Albert Heijn suffered a major technical glitch in its distribution centres last Saturday. The timing could be called unfavourable, to say the least; the supermarket chain had just been playing catch-up to fill shelves. "This feels like a step backwards," he said.
Due to the malfunction, many Albert Heijn stores were less well supplied than planned on Sunday. In an internal memo, seen by NU.nl, AH writes that the impact "on all distribution centres is unfortunately considerable". "Last week we had just made a big step forward in supply, but this feels like a step backwards," a spokesperson told the news site.
The fault has now been fixed, allowing Albert Heijn's shelves to be restocked to full capacity. Extra staff are being deployed in the distribution centres and shops. Extra trucks are also on the road to get supplies up to standard.
Wholesalers open to consumers
Since last week, wholesalers such as Sligro and Makro have been open to consumers to spare supermarkets. In some 100 branches, consumers can do their shopping. The measure is not only beneficial for supermarkets, wholesalers also benefit. They saw their sales plummet last week after catering outlets had to close their doors.
