Mouthing Off | Supermarkets get Covid-19 subsidies – six ways they can repay it by improving how they serve shoppers in Hong Kong
- ParknShop and Wellcome receive Covid-19 subsidies from the Hong Kong government, despite no apparent drop in business during the pandemic
- Seeing as customers are unlikely to benefit from this official largesse, here are a few problems the dominant store chains could fix
Somehow, our brilliant leaders thought it important to give Hong Kong’s two major supermarkets HK$81 million (US$10.5 million) in Covid-19 subsidies. The decision is a bit of a head scratcher, since ParknShop and Wellcome are not exactly struggling financially.
In fact, the two dominant grocery chains are probably doing better than ever. More people are cooking at home during the pandemic, so it stands to reason that they are selling more groceries. The profits from selling toilet paper and rice alone should be tremendous.
I know there were no price drops when I picked up some cheese and fruit, and replenished my soy sauce this week. In fact, the cost of meat seems to have gone up. Do we need to write some cheques for pig farmers and fruit growers?
Anyway, I am not holding my breath for the chunk of public money supermarkets received trickling down to the public.
