Media Release
25 March, 2020
ALDI Australia CEO asks for retail calm
All Australians deserve access to groceries, and we are working extremely hard to deliver on this promise. We know many of you are worried about the spread of Coronavirus and your ability to access fresh food, hygiene products and essential items. We want to let you know that there is more than enough food to go around; we just need your patience and support.
Australia’s primary producers and manufacturers are world leading and they’ve been a great partner as demand has skyrocketed in the last few weeks. Our employees in warehouses and stores are working hard to get stock distributed across the country. But we need the help of customers. The increase in violence that retailers have seen over the past few weeks is absolutely unacceptable. We would ask everyone to be considerate and compassionate in the way they shop. This means civil behaviour, courtesy to those less able and respect for the employees of retail outlets. Quite frankly, we won’t tolerate anything less. We understand your concerns but buying more than is needed can mean that others will be left without.
Across ALDI’s store network, we are continuing to take steps to ensure our staff remain comfortable serving customers. Together with our store employees we’ve developed new conditions of entry to our stores:
- Respect our employees and their physical space
- Respect each other and look out for those less able
- Practice good hygiene in our stores
- Do not attempt to ‘game’ our product restriction policies
- We remind you that we will not accept any violent behaviour (verbal or physical) in or around our stores and the police will be called immediately if required
- Be kind, be calm, be empathetic and most of all be courteous
- And, please, do one nice thing for someone else when you leave our store today
Our employees are doing a great job to keep up with demand, so please pay them the respect they deserve.
We will continue to work around the clock with our great Australian partners to distribute product to our stores. Please remember to be kind, be calm, be empathetic and most of all be courteous.
Source: ALDI.