A state of emergency has been declared in a number of countries is reflected and on the composition of the shopping cart. Corporate customers and individuals buy in bulk especially home office equipment, Alza also supplies hardware and spare parts for critical information systems. But there is also enormous demand in the areas of hygiene, entertainment and household goods. Sales of some types of goods are growing by hundreds of percent.
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The closure of some brick-and-mortar stores and restrictions on public life in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have a significant impact on the purchasing behavior of customers. Both Czechs and Slovaks are intensively moving to the online environment and choosing e-shops as a safer option for shopping – in a year-on-year comparison, turnover in both of these countries rose by more than 70%, in Hungary by more than 100%, in Austria by over 300%. Traffic in Alza is starting to approach the pre-Christmas period. All departments and systems are going through a huge onslaught, which the company is managing so far because it has adapted to the situation quickly enough.
"Changes in shopping habits are noticeable, the workload of the e-shop and our operations can be compared to the high season (November, December). We try to react flexibly to the situation, we continuously strengthen our staff and constantly replenish our stock. Among the most requested are equipment for working from home - sales notebooks and monitors increased year-on-year by more than 100%, printers, computer components and accessories by more than 60%, office supplies by 78%. The entire Alza business segment jumped 66%. We are ready to offer customers the widest possible assortment of things that will make it easier for them to cope with extraordinary measures such as quarantine, working from home or taking care of children who cannot go to school," says Alza.cz sales director Petr Bena. The company thus confirms that it is a key partner for companies and solutions to their extraordinary needs thanks to a wide range of goods in stock. “In the context of disruption to the production chain and the expected supply shortfall during Q2, we increased our inventory by more than 60% in January and February. Therefore, in the current situation, we are able to solve the sudden increase in demand from companies when dealing with their infrastructure and unexpected work from home," adds Bena.
The aforementioned measures are significantly reflected in purchases. Drugstore goods and necessities for dogs and cats recorded the strongest week in history, when a number of product groups such as necessities for the smallest (baby diapers and baby food), laundry products or disinfectants grew by more than 200% year-on-year.
The company also recorded a significant increase in the area spending free time. Customers are increasingly buying all kinds of sports equipment - an increase of more than 200% (mostly e-bikes, scooters, treadmills, exercise bikes) or paper and electronic books (+95%). Games and game consoles, construction kits and board games have more than tripled. Interestingly, sales of sewing machines increased by +301%, air purifiers, home bakeries and freezers all showed increases of more than 700%.
It is also a big topic for customers home education of children. Publications preparing students for entrance exams, matriculation exams and tests are currently ranked among the books with the greatest increase in sales. Alza is trying to accommodate parents in this regard, which is why it has significantly reduced the price for now hundreds of educational and popular e-books (e.g. 40% discount on e-textbooks from the Edika publishing house), for Slovakia <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a> and 30-50% cheaper i audiobooks in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Po shortening of the AlzaNEO loan program (in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic) Alza is taking another extraordinary step in the area of its own financial services: for at least the duration of the state of emergency, it is increasing the price range for purchases with deferred maturity, the so-called A third. Here, the company expands the number of products by 25%, the menu now has approx 15 thousand pieces of goods from 3 to 50 thousand CZK. With Třetinka, the customer pays only 1/3 of the amount and pays the rest without any increase or other fees at any time within three months, which can significantly help in bridging short-term shortfalls in the income of individuals and households. This offer is only valid in the Czech Republic.
