Source; Emarat Al Youm (Translated)

Contemplating the current situation, Union Coop called for consumers to change their purchase pattern to reduce the number of visits to retail sales outlets so that shopping is carried out monthly instead of weekly.

Union Coop confirmed to ‘Emarat Al Youm’ that the stock available in its warehouses currently exceeds AED 540 Million in value, while supplying between AED 10 to 15 Million per day, which means we have sufficient quantities available. Union Coop also revealed the allocation of AED 5 Million per month to precautionary measures and sterilization.

Man Power and Workforce 

The CEO of Union Coop, H.E. Khalid Humaid Bin Diban Al Falasi  said that Union Coop currently is facing challenges due to the reduction of the workforce to less than 50% as a result of the precautionary measures to counter the spread of COVID-19. However, the sales transactions in the outlets have shown 100% increase compared to the transactions before March.

Al Falasi also added that the preventive measures implemented by Union Coop include reducing the number of work teams to provide a safe distance to maintain the safety of workers and shoppers, noting that the workforce has been split into teams working alternatively during days of the week. Each team further divided into three groups that do not meet directly, to ensure reduced employee presence.

Employee Protection 

Al Falasi pointed out that measures taken to protect employees, the transport buses, which are capable of accommodating 80 employees are currently carrying only 19 employees, with daily medical examination, which increases the work pressure due to increased sales transactions checkout counters or home delivery platforms.

Al Falasi indicated that Union Coop as a precautionary measure limited the entry of supplier company employees to the outlets to refill the shelves with goods, which increased the work for Union Coop employees who have to carry out this task themselves, in addition to sterilizing the shelves and the product packages before placing them on the shelves. The changes have increased the unloading time from delivery trucks from 15 minutes to 4 hours.

He revealed that Union Coop allocated AED 5 Million per month for precautionary measures and sterilization, which includes sterilizing sales outlets, staff accommodation, offices and warehouses, in addition to providing free sanitizing dispensers for shoppers at the entry points and free plastic gloves.

Change the purchase pattern

Al-Falasi called on consumers to change the purchase patterns during the current period, to reduce the number of visits to a sales outlet, to shop monthly instead of weekly, in addition to changing the patterns of shopping for fresh goods from “daily” to “weekly”, stressing that this is appropriate for the current circumstances and the national sterilization campaign, which calls for not assembling in the sales outlets and purchasing essentials sufficient for long periods.

Delivery and supply

“The average rate of requests for home delivery through the Union Coop online store was 120 requests per day, which during the recent period increased to 600 and 800 requests per day,” said Khalid Humaid Bin Diban Al Falasi, CEO of the Union Coop.