HKTVmall appeals and apologises to customers as angry comments flood Facebook page

As the Hong Kong government is planning to roll out city-wide testing in March, citizens are flocking to supermarkets lately to snap up fresh food and necessities. Coupled with the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city, many brands are facing staff shortages and have to reduce service offerings, adding more pressure to the city's supply chain.

While many are flocking to supermarkets to buy groceries, others have turned to eCommerce platforms to avoid the crowd. However, with the shortage of manpower, this too has turned into a futile attempt.

HKTVmall for example saw angry comments flood its Facebook, as orders remained undelivered or failed to reach consumers on time. In response to the overwhelming amount of complaints and orders, HKTVmall turned to social media to explain the reasons for the delay. It said that many of its staff have tested positive and as such are unable to work. Vendors and logistics partners of HKTVmall are also suffering staff shortages, leading to the lengthened time of order delivery.

HKTVmall is known to deliver products within two days of the product order. However, the eCommerce platform admitted that they need at least two weeks or even more to deliver. The company also apologised for the delayed services. It added that it has been recruiting couriers to help deliver the orders and working with restaurants in Hong Kong to roll out more temporary self pick-up stations.

The post then ended with a plea that as Hongkongers "have not encountered something like this before, [they] desperately need to help each other."

Supermarket chain ParknShop also earlier announced that it would be adjusting the opening hours of its stores to safeguard the health of its staff and customers. To further protect them, the supermarket asked for every employee to take a rapid antigen test before working every day. Most of its stores now close by 9pm, and a handful close as early as 3pm.

It also imposed a cap on buying groceries. Every customer is limited to buying five pieces or packs of rice, canned food, pasta, eggs, toilet paper and medicine in a single transaction.

ParknShop's competitor Wellcome has also adjusted its opening hours. A quick search conducted by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE unveiled that many stores stop service at 8pm. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to DFI Retail Group for more details.

Earlier this week, Hong Kong businessman Allan Zeman wrote a letter to Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, saying that the community needed clear messages to put them at ease and businesses also need clarity to make decisions. He added that there have been many conflicting messages over the past few weeks from the health experts, which left the public being very confused and nervous.

He wrote on his Facebook, "I know a lot of people are leaving and have left and this pains me very much. We are potentially facing a lock down but hopefully it won’t be too long and too painful. I know if we all pull together, both rich and poor, we can defeat this and wake up from this nightmare to a normal life."

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