With the rise in COVID-19 related infections and deaths in the State, Goa government was left with no option but to call for restrictions on the movement of people, initially for three days which was extended on Sunday by another week. The relief for people was that shops offering essential commodities were allowed to operate and this reduced panic to a large extent.
Director at Delfinos Anil Pereira believes that initially, before the lockdown was announced for three days, there was a spike in sales and it went up by 55-60 per cent. “However during the lockdown the sales are down by 50 per cent. This means people now have pre-planned on how to go about the lockdown and there was no rush like earlier times as people have understood the impact of this virus spike. It has been declared as airborne, earlier it was a droplet, everybody used to wear masks and cover their face, that is over now the news is that IMA has declared it as being airborne which makes people averse to getting out of their house. Even living in their houses, they are prone to getting it,” said Anil Pereira.
He further added that for home deliveries, there are calls but not to the extent that they expect. People are comfortable stocking their goods because what happens is that they are not very comfortable with the product that they are receiving at home, specially the fresh-line section.
When asked about the supplies, Anil Pereira said, “As of now we did not have any issues related to supplies. However, vegetables from Belgaum had not come yesterday and maybe next two days might be very critical. We source a lot local vegetables, from our markets, now, like from Taleigao, since we are based in Taleigao too.”
Delfinos has recently opened a store in Taliegao and now has three branches in Goa.
On the issue of labour Pereira said, “About 60 per cent of our workforce is from outside the State, but they have not panicked this time. They have their accommodation, food and they also realize that going back had not paid any dividends. Majorly, 50 per cent of the migrants are either in manufacturing industries or hotel industries. The exodus has happened already last year and only 25 per cent of them returned. So we are not feeling it much, this lockdown.”
Partner at Magsons, Kirit Maganlal believes that this three-day lockdown is a classic boomerang story. “What you throw around, comes back to haunt and harm you. We threw caution to the wind and to a large extent remained in utter denial of what was obvious to many. We gambled with the lives of citizens playing to the harp of tourism proponents and non-thinking politicians. We peddled around the clichéd debate of ‘lives vs livelihoods’ little realising that without lives there can be no livelihood and while no-one has really died of starvation in recent times, the deaths of good people around us has become an ominous reality,” said Kirit Maganlal.
He further added that, “People have learned now to trust their own faculties rather than relying on others. However, there is so much more restraint that we need to follow. This time around there has been no ‘panic’ buying in its true sense. Yes, people did stock up a wee-bit extra but there were no more queues and frayed tempers. Possibly because a number of new players have also come up in our neighbourhood thereby easing the uncontrollable rush like the last time. The supply chain has withstood this test so far and dealer support is standing us in good stead. At Magsons, we continuously advocate safety, first to our own people and then to the people we serve.”
Director at Borkars, Nihaal Borkar said that the customers are staying home. “Last year when the stores opened, it was literally crowded with 400-500 people standing out here in line. Right now the people have already panicked enough for the past 15 days. On Friday which was the first day of lockdown and the sales were 50 per cent less. Panic buying was substantial and almost double. The number of customers was the same but the basket size was almost double than the average.”
When asked about the supplies, Borkar said, “There is no issue in supplies. It was pure panic buying, nothing else to it. Yes, we are prepared and there is no issue in the supply chain. The only problem in the extension of the lockdown is getting people to work, that too from our side we are managing because we anyways drop our staff home in the evenings since most of them are women. We personally drop them. So that is not an issue but it might be that distributor and the other guys who were reliant on public transport for their staff to reach, might face a problem.”
He further added that, “Vegetables is anyway coming Karnataka so that is not yet affected, I think they have already changed it to three times a week, coming to the state. Obviously the princes have increased because of that.”
Proprietor of Kalimata Veg at Carenzalem Kanhu Giri said that there was a spike in buying just before the lockdown and after that the business has dropped by nearly 50 per cent. “May be our customers have already stocked their groceries and vegetables. Since the shops are allowed to be open this time, there is some business happening as against last year when it was completely shut,” added Kanhu Giri.
