ALDI boss reveals the shopping behaviour he never wants to see again
There is one ugly human behaviour that ALDI’s Chief Executive Officer hopes to never see inside stores again - panic buying.
In March, Australians swarmed supermarkets as concerns about the coronavirus grew and cleared shelves of essential items - most notably toilet paper.
Customer frustration over limited availability of non perishable food and cleaning items was often directed at supermarket staff, with several being abused and some brought to tears.
In an interview with News Corp on Thursday, ALDI CEO Tom Daunt explained why he thought panic buying and the manic scenes that accompanied it were completely unjustified.
“We actually hope that we will not ever see such an outbreak of panic buying ever again. There is certainly no need for it and there is an abundance of food and groceries to go around,” he said.
Footage emerged in the midst of the panic from what appeared to be inside an ALDI store of shoppers crammed in one aisle trying to get their hands on packets of toilet paper.
Asked if the retailer would respond differently in the event of a similar crisis in future, Mr Daunt insisted it would take the exact same approach.
“We have fantastic Australian business partners that we have been working closely with, and given the circumstances that unfolded, we are very happy with the way our partners and employees dealt with the situation,” he said.
He assured customers that stock levels of would soon return to normal, saying paper towels are being delayed slightly because they’re produced on the same production line as toilet paper, which took priority.
While undesirable behaviour was a common theme among shoppers early in the outbreak, Mr Daunt said it wasn’t actually all bad.
“Despite the outbreak of panic buying and a limited amount of poor behaviour, overwhelmingly our customers have acted with respect and kindness and I have personally witnessed many examples that we can all be very proud of,” he said.
There have been several reports of supermarket employees being abused by fiery customers amid frustration surrounding the availability of certain products.
A Woolworths worker breaking down in tears drew nationwide attention after an irate customer abused her, while a teen Coles worker was also the target of abuse for not wearing gloves while on shift.
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