After my breakfast, I decided to walk to the Carrefour which is located a few minutes walk from the serviced appartment I am currently staying. A nice day, and a nice walk.
When walking around the Carrefour, I noticed a number of things different compared to for example supermarkets in Hong Kong.
Let me just list them:
- sheer amount of staff: wow, literally whole teams running around to re-supply stocks sky high. On the side walls of the supermarket, shelve space does reach the sky. Massive trolleys and special stairs were brought in....and goods were thrown from one person to another. 1 product had probably around 6 people working on it...with the "highest" person sitting close to the ceiling to put boxes away. And in one lane there were around 4 of those teams operating. That is beside lots of other staff roaming around the store. I have to admit, this time they were all doing something. 2 weeks ago.... they were just "hanging out"...which was interesting to see (yea yea i know should have taken a pic)
- signs: lots of different signs throughout the whole store. Signs for discount, signs for imported products, signs for new products, signs for local products etc.
- freshness: seafood etc did look quite good actually. When looking at the imported oranges and other fruits..it looks like other countries get priority with the nice ones. Good thing is that there is lots of local produce available as well. And... I did spot a good amount of pesticide free and even organic food.
- packaging: Indonesia is no exception for micro packaging. Water in small cups, cookies packed by piece...and when looking for my razor blades..the biggest packaging size was 2!!!! The pack size is still the same, they only put 2 blades in there. What a waste of materials that is.
- cost savings: It looked like 3 check out stations were sharing 1 role of receipt printer paper. Quite silly....sorry sir, one moment... I need to get the print out paper from my colleague.
- Friendly: People just tend to roam around (including staff), no rush and have a friendly outlook over them. Which is definitely a positive thing.
