significant increase in storage space and thus in inventories. We also manage to buy less accessible goods, such as laptops and more, “said Miroslav Kövary, director of Alza’s sales network, when asked about Novinek.
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In some stores, the increase is even higher. “In the last month, the number of orders in the e-shop has increased by more than 80 percent,” said Datart spokeswoman Eva Kočicová. Apparently, even in connection with government measures due to the spread of coronavirus, people have moved their orders to the internet to a large extent and do not want to leave them to the last minute in these uncertain times.
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“We were cautious in estimating pre-Christmas sales this year. Although part of the purchases could be expected to move to the Internet, according to our survey, up to half of customers planned to spend less money on electronics purchases than in previous years. In the last two weeks, however, sales have been growing very fast, last week there was a year-on-year increase of 83%. So it looks like Christmas shopping this year will really take place mainly in the online environment. However, it still depends on when and in what regime the stone shops will reopen, “said Tomáš Pilský, CZC.cz’s sales director.
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Customers were not allowed in the parking lot
A large influx of customers was evident last week in Prague’s Holešovice, where Alza’s headquarters are located. On Mondays and Thursdays, so many people went there for their orders that others were no longer letting security guards into the parking lot, as can be seen in the video at the beginning of the article.
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We see a growing interest in home delivery, where customers ideally do not have to meet a courier at all. All you have to do is confirm where you want to leave the shipment after the SMS.
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“At all branches, we primarily respect all state regulations,” responded to a question from Novinky Kövara. He added that people have a lot of options to pick up their orders if they do not want to send them via the transport service: “Currently we have 390 of our own dispensing points, of which 39 are stores and 351 are AlzaBoxes. For example, we have recently opened a branch in Benešov or another AlzaBox in Prague 7. “
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Alza offers selected modes of transport free of charge, otherwise the price for delivery starts at 45 crowns. That is why it was probably so crowded in Prague’s Holešovice last week, as it is one of the free options.
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At other shops, the situation is different, people use alternative modes of transport. “Although customers preferred to pick up shipments at dispensing points until this year, due to the spread of the new coronavirus, this ratio changed significantly in the spring. The safety factor is becoming more and more important for people, and we again see a growing interest in home delivery, where customers ideally do not have to meet a courier at all. All you have to do is confirm after the SMS where to leave the shipment, “said Mall.cz spokeswoman Pavla Hobíková.
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“Obviously, the demand for home delivery is growing compared to pickup at the branch. While in the current season about 30% of customers have their order sent home, this year it is already half. By the end of November and in December, we expect that this number will increase even more thanks to the Black Friday offer, and we will deliver most orders home. Despite the increased number of orders, we manage to deliver the goods on time, “said Pilský.
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E-shops are picking up before Christmas
Pilský admitted that CZC.cz strengthened the team before Christmas: “In order to maintain this comfort for customers even before the Christmas holidays, we had to react and strengthen our staff beyond the original seasonal plan. Normally, we are growing by 100% in terms of staff at this time, this year it is even more due to all the changes. In addition, we have expanded the warehouse by 25% of the area. “
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“In terms of personnel, we have been preparing for the Christmas season since the end of the summer. We need to strengthen the number of employees in stores and warehouses by hundreds of temporary workers every year. These are mainly positions in the warehouse, so that we can ensure fast order processing in the season, in stores and in the customer center, “added Kočicová from Datart.
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The situation is the same in Alza and Mallu, these online stores are also expanding their capacity. “As every year, this year we pay the greatest attention to the capacity in warehouses, especially in our distribution center Jirny near Prague, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We plan to add more than 100 people to the team at the top. We will also accept other temporary workers to our dispensing network and to the customer line, “concluded Hobíková.
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Nevertheless, customers should not leave gift purchases to the last minute this year. This is not only because attractive offers are being dismantled very quickly, but also because government measures may well tighten in the coming weeks – although the epidemiological situation has improved from day to day in recent days.
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