The COVID-19 pandemic has placed business people in a situation where they have to make decisions in no time at all. What were the first decisions made by your company?
2020 “caught” us while we were making other plans, but we had to consider the external factor we could not control, unfortunately, such as the pandemic. This phenomenon has affected most countries. We launched our first crisis team on February 25, 2020, when we realized how serious the crisis was and analyzed the experience of our colleagues in the group who were already going through that process. We developed an action plan that allowed adapting and ensuring the functionality of our business.
Our strategy is based on only two objectives: 1. safety of our employees and customers; 2. business continuity. All the decisions made are analyzed from the perspective of these two major objectives. We have given up or postponed the issues which could not be fulfilled at the moment. Where we could save our expenses, we redirected them to the two objectives: we invested in equipment and means of protection for our staff, as well as in various activities for customer protection. We needed to financially motivate the efforts of our colleagues at the stores who were in the front line and went through an enormous physical and emotional effort during the first months. We invested in community projects to support the struggle against the pandemic. All of our employees work, and we are glad that we are in a situation where we did not need to refuse from keeping any positions or reduce our staff’s income.
What changes has taken place in the company’s strategy due to the conditions imposed by COVID-19?
For 2020, we did not essentially revise our strategy, all we did was adapt it to the current context, that is, we were even more focused on the development of home delivery service; we have started delivering from both METRO stores in Chisinau since April, which has increased the area covered by this much-demanded service during this term. We aim to be as close to our customers as possible; this is why we have extended our delivery to virtually all the suburbs of Chisinau. As to HoReCa customers, we try to help them by promoting their services via our own communication channels.
Since June, we have started using self-checkout in our stores in Chisinau to offer our customers the opportunity for billing products quickly and efficiently and limit contacts. If this experience in Chisinau is a positive one, we will apply it in the town of Balti.
Every crisis has its benefits. The opportunities it offers include an increase in empathy towards people, development of decision-making skills, generation of new ideas, and also consolidation of teamwork.
Have you also reconsidered social responsibility projects?
We prefer incorporating social responsibility in a broader category such as sustainability. In fact, we are actually talking about four main directions: the environment, the product chain and producers, the employees, and social involvement in the community. During the latest months, the biggest emphasis certainly was on such a component as social involvement in the community, but we did not exclude the other “pillars” either. We have decided to diversify our effort in several directions. We have supported medical and social systems in Moldova by making a contribution in the amount of 1 million lei to the Government of the Republic of Moldova. In addition, we have also provided assistance to a number of non-governmental associations and non-governmental organizations by granting food or financial donations; in their turn, they have donated medical equipment or delivered food to people who need help during this complicated period of time. Simultaneously, we have also worked at the other projects our strategy includes. In May, we activated two more stations for charging electric vehicles at the store in Botanica sector and one station in Balti.
We did not forget the local manufacturers either: cooperating with them is one of our priorities. During this period of time, we have been working at a campaign for promoting local manufacturers and products. Other related projects will follow.
What are the lessons of this new situation?
In crisis conditions, the entrepreneurial abilities of those who do business are best revealed. Some businesses disappear during the crisis, but opportunities emerge for the others, because these ideas are generated and businesses are founded easily, and the state has to facilitate this process. How could this be done? By means of providing support, reducing the tax burden, and liberalizing and digitizing services in order to exclude as many barriers in founding new businesses as possible. I believe human capital is the resource that makes the difference, and the state must invest in creating the conditions for people to be eager to work and develop in this country. This crisis has demonstrated clearer than ever that a good healthcare and social system is one of the criteria by which states are assessed by citizens in the next period of time. We are supposed to invest quite a lot in these spheres so that the citizens could work for the other states or companies remotely, staying at home and developing Moldova. It could be achieved by liberalizing economy, reducing shadow economy, caring for transparency, and creating more jobs.
What would you wish for this year?
This crisis has been a very intense period of time for me. Although it has required considerable effort, it is the time for me to discover new things about people. I am glad to see that I am supported by probably the best team in Moldovan trade; they are a very dedicated and involved team of professionals.
I would like to return to the normal state of things, to overcome the danger of the pandemic and the spread of the infection, and I wish prosperity to my colleagues, their families, and the entire community.
I suggest further developing the business, because this crisis has also revealed us that our customers have considered METRO to be a safe store for shopping. I would really like our HoReCa partners to re-launch their business and get back to sustainable development, and we are eager to support them.
BRIEF INVESTMENT DATA:
METRO was launched in Moldova in 2004, opening its first store in Stauceni; later, in 2006, the network was expanded with two more stores in Botanica Sector in Chisinau and one in Balti. At that moment, the policy of the METRO Group involved expansion, especially in developing countries; as a result, the Republic of Moldova was considered as an option for introducing modern trade standards and assuming the role of the market leader in the cash&carry and wholesale trade segments. From the very start, over 300 jobs were opened, and specialists for the second store in Chisinau were also trained. METRO was the pioneer in modern trade in the Republic of Moldova, bringing working principles previously unknown to the Republic of Moldova and supporting modification and improvement of the legal framework in this context. Since its opening, cooperation agreements have been signed with local companies, suppliers, and service providers, which generated an opportunity of creating over 100 additional jobs for the partners.
The series of interviews "Foreign investors vs. COVID-19" are part of the gratitude campaign addressed to all foreign investors in the Republic of Moldova who during the pandemic demonstrated a high sense of social responsibility, an example model of employee care and proactivity in reconceptualizing the business . Campaign launched by The Moldovan Investment Agency with the support of the ‘Economic Policy Advice to the Moldovan Government’ project, implemented by GIZ Moldova with the financial support of the German and Swiss Governments.